In recent decades, an increasing number of studies have focused on the clinical translational effect of simulation-based medical education (SBME). However, few scientific bibliometric studies have analyzed the research hotspots and publication trends. This study aimed to investigate research hotspots and future direction in the clinical translational outcome of SBME via bibliometrics.
Relevant publications on the clinical translational outcomes of SBME from 2011 to 2021 were identified and retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC). Software including VOSviewer (1.6.17) and CiteSpace (5.8R3) and a platform (
A total of 1,178 publications were enrolled. An increasing number of publications were observed in the past decades from 48 in 2011 to 175 in 2021. The United States accounted for the largest number of publications (488, 41.4%) and citations (10,432); the University of Toronto and Northwestern University were the leading institutions.
From the overall trend of 10 years of research, we can see that the research is roughly divided into three phases, from laboratory stage, individual skill improvement to the patient outcomes, and comprehensive impacts such as skill retention and collateral effect as cost-effectiveness is a major trend of future research. More objective evaluation measurement should be designed to assess the diverse impact and further meta-analysis and randomized controlled trials are needed to provide more clinical evidence of SBME as translational science.