Since the publication of the Science Citation Index (SCI), much conversation, many debates and contradicting theories have spiraled regarding the true meaning of high citations.
Highly cited are papers that receive the highest number of citations, compared with other papers in the same field, during a time range between 1-10 years, depending on the discipline citation dynamics. The highly cited usually indicates the subjects that is presently in the focus of the research field. The purpose of this indicator is to avoid the impression given by the number of citations an author accumulates for many years, that is, citations due to seniority in the field.