Abstract
Background Curriculum development is an essential domain for medical educators, yet specific training in this area is inconsistent. With competing demands for educators' time, a succinct resource for best practice is needed. Objective To create a curated list of the most essential articles on curriculum development to guide education scholars in graduate medical education. Methods We used a modified Delphi method, a systematic consensus strategy to increase content validity, to achieve consensus on the most essential curriculum development articles. We convened a panel of 8 experts from the United States in curricular development, with diverse career stages, institutions, gender, and specialty. We conducted a literature search across PubMed and Google Scholar with keywords, such as "curriculum development" and "curricular design," to identify relevant articles focusing on a general overview or approach to curriculum development. Articles were reviewed across 3 iterative Delphi rounds to narrow down those that should be included in a list of the most essential articles on curriculum development. Results Our literature search yielded 1708 articles, 90 of which were selected for full-text review, and 26 of which were identified as appropriate for the modified Delphi process. We had a 100% response rate for each Delphi round. The panelists narrowed the articles to a final list of 5 articles, with 4 focusing on the development of new curriculum and 1 on curriculum renewal. Conclusions We developed a curated list of 5 essential articles on curriculum development that is broadly applicable to graduate medical educators.