Envisioning the Future of ChatGPT in Healthcare: Insights and Recommendations from a Systematic Identification of Influential Research and a Call for Papers

Background and Aims: ChatGPT represents the most popular and widely used generative artificial intelligence (AI) model that received significant attention in healthcare research. The aim of the current study was to assess the future trajectory of the needed research in this domain based on the recommendations of the top influential published records.
Materials and Methods: A systematic search was conducted on Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar (27–30 November 2023) to identify the top ten ChatGPT-related published records in healthcare across the three databases. Classification of the records as “top” denoting high influence in the field was based on citation counts.
Results: A total of 22 unique records from 17 different journals representing 14 different publishers were identified as the top ChatGPT-related publications in healthcare subject. Based on the identified records’ recommendations, the following themes appeared as important areas to consider in future ChatGPT research in healthcare: improving healthcare education, improved efficiency of clinical processes (e.g., documentation), addressing ethical concerns (e.g., patient privacy and consent), supporting research tasks (e.g., data analysis, manuscript preparation), mitigating ChatGPT output biases, improving patient education and engagement, and developing standardized assessment protocols for ChatGPT utility in healthcare.
Conclusions: The current review highlighted key areas to be prioritized in assessment of ChatGPT utility in healthcare. Interdisciplinary collaborations and standardizing methodologies are needed to synthesize robust evidence in these studies. Based on these recommendations and the promising potential of ChatGPT on healthcare, JMJ launched a call for papers for a special issue entitled “Evaluating Generative AI-Based Models in Healthcare”.