AACOM Council of Osteopathic Librarians Publishes First Bibliometric Analysis of Top-Cited Osteopathic Medical Education Research
Published January 27, 2026
News Press Release
Study maps influential scholarship and identifies four leading topic clusters across 100 most-cited articles
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Bethesda, MD) – The American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) today announced the publication of a new peer-reviewed study in Medical Reference Services Quarterly that provides the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the 100 most-cited articles in osteopathic medical education (OME) authored by faculty affiliated with U.S. colleges of osteopathic medicine.
Conducted by AACOM’s Council of Osteopathic Librarians, the study analyzes publication and citation patterns and uses science-mapping methods to visualize how research topics connect and cluster across influential OME scholarship published through October 2020.
“Understanding which studies have most shaped osteopathic medical education, and how their ideas connect, helps educators and researchers identify what’s working, where gaps remain and where collaboration can accelerate progress,” said AACOM President and CEO Robert A. Cain, DO. “These insights reinforce the scholarly impact of our community and can help guide the next generation of research that advances medical education and patient care.”
“As librarians, we’re trained to analyze how scholarship is produced, shared and used,” said Harold S. Bright IV, lead author, Council of Osteopathic Librarians representative and university library director, A.T. Still University-School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. “This study provides a data-driven view of osteopathic medical education research and helps clarify where the field has been and where it may be headed.”
Key Findings
- The most-cited article in the dataset was a systematic review examining interventions to cultivate physician empathy, cited 107 times, underscoring empathy’s central role in osteopathic training and whole-person care.
- Academic Medicine published the highest number of top-cited OME articles (28). BMC Medical Education had the highest average citations per article (37.8), followed by Rural and Remote Health (36).
- The Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine tied for the most top-cited articles (15 each). Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine had the highest citations per article (39.8).
- Citation patterns suggest that interinstitutional and interdisciplinary collaboration can amplify impact, with a highly cited collaborative review showing the strongest citation performance.
- The analysis found that journal impact factor did not directly predict citations per article, highlighting the importance of topic relevance to reach.
Four Dominant Topic Clusters
Using network analysis and clustering methods, the study identified four thematic groupings that recur most frequently across top-cited OME research:
- Humanistic and whole-person care
- Clinical science and training
- Educational technology
- Health-care systems
The authors note that topics within clusters were cohesive while also overlapping across clusters, reflecting how OME research connects humanism, clinical training, learning innovation and workforce/system needs.
About the Study
Researchers searched the Web of Science Core Collection and supplemented results through manual searches of non-indexed osteopathic-related journals and citation verification, producing a structured dataset of top-cited OME articles published through October 26, 2020. This work complements earlier work by the Council, members of which in 2024 conducted a scoping review of trends in OME research.
About AACOM:
Founded in 1898, the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine (AACOM) is the leading voice for the education and training of physicians who practice osteopathic medicine in settings across the medical spectrum—from primary care to the full range of medical specialties. We support our member colleges of osteopathic medicine in their efforts to attract and train individuals who are fueled by a desire to make a difference in our healthcare system by treating the whole person and building a future emphasizing health and wellness for all people. Today, more than 38,000 future physicians—close to 30 percent of all U.S. medical students—are being educated at one of our 46 accredited colleges of osteopathic medicine, encompassing 73 teaching locations in 36 states. To learn more about AACOM, please visit our website.
Contacts:
Joseph Shapiro
Director of Media Relations
(240) 938-0746
jshapiro@aacom.org
Christine DeCarlo
Senior Manager of Media and Public Affairs
(202) 603-1026
cdecarlo@aacom.org