Previously submitted to: JMIR Medical Education (no longer under consideration since Jul 17, 2025)
Date Submitted: Jul 6, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 11, 2025 - Sep 5, 2025
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Healthcare Professionals' Perspectives on AI in Scholarly Writing: A Cross-Sectional Study of Perceptions, Attitudes, Utilization, and Training Needs
ABSTRACT
Background:
The rapid integration of AI in scholarly writing presents transformative potential for medical research, yet comprehensive data on healthcare professionals’ engagement with these tools remain scarce.
Objective:
This study aimed to assess awareness, attitudes, utilization, and training needs regarding artificial intelligence (AI) in medical scholarly writing among healthcare professionals, alongside evaluating current applications and future developmental potential.
Methods:
An online questionnaire was distributed to healthcare professionals across various medical institutions, yielding 782 responses. The questionnaire explored familiarity with AI writing technologies, attitudes and preferences toward their use, actual usage behaviors, and specific training needs, along with factors influencing these aspects.
Results:
The results showed that although 71.74% of respondents reported awareness of AI writing technologies, only 23.53% indicated a thorough understanding. Healthcare professionals predominantly held neutral or supportive attitudes toward AI writing (63.94% and 51.53%, respectively), with over 60% expressed willingness to adopt it, primarily motivated by expected improvements in writing efficiency (87.53%) and enhanced article structuring (63.94%). However, actual usage remained limited, with only 6.14% having utilized AI writing tools. The major barriers identified included insufficient skills and knowledge (64.64%), high costs (69.82%), and concerns about the quality of content generated (80.56%). Additionally, only 2.43% of respondents had received training related to AI writing tools, yet 61.77% indicated substantial interest in such training, emphasizing areas such as basic operations, adherence to writing standards, and quality control measures.
Conclusions:
AI writing technologies exhibit significant potential within the medical academic community, and healthcare professionals generally regard their application positively. Nonetheless, limited awareness, low practical utilization rates, and perceived technological limitations currently restrict broader adoption. Moving forward, strategies such as enhancing tool functionalities, providing extensive practical examples, offering free trial periods, and establishing systematic training programs should be considered critical strategies. These initiatives are expected to enhance proficiency in AI-assisted writing among healthcare professionals, thereby fostering innovation and improving efficiency within medical research. Clinical Trial: Approved by Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital Ethics Committee (SYSKY-2024-074-01). Electronic informed consent was obtained from all participants.
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