Five Years of Dental Education Research: A Comparative Analysis of Thematic Priorities in the European Journal of Dental Education and the Journal of Dental Education (2021–2025)

Background

The landscape of dental education research has undergone substantial transformation over the past five years, driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, accelerating digital innovation, and growing demands for social accountability. A systematic understanding of how leading dental education journals have responded to these forces remains limited.

Purpose

This Perspective presents a comparative thematic analysis of all articles published in the European Journal of Dental Education (EurJDE) and the Journal of Dental Education (JDE) between 2021 and 2025, examining topical priorities, research design patterns, target populations, and evolving publication structures.

Methods

A total of 1,765 articles (EurJDE: 509; JDE: 1,256) were extracted from PubMed. Each article was classified across 11 thematic domains, technology/pedagogy subcategories, seven study design types, and eight target population categories using systematic keyword-based analysis of titles and abstracts. Online-ahead-of-print and 2026-dated articles were excluded. Articles with substantive abstracts (>100 words) were designated as research articles (EurJDE: 502; JDE: 788); all remaining items were classified as non-research publications.

Findings

Both journals shared curriculum development, competency assessment, and student wellbeing as dominant themes among research articles. COVID-19-related articles peaked in 2022–2023 before declining sharply. Artificial intelligence emerged as the fastest-growing topic from 2023 onward. EurJDE placed greater emphasis on technology integration, qualitative inquiry, and European competency frameworks, while JDE showed stronger coverage of diversity-equity-inclusion and evidence-based practice. Notably, 37.3% of JDE articles were non-research items, compared with only 1.4% in EurJDE.

Conclusion

The two journals share a common intellectual core but serve distinctly different editorial missions. Understanding these distinctions can guide manuscript targeting, help educators identify research gaps, and inform future agendas in dental education scholarship.