Faculty development in health professions: a bibliometric analysis

Best practices in faculty development are fundamental to academic excellence in the health professions. Faculty members should have the knowledge, skills and attitudes to contribute to quality education in the health professions. The aim of this study was to systematically map the literature on faculty development in the health professions, conducting a bibliometric review. PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science were searched, using predefined keywords. The systematic mapping included the following indicators: time distribution, journals, authors and countries with the highest number of articles. The most common themes were represented in word clouds. Initially, 15,538 records were retrieved and 224 articles were included. The time analysis revealed a upward trend in the publication of articles on the topic (1977 to 2023). Scientific production is unevenly distributed across journals and countries. The United States has the most articles (n = 208), followed by Canada (n = 20), Australia (n = 19) and the United Kingdom (n = 9). There is also little collaboration between authors, although there is great diversity in thematic areas. Research indicates that priority is given to teacher development as a predominant factor in health education, demonstrating concern for the quality, efficacy, and effectiveness of health education.