Trends and insights in e-learning in medical education: A bibliometric analysis

Medical education is vital in producing competent healthcare professionals and advancing medical knowledge. The integration of e-learning has emerged as a transformative approach to enhance medical education by improving accessibility, cost-effectiveness and interactive learning experiences. With the COVID-19 pandemic further accelerating e-learning adoption, analysing the trends, publication collaborations and publication patterns in this domain is crucial. This study conducted a bibliometric analysis of published documents on the Scopus database in e-learning in medical education to explore the trends in scientific productivity. Publications in the domain has sporadically increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic introduces a changing focus in research and emerging trends, with COVID-19 becoming a dominant topic and emerging theme. A collaborative research environment exists between authors; however, there is a divide between developed and developing countries in publication distribution, emphasising the need for equitable participation. This study contributes to a comprehensive understanding of e-learning in medical education, emphasising collaboration, publication patterns, emerging trends, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers can leverage these findings to advance e-learning in medical education and enhance the quality of medical training and education.Rationale for this studyThe COVID-19 pandemic reshaped medical education, emphasising e-learning's potential for teaching and learning continuity during lockdowns. Bibliometric analysis is needed to examine trends in e-learning within medical education.Why the new findings matterThe landscape of publications in e-learning in medical education has changed; the bibliometric analysis of trends in the domain reveals key themes, pandemic response, challenges and opportunities to inform future research in the domain.Implications for educational researchers and policy makersFunders and institutions need to encourage collaboration between developed and developing countries to bridge the publication disparities in the domain. Developed countries can share resources, while developing countries bring fresh perspectives in their context. It is important for educators and researcher in medical education to report the implementation of e-learning with specific details on the critical success factor of e-learning in their context. This can provide a baseline for others to understand how to optimise the implementation of e-learning to make it more suitable in their context.Context and implications