Objective To summarize and analyze the present situation

hotspot and development trend of the research and practice about the formative assessment in Chinese medical teaching reform by bibliometrics

and provide a quantitative method for the study of formative assessment. Methods We took 567 journals about formative assessment from CNKI database as the research object

making co-word clus-tering and multidimensional scaling analysis as the main research method

and using Bicomb co-word anal-ysis software and SPSS to complete content data statistics and analysis. Result The knowledge map of formative assessment research can be divided into 7 fields: field 1 shows that most studies are mainly focused on practical research

the effectiveness evaluation on application are mainly focused on the improve-ment of students' independent learning ability. The proportion of research in traditional Chinese medicine colleges or universities is increasing

researches of clinical teaching take an important position

and nursing educations are paying more attention as well. Field 2 and field 4 show the synchronization between assess-ment reform and teaching content/strategy reform. Field 3 presents the general situation of teaching evaluation research in higher vocational colleges. Field 5 shows the theme of exploring the establishment of a formative assessment system. Field 6 shows the differences and similarities between examination and assessment. Field 7 shows the overview of medical English courses. Conclusion In the future

we should actively carry out the construction and exploration of the formative assessment system that conforms to China's national conditions

and attach importance to the construction of the sharing platform. We should avoid duplication of research

attach importance to the study and understanding of theoretical connotation and strengthen training

supervision and management.