Abstract: Objective Policy documents on higher medical education in China were systematically reviewed to identify key policy topics and analyze their evolutionary trajectories, thereby providing novel perspectives for policy research in this field. Methods A total of 159 representative policy texts spanning 1978-2023 were retrieved from the Peking University Fabao Database and official government archives. Latent dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic modeling was applied to extract latent topic structures. Core policy topics and their focal content were determined through systematic analysis of topic-specific keyword distributions and document-topic probability matrices. Results Fifteen potential policy themes were extracted by the LDA and ultimately classified into eight categories of policy themes: medical postgraduate education, grassroots medical workforce development, regulatory frameworks for medical education governance, quality assurance mechanisms in medical education, support systems for medical education infrastructure, ideological and political education in medical training, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) talent cultivation, and standardized residency training programs. Each topic exhibited distinct temporal emphases across policy periods, reflecting evolving priorities. Conclusions China′s higher medical education policies are characterized by comprehensive and systematic topic coverage, addressing multi-tiered dimensions of medical workforce development. The evolution of topics demonstrates both phased progression and adaptive recalibration, indicating policy responsiveness to societal demands and systemic reforms.

Key words: Policy, Higher medical education, Topic analysis, Latent dirichlet allocation (LDA), Evolution