What is "Medicine"? A scoping review as baseline for the Generative AI era

What is "Medicine"? A scoping review as baseline for the Generative AI era | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Systematic Review What is "Medicine"? A scoping review as baseline for the Generative AI era Daniela Yucuma, Manuela Tellez, Angie K Puerto, Alejandro R Jadad This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8800183/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The meaning of “medicine” has received very little systematic attention. This scoping review summarizes published English-language efforts to define or conceptualize “medicine” and serves as a baseline for an era in which generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and other computational systems increasingly participate in medical activities, reshaping the notion of expertise, and blurring the limits of authority, accountability and governance. We searched PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Google Scholar (to March 2020); the top 11 English dictionaries; and the websites of the world’s top 10 ranked medical schools, all 113 members of the World Medical Association, and other major institutions. We included any text-based definition or conceptualization and extracted data in duplicate, copying eligible statements verbatim. The searches yielded 5,341 citations; 17 sources contained eligible statements. Of these, 12 mentioned health, 10 considered medicine as a science, and 9 focused on the prevention, treatment or cure of diseases. All dictionaries provided at least one eligible statement, most emphasizing disease/illness and some mentioning health. None of the screened medical schools, associations or institutions offered an explicit definition or conceptualization, and no source described a systematic, replicable process to capture the meaning of “medicine.” Bold, systematic and replicable initiatives are needed to fill this gap, to separate medicine from other professions, and to clarify its role in the creation and preservation of health beyond the chemical-mechanical view of patients and their diseases. Without systematic definition or conceptualization, medicine risks being shaped by operational forces, such as billing structures, automation capabilities, and platform incentives, rather than by principled commitments about its purpose and boundaries. Health Economics & Outcomes Research Health Policy Health Economics and Outcomes Research Health Law Internal Medicine Hospital Medicine Translational Medicine Educational Philosophy and Theory Philosophy Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Medicine Health Medical Policy Education Meaning Definition Concept Large Language Models LLM Decision-Making Artificial Intelligence AI Generative AI Machine Learning Neural Networks Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8800183","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Systematic Review","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":586549543,"identity":"e8fa22fb-c1d7-4fd9-8e94-b20c1f954f85","order_by":0,"name":"Daniela Yucuma","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Daniela","middleName":"","lastName":"Yucuma","suffix":""},{"id":586549544,"identity":"a0a79e38-f9f9-4cef-bf24-07c6570dad91","order_by":1,"name":"Manuela Tellez","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Manuela","middleName":"","lastName":"Tellez","suffix":""},{"id":586549545,"identity":"4b604b46-c3c1-401d-a9c9-1a0c2e0613cb","order_by":2,"name":"Angie K Puerto","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Angie","middleName":"K","lastName":"Puerto","suffix":""},{"id":586549546,"identity":"b51f13aa-d702-4b49-8865-744a53b06379","order_by":3,"name":"Alejandro R Jadad","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAvklEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFCCAwwGHypsIGweYrUUzjiTRpIWBobPvG2HSdDC33iAcTMP2/nE+e0HGB+8bSNCi8SBA8yGc3huJ244k8BsOJcYLQwHDrAZvJEAapFgYJPmJUaL/IED7D94DM4lzp/BwP6bKC0GBw4wGPIkHEhsuMHAxkyUFkOQlhkHko03nElslpxzjggtcjeAUfnxn53s/PbDBz+8KSNCC4PE+Q9QFmMDMeqBgJ9YhaNgFIyCUTByAQCbcDvPfwRMgQAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alejandro","middleName":"R","lastName":"Jadad","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-02-05 18:49:52","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8800183/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8800183/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":102297213,"identity":"07d7b51e-c240-4018-81dd-98ab1dd9ac26","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-10 10:26:31","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":412914,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"WhatismedicineAscopingreviewasabaselinefortheLLMeraFinal260203.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8800183/v1_covered_d20d0a60-3643-40da-84f9-793238752a31.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003eWhat is \"Medicine\"? 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This scoping review summarizes published English-language efforts to define or conceptualize “medicine” and serves as a baseline for an era in which generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) and other computational systems increasingly participate in medical activities, reshaping the notion of expertise, and blurring the limits of authority, accountability and governance.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe searched PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews; Google Scholar (to March 2020); the top 11 English dictionaries; and the websites of the world’s top 10 ranked medical schools, all 113 members of the World Medical Association, and other major institutions. We included any text-based definition or conceptualization and extracted data in duplicate, copying eligible statements verbatim.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe searches yielded 5,341 citations; 17 sources contained eligible statements. Of these, 12 mentioned health, 10 considered medicine as a science, and 9 focused on the prevention, treatment or cure of diseases. All dictionaries provided at least one eligible statement, most emphasizing disease/illness and some mentioning health. None of the screened medical schools, associations or institutions offered an explicit definition or conceptualization, and no source described a systematic, replicable process to capture the meaning of “medicine.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBold, systematic and replicable initiatives are needed to fill this gap, to separate medicine from other professions, and to clarify its role in the creation and preservation of health beyond the chemical-mechanical view of patients and their diseases. 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