Communication Skills in Medical Education and Practice: A Bibliometric Analysis of the Current Research Landscape.

Abstract

Communication skills are widely recognized as a core competency in medical education and clinical care, as they impact professional effectiveness, patient experience, and health outcomes. Over the past two decades, research in this area has expanded rapidly, creating the need for a comprehensive mapping of the field. To provide a global bibliometric analysis of research on communication skills in medical education and clinical practice published between 2000 and 2025, a systematic bibliometric search of PubMed (MEDLINE) and the Web of Science Core Collection was conducted for the period January 2000 to mid-2025. After deduplication and screening, 14,829 publications were included. Bibliometric indicators were analyzed using the Bibliometrix package in R and VOSviewer to evaluate publication trends, authorship patterns, journal impact, keyword co-occurrence, thematic evolution, and international collaboration networks. Annual publication output increased approximately 15-fold, from 86 publications in 2000 to 1,344 in 2025. Research was concentrated in a limited number of high-impact journals, led by Patient Education and Counseling, BMC Medical Education, Medical Teacher, and Medical Education. The United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Canada, and Australia emerged as dominant contributors, with increasing international collaboration over time. Keyword and thematic analyses identified four major clusters: clinician-patient communication and outcomes, medical education and assessment, communication in sensitive and high-stakes clinical contexts, and emerging digital and technology-mediated communication modalities. Research on communication skills has evolved into a mature, interdisciplinary, and globally distributed field. The findings demonstrate strong curricular integration, increasing methodological sophistication, and growing attention to digital transformation while also highlighting persistent geographic and contextual gaps that warrant further research and educational innovation.