A bibliometric analysis of the advance of artificial intelligence in medicine (Preprint)

BACKGROUND The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into medicine has ushered an era of unprecedented innovation, with substantial impacts on healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. OBJECTIVE it is essential to comprehend the current state of development, primary research focal points, and to identify key contributors and their relationships in the application of AI in medicine through bibliometric analysis. METHODS We employed the Web of Science Core Collection as our primary database and conducted a literature search spanning from January 2019 to December 2023.VOSviewer and R-bibliometrix were performed to conduct bibliometric analysis and network visualization, including the number of publications, countries, journals, citations, authors and keywords. RESULTS A total of 1811 publications on research for artificial intelligence in medicine were released across 565 journals by 12376 authors affiliated with 3583 institutions from 97 countries. The United States emerged as the leading producer of scholarly works, exerting significant influence in this domain. Harvard Medical School exhibited the highest publication count among all institutions. The JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH attained the highest H-index (H-index=19), the most significant publication count (NP=76), and total citations (NC=1495). Among the keywords, four clusters were identified, encompassing the application of AI in digital health, COVID-19 and ChatGPT, precision medicine, epidemiology, and public health. "Outcomes" and "Risk" demonstrated a notable upward trend, indicating the utilization of AI in engaging with clinicians and patients to discuss patients' health condition risks, foreshadowing future research focal points. CONCLUSIONS Our bibliometric analysis delved into the advancements, focal points, and cutting-edge areas within the field of artificial intelligence in medicine, revealing potential future research opportunities. Research on artificial intelligence in medicine is rapidly progressing, as evidenced by a consistent increase in publications on the topic since 2019. Simultaneously, we identified leading countries, institutions, and scholars in the field and conducted an analysis of journals and representative literature. This study equips researchers with the necessary information to comprehend the current state, collaborative networks, and primary research focal points within the field. Furthermore, our findings propose a set of recommendations for future research.