Background: As team-based learning (TBL) has gained traction in health profession education (HPE), so too has TBL research expanded. However, to date, the literature lacks an overview of TBL research that could inform research and education practice by identifying patterns of scholarship productivity over time. To address this gap, the current study aimed to explore the temporal, geographical and intellectual influences within TBL in HPE research.

Methods: Using a bibliometric approach, we investigated the geographical distribution of TBL research, the main influencers in TBL research over the last two decades, and the characteristics of the most cited and co-cited articles. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Theory was employed as a heuristic framework to map and interpret the global trajectory of TBL research.

Results: TBL has been widely adopted in the USA, followed by the Western Pacific and the Eastern Mediterranean. The number of outputs suggests less traction in other global regions. Generally, TBL research is characterised by many one-off publications in lower-impact journals. Only 5% of papers were cited 50 times or more. The scholars who first brought TBL into HPE continue to collaborate and have a significant impact, as evidenced by citations and productivity.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate that TBL in HPE research has been driven by a group of early adopters. However, while TBL seems to be widely adopted, there is a relative lack of cumulative research on this topic. More qualitative work and collaboration sare needed to explicitly examine what drives the adoption and normalisation of TBL and new pedagogies in HPE globally, as well as associated research.