Quantifying the literature of computer-aided instruction in medical education

Purpose. To characterize the literature about computer-aided instruction (C AI) as it relates to medical education. Method. A descriptive study using the Medline and ERIC databases, reviewing articles pertaining to CAI for medical professionals. The literature was e valuated with respect to type of article, journal, language, and year of pu blication. Results. The search yielded 2,840 citations, 92% of which were in English. The number of journals with at least one citation was 747. Less than 5% of the 5,147 authors had three or more articles published in the CAI literatur e. Of the citations with abstracts, 60% were demonstrations of a CAI applic ation, 11% were media-comparative studies, and 13% were analyses of the CAI field. While the pace of article publication increased markedly over time, the percentages of article types did not change significantly over time. L ess than 10% of CAI articles appeared in core medical journals. Conclusion. Medical CAI is an increasingly popular topic of research and pu blication. However, these studies appear in journals with smaller circulati ons, are predominantly demonstration articles, and are generally written by authors with two or fewer publications. Evaluation articles remain less co mmon. A series of analytic articles has appeared offering substantive sugge stions for better research design. These suggestions appear to have gone un heeded. CAI investigators need be more aware of the gaps in the existing bo dy of CAI publications, and the inherent difficulties of this type of resea rch, if this literature is to move beyond this early stage of development.