Development characteristics and research frontier report of Chinese medical education research with an international view

Abstract

Objective To understand the development trend and frontier hotspots in the field of medical education in China, to conduct bibliometric analyses to the perspective of international medical journal publications, and to provide reference for the reform and development of medical education in China. Methods Using medical education as the MeSH term, publications by Chinese institutions pertaining to medical education research between from 2008 up to 2017, and included in the scientific citation index (SCI) database were collected from PubMed and corroborated through the web of science database. Research characteristics, such as publication trends, distribution of institutions, and distribution of journals, were analyzed to depict the overall development characteristics of medical education research in China. BICOMB and gCLUTO were used for cluster analysis and citation index analysis of high-frequency MeSH terms in order to identify the frontiers and hotspots of Chinese medical education research. Results Totally of 441 articles were reviewed in the study analysis. Analysis of the characteristics of Chinese medical education research showed that The University of Hong Kong (HKU) ranked first in terms of the distribution of institutional publications and the ranking of authors' publications. In the past decade, the journal Medical Teacher published more articles about Chinese authors, and health care sciences had become the most interdisciplinary subject in the field of medical education. Cluster analysis presented 6 high-frequency MeSH terms and 5 high frequency citations. Conclusions Compared to international medical education research, Chinese medical education research started late but has developed rapidly in recent years. The current research fully discussed and addressed the practical challenges facing the reform and development of medical education in China from a global perspective. However, the depth and breadth of the overall research still needs to be improved. Key words: Medical Education; Bibliometrics; Cluster analysis