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Topic · Family Practice

Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills

Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills is a research topic within Family Practice. Science Explorer counts 20k research works in it since 1950. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the importance of cognitive errors in diagnosis, strategies to minimize them, and the impact of clinical reasoning on diagnostic accuracy. It explores cognitive biases, uncertainty in diagnosis, educational interventions to improve diagnostic reasoning, and the development of expertise in medical decision making. The cluster also emphasizes the role of reflective practice and the use of tools like the Script Concordance Test to enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient safety.

  • Diagnostic Error
  • Clinical Reasoning
  • Cognitive Biases
  • Uncertainty in Diagnosis
  • Medical Decision Making
  • Educational Strategies
  • Patient Safety
  • Expertise Development
  • Script Concordance Test
  • Reflective Practice
Research works
20k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+30%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
46% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.8k and 422 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.8k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 422 works
  3. 3 India 266 works
  4. 4 Canada 264 works
  5. 5 China 260 works
  6. 6 Germany 216 works
  7. 7 Australia 185 works
  8. 8 France 160 works
  9. 9 Türkiye 160 works
  10. 10 Netherlands 147 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 46.2%United Kingdom: 10.9%India: 6.9%Canada: 6.8%6 others listed: 29.1%46%largest
United States1,790 · 46.2%United Kingdom422 · 10.9%India266 · 6.9%Canada264 · 6.8%6 others listed1,128 · 29.1%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills research?

By volume in 2022-now, Harvard University publishes the most Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills research, followed by Design Intelligence (United States) and University of Toronto.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Harvard UniversityUnited States 84 works
  2. 2 Design Intelligence (United States)United States 53 works
  3. 3 University of TorontoCanada 44 works
  4. 4 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 39 works
  5. 5 Mayo ClinicUnited States 32 works
  6. 6 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 30 works
  7. 7 University of MichiganUnited States 26 works
  8. 8 Stanford UniversityUnited States 25 works
  9. 9 Baylor College of MedicineUnited States 23 works
  10. 10 All India Institute of Medical SciencesIndia 22 works

Who are the leading researchers in Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills include David Moher, Douglas G. Altman and Daniel J. Kahneman.

  1. 1 David Moher Canada 898k citations
  2. 2 Douglas G. Altman United Kingdom 862k citations
  3. 3 Daniel J. Kahneman United States 395k citations
  4. 4 Valery L. Feigin New Zealand 341k citations
  5. 5 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
  6. 6 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 317k citations
  7. 7 Gordon Henry Guyatt Canada 315k citations
  8. 8 Elie A. Akl Canada 313k citations
  9. 9 Gregory Y.H. Lip United Kingdom 311k citations
  10. 10 Karl John Friston United Kingdom 310k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills?

The most cited paper in Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills is "The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A Research Note" (Robert Goodman, 1997), with 15,111 citations. Next come "QUADAS-2: A Revised Tool for the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies" (14,541) and "A method for estimating the probability of adverse drug reactions" (11,879).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A Research Note Robert Goodman · Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry Open access Jul 1997 15,111
2 QUADAS-2: A Revised Tool for the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies Penny F. Whiting, Anne W.S. Rutjes, Marie E. Westwood et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine Open access 18 Oct 2011 14,541
3 A method for estimating the probability of adverse drug reactions C. A. Naranjo, U. Busto, Edward M. Sellers et al. · Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics Aug 1981 11,879
4 Clarifying Confusion: The Confusion Assessment Method Sharon K. Inouye, Christopher H. van Dyck, Cathy A. Alessi et al. · Annals of Internal Medicine 15 Dec 1990 5,341
5 Features and uses of high-fidelity medical simulations that lead to effective learning: a BEME systematic review Saul Barry Issenberg, William C. McGaghie, EMIL R. PETRUSA et al. · Medical Teacher Review 2005 3,976
All 97 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills research done?

The largest centres of Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Boston (United States), New York (United States) and Toronto (Canada). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Norman and San Francisco.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 113 works
  2. 2 BostonUnited States 85 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 76 works
  4. 4 TorontoCanada 58 works
  5. 5 BaltimoreUnited States 55 works
  6. 6 PhiladelphiaUnited States 54 works
  7. 7 NormanUnited States 54 works
  8. 8 ParisFrance 52 works
  9. 9 MelbourneAustralia 47 works
  10. 10 SingaporeSingapore 45 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. NormanUS · 53.6 works30×
  2. San FranciscoUS · 34.0 works4.8×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills than the world average.

See Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills on the map

Where is the best place to study Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills?

Among universities, judged by research, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University and University of Toronto score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 14.99%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Tel Aviv UniversityJohns Hopkins Univer…Harvard UniversityUniversity of Toronto
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Harvard UniversityUnited States 73.813.3%5.5×84 -0.6%
2Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 71.815.5%5.2×39 +45.6%
3University of TorontoCanada 65.911.0%4.5×44 +8.3%
4Tel Aviv UniversityIsrael 65.825.9%3.2×12 +113.2%
5Stanford UniversityUnited States 65.315.2%3.5×25 +53.1%
6Maastricht UniversityNetherlands 60.612.3%8.3×16 -2.3%
7National University of SingaporeSingapore 59.615.0%3.6×20 +122.7%
8McGill UniversityCanada 59.015.6%3.6×17 +5.8%
9University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 58.511.9%8.6×30 +10.2%
10McMaster UniversityCanada 57.414.2%6.0×17 -9.9%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills, country by country

Is Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 30% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.022% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills0.026% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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