When submitting research papers to international academic journals, we consider the aims and scope of the journals, readership, acceptance rate, impact factors, etc. to select which journal is most suitable for our studies. In this paper, the editorial board of Medical Education Japan analyzed articles published in international journals between 2009 and 2018 by first authors belonging to institutions in Japan. Pertaining to the number of articles, BMC Medical Education ranked first with forty-one articles (all were original research papers) and Medical Teacher ranked second with 22 (16 original research papers). There were 8 and 7 articles published by first authors from Japan in Academic Medicine and Medical Education, respectively. There are few articles published from Japan in Advances in Health Science Education and Teaching and Learning in Medicine. Some journals, like Advances in Physiology Education and Journal of Surgical Education, focus on specific fields of medicine. We will show characteristics of these major journals (e.g. area of interest, unique article categories, key points for submission, etc.). We hope that readers utilize this information for article submission.

In conjunction with Kegan's Constructive Developmental Theory, Kalet et al. defined the developmental stages of a physician's Professional Identity Formation (PIF). Kalet et al. also developed the Professional Identity Essay (PIE) as a tool to assess the developmental stages of PIF. This paper introduces an educational strategy to enhance the effectiveness of learning with the faculty by using the PIE in community-based clinical clerkship at Jichi Medical University. Students create self-images of the present and future in relation to the professionalism inherent in their mind. The goal is to motivate medical students to reflect sincerely on themselves based on their PIE descriptions and to focus closely on the learning behaviors of the faculty that has something in common with their future images. The reflection, learning behavior, and motivation are the basic elements of self-regulated learning (SRL) proposed by Zimmerman. This educational strategy is a practical application of the PIF-SRL theory proposed by the author.

As outcome-based education has taken hold worldwide, many new findings on learner assessment have emerged. In addition, with the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid spread of generative artificial intelligence, the situation surrounding learner assessment is entering a new phase. Now is the time to review the historical transition of modern learner assessment in the world and in Japan, to clarify our inherent value criteria for learner assessment, and to discuss the future prospects for learner assessment. This paper will explain the key issues related to learner assessment in the context of past and present trends.

A first-year experience class for medical students was conducted to show a whole curriculum structure and to introduce some study skills through a few group work activities. Although the class was originally lecture-based, it was redesigned with active learning methods like group discussion, peer-review experience and peer-to-peer presentation using short articles. Students were asked to submit a learning record note and received feedback via Moodle. First-year students are expected to identify milestones toward the achievement of core competencies during the 6-year undergraduate curriculum and acquire basic skills leading to the development of various learning strategies. Learning outcomes of this attempt should be investigated for years and the class needs to be improved based on the evaluation.

The Medical Education Specialist Certified Coursework, which has been officially in operation since 2014, has produced 181 specialists to date. In response to the globalization of medical education, the program has established a system to foster specialists who can work to improve education in accordance with international standards at each educational institution. However, the outbreak of COVID-19 made it impossible to hold face-to-face lessons, forcing the organizers to reform the course. The course resumed in February 2021 as a full online course. Moodle was used as the learning platform, and lectures and group work were conducted via Zoom. There were no major connection problems, and the results of the post-course questionnaire showed a high level of satisfaction and usefulness of the learning. To make this course a good practice for a new era in education, the strengths of both face-to-face and online methods should be incorporated.

Community-based clinical clerkship, which involves travel outside the university or prefecture, was restricted or reduced due to the outbreak of the new coronavirus infection. What kind of shortage of learning this caused and how the shortage was compensated for were discussed in a special symposium at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Medical Education. As a result, two “essences” of community-based medical education emerged: 1) to recognize one’s role and responsibility in the future in the context of interprofessional practice, and 2) to look beyond the framework of medical institutions and view the whole scope of medicine with the patient at the center. It was concluded that online supplementary education should be utilized to enhance the value of practical training experience even in the post-Corona era. It was also supposed that this would lead to the “evolution” of community-based medical education itself.