Mapping the generative era: a bibliometric and specialty-focused analysis of large language models in healthcare
Large language models (LLMs) have been rapidly adopted in healthcare since 2022; however, field-level trends and specialty differences remain poorly characterized. This study aims to map the research landscape of LLMs in healthcare and generate comparative specialty profiles through a bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science Core Collection (2015–2025), including English-language articles and reviews analyzed for publication and citation trends, leading countries, institutions, authors, journals, co-citation networks, and keyword structures with VOSviewer and CiteSpace, with sub-analyses for medicine, general and internal; surgery; and radiology, nuclear medicine and medical imaging. Of the 2226 articles included, the annual output increased from four publications in 2022 to 1327 in 2025, yielding a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 592.26%; the United States of America contributed 43.5% of the publications, followed by China (14.3%), Germany (9.2%), Turkey (9.0%), and England (6.8%); the publications for each specialty were surgery (31.7%), medicine, general and internal (24.2%), and radiology, nuclear medicine and medical Iimaging (13.0%), with the last demonstrating the fastest 2023–2024 growth (CAGR 265%); and the collaboration networks were United States of America-centered, with dense trans-Atlantic ties. LLM research in healthcare is expanding rapidly with distinct specialty-specific trajectories, and interpreting these trajectories using the DECIDE-AI (developmental and exploratory clinical Iinvestigations of decision support systems driven by artificial intelligence) framework clarifies low-risk near-term applications and monitoring priorities, providing a specialty-aware baseline to support the safe, equitable, and regulation-aligned adoption of LLMs in clinical practice.