While most of the top-ten papers from April 2024 have already been discussed in previous blog posts, the focus of this post is on artificial intelligence (AI), the topic of number 8 in this month’s Top 10 (see table below).

We have published a number of papers that examine AI and its potential use in clinical decision making, diagnostics, as well as the conduct of research. Below is an editor’s selection to give a brief introduction to some of the recent research into AI and its potential application in healthcare and medical research.

The Communications article by Van Dijk et al which features in April’s Top 10 looked at the use of the AI tool ASReview for the conduct of systematic reviews and found it to be a ‘promising innovation […] as long as it is appropriately used and methodological quality can be assured’.

A systematic review by Shahzad et al assessed the quality of reporting of randomised controlled trials of AI interventions. The authors concluded, based on evidence up to December 2021, that the quality of reporting is ‘suboptimal’. Increased use of the CONSORT-AI checklist, published in 2020 (BMJ), may help address this going forward.

Fischer et al conducted a qualitative study among healthcare professionals about the future of AI in obstetrics while Fazakarley et al looked into the experiences of clinicians and key stakeholders with AI in the National Health Service in the UK. Wu et al examined the public’s perception of AI in healthcare in a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies. Overall, these studies concluded that while there seems to be a positive perception about the application of AI in healthcare and research, appropriate safeguards, guidelines and validation need to be in place.

Of interest to current/prospective authors and peer reviewers may be BMJ’s policy on AI use.

Below are the top ten most-read papers in BMJ Open during April 2024:

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