ObjectiveTo investigate the annual publication volume, paper type distribution, journal quartile distribution, and citation status of SCI journal papers published by West China Hospital, Sichuan University, to provide a reference for optimizing the publication-based research evaluation system. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted. The Web of Science Core Collection was electronically searched to retrieve all papers affiliated with West China Hospital, Sichuan University. After screening, SCI journal papers up to December 31, 2024, in which the first author’s first affiliation was West China Hospital, Sichuan University published were included. Citation information as of December 31, 2024 was further obtained from the Web of Science Core Collection. R 4.2.2 software was used to analyze the annual quantity, journal quartile, paper type and citation distribution of SCI papers. ResultsA total of 38 005 papers were included. Original articles accounted for the highest proportion (62.06%), followed by reviews (17.66%), meeting abstracts (10.16%), letters (6.17%), and editorials (3.95%). Overall, 55.11% of the papers were published in JCR Q1 journals, and the proportion of Q1 papers showed a trend of initial decline followed by a rise over time. By the end of 2024, the total number of citations all included papers was 534 338, with an average number of citations of 14.06 per paper. The proportion of papers that received no citations within 2 years of publication was 29.65%. The 2-year average citation frequency ranked reviews (11.18) > original articles (5.99) > editorials (1.78) > letters (1.23) > meeting abstracts (0.23), and ranked as Q1 (7.61) > Q2 (4.28) > Q3 (3.18) > Q4 (1.56) when classified by JCR quartile. However, the 2-year citation rate was Q2 (75.67%) > Q3 (71.00%) > Q1 (68.78%) > Q4 (53.98%). ConclusionThe annual publication volume, the proportion of high-level Q1 journal papers, and the citation rate and average citation frequency of West China Hospital all showed an increasing trend. Nevertheless, structural problems such as a high proportion of uncited papers and a lack of high-impact papers remain.