Masters in health professions education programs as they choose to represent themselves: A website review

Introduction In an age of increasingly face-to-face, blended, and online Health Professions Education, students have more choices of institutions at which to study their degree. For an applicant, oftentimes, the first step is to learn more about a program through its website. Websites allow programs to convey their unique voice and to share their mission and values with others such as applicants, researchers, and academics. Additionally, as the number of master in health professions education (MHPE), or equivalent, programs rapidly grows, websites can share the priorities of these programs. Methods In this study, we conducted a website review of 158 MHPE websites to explore their geographical distributions, missions, educational concentrations, and various programmatic components. Results We compiled this information and synthesized pertinent aspects, such as program similarities and differences, or highlighted the omission of critical data. Conclusions Given that websites are often the first point of contact for prospective applicants, curious collaborators, and potential faculty, the digital image of MHPE programs matters. We believe our findings demonstrate opportunities for growth within institutions and assist the field in identifying the priorities of MHPE programs. As programs begin to shape their websites with more intentionality, they can reflect their relative divergence/convergence compared to other programs as they see fit and, therefore, attract individuals to best match this identity. Periodic reviews of the breadth of programs, such as those undergone here, are necessary to capture diversifying goals, and serves to help advance the field of MHPE as a whole.


Introduction
In an age of increasingly face-to-face, blended, and online Health Professions Education, students have more choices of institutions at which to study their degree.For an applicant, oftentimes, the first step is to learn more about a program through its website.Websites allow programs to convey their unique voice and to share their mission and values with others such as applicants, researchers, and academics.Additionally, as the number of master in health professions education (MHPE), or equivalent, programs rapidly grows, websites can share the priorities of these programs.

Methods
In this study, we conducted a website review of 158 MHPE websites to explore their geographical distributions, missions, educational concentrations, and various programmatic components.

Results
We compiled this information and synthesized pertinent aspects, such as program similarities and differences, or highlighted the omission of critical data.

Introduction
The age-old adage, 'see one, do one, teach one' has expired.In its wake, health professions education (HPE) has emerged.HPE programs equip health care providers with the academic prowess, interpersonal skills, and leadership to advance the field, because students taught by skilled clinical educators often perform better in their fields 1 .Furthermore, learning the educational and leadership skills necessary to teach requires practice and a significant time commitment 2,3 .Medical personnel are often constrained in their capacity to teach effectively due to busy clinical schedules 4 .HPE programs have come to meet this need and to serve as a reference standard to ensure health professionals are equipped with skills in education, leadership and research despite different locations, styles, and contents 5 .
In an age of constantly improving technology, and in the context of the severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, the landscape of teaching methodologies continues to be dynamic 6 .Online education has increased the breadth of information distributed, delivery format flexibility, and access to intended audiences 6 .Websites allow individuals to promote their "brand" as they want it to be seen, sending potential consumers, or HPE applicants, the message(s) they desire.
Although still a relatively new and expanding field, website reviews of higher education institutions are recognized as an effective way to learn about a program's identity, culture, values, administrative and organizational structure, available technologies, among others 7,8 .In the HPE program space, this theoretically allows HPE programs to appeal to more individuals, and with a more focused and intentional message than before.Given the growing importance of website branding in higher education, it is likely that more time and intention will be placed on the final drafts of HPE programs' websites 9 .
Additionally, the growth in the number and diversity of HPE programs is noteworthy.The number of Masters of HPE programs, or an equivalent degree (all of which we will refer to as "MHPE"), was cited at 121 in 2014, a staggering growth from a total of 7 in 1999 10,11 .Therefore, Master degrees have become increasingly important to serve as a reference standard to ensure quality educators despite vastly different locations, styles, and content being trained 5 .Pugsley et al. (2008) tried to gain an understanding of the intra-program differences and found that it varies greatly 12 .In their 2012 review article, Tekian and Harris noticed the significant growth of MHPE programs, and asked some of the same questions we did here 13 .They explored several concepts, including: geographic location, mission and purpose, program requirements (e.g., admission requirements, coursework, among others), and program details (e.g., endpoint recognition, title, tuition costs, duration, instructional strategies, competencies among others).Further, Tekian and Harris' work called on the HPE community to take action in two areas: 1) Answer an urgent need for expert medical education globally by ensuring that degree-granting programs are geographically distributed to afford individuals with the corresponding competence in HPE 2) Establish criteria for evaluation, including best practices to ensure minimum acceptable quality.
But much has changed since Tekian and Harris' 2012 study; the world is increasingly technology-driven and competent, the number of MHPE programs continues to grow, and HPE as a whole is being given higher recognition for the value it provides the medical field.We used Tekian and Harris' topics as sensitizing concepts to extract data from websites and chose to continue the discussion of MHPE programs with a different methodology and in greater depth.Thus, our study is bringing to light a novel perspective of HPE masters programs and conveying the voices of the institutions through their websites' priorities.
Whether as an applicant, an educator, or a researcher, a reasonable starting point to learn what these programs value and teach is via their websites.Websites allow programs to reflect on their priorities and convey them in a manner that they believe adequately represents their program as a whole.This type of widely available advertising gives a unique voice to each institution.We therefore gained insight to these voices through exploration of websites of MHPE programs globally and examined their geographical distribution, missions, educational priorities/concentrations, and programmatic components.
Overall, the purpose of this paper is twofold: First, to demonstrate that websites can be utilized by MHPE programs as a way to create a brand and subsequently distribute it to others.Second, this paper demonstrates the use of websites to review the growth and diversity of MHPE programs.

Methods
Our team deduced that most MHPE programs would have a website, and that this would serve as a representation of how Next, we compiled raw data from program websites.All data was collected manually based on what our team thought would be useful for better understanding these institutions.Categories such as programs' geographical distributions, missions, educational concentrations, and various programmatic logistical components were jointly identified for data collection by three of our authors (JS, SW and HM).Categorization of raw data, into themes and sub-themes, for example, was performed by the same three authors that performed the review, via a joint decision-making process.JS, SW, and HW worked independently through a set of three MHPE programs, obtaining the data for these selected categories.Afterward, we manually cross-checked each other's work for verification purposes.For example, if JS obtained the information, SW or HM, who were blinded to JS's findings, would independently find the answers to the same questions/topics.This was performed until agreement between pre-and post-review information was above 95%.There was no discovered information that was not agreed upon after discussion.Once 100% agreement was reached with this method, the total number of MHPE programs analyzed were split between JS and SW and the raw data was obtained for the same categories.

Amendments from Version 1
This data then underwent a review by the other two researchers to ensure high accuracy.This review consisted of information verification on individual program websites where it was originally obtained.For example, if JS found the information about a program, SW and HM (now not blinded) would both have to independently find the same information.Any identified discrepancies were rectified through discussion and three-way agreement was mandatory for the team to move on to the next program.

Results
After applying the exclusion criteria listed in the PRISMA below (Figure 1) we were left with 110 masters programs for detailed analysis.

Geographic location
Master's programs were categorized based on WHO memberstates country groupings for more objective organization, based on a precedent set by other scholars such as Tekian and Harris in 2012 13 .The groupings are in Table II and the distribution of these schools is displayed in Figure 2.
The greatest relative increase was seen in the number of "Western Pacific" programs, which have more than doubled (Figure 2).A detailed description of the countries included in each WHO classification can be found in Table I, or on the WHO website 15 .Although in 2012 European programs took Table I.WHO classifications as they pertain to countries identified in our MHPE research 15 .

List of Countries
Europe Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, UK, Switzerland, Turkey, Netherlands Americas USA, Canada, Cuba, Latin America

Western Pacific
China, Malaysia, Philippians, New Zealand, Australia Africa Kenya, South Africa Eastern Mediterranean Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Sudan South-East Asia Indonesia, Bangladesh, India, Thailand up the largest percentage of HPE Master's programs globally, this rank now belongs to "American" programs (Figure 2).It is important to notice, that although both "Africa" has doubled its number of programs, they still represent a marginal percentage (2.63%) of these Master's programs globally.Other interesting trends can be highlighted, such as the significant growth in "American" programs in contrast to the decrease in "South-East Asia" programs.

Mission and purpose
The mission and/or purpose statements of health professionsrelated Master's programs vary widely.After solely reviewing the mission or purpose statements from each program, we noted some common themes: education, personal/professional development, research, community improvement, and organizational level skills.We found Education concepts, broadly speaking, were the primary theme of 53% of these programs, followed by Leadership (19%).Twelve percent did not have a written mission/ purpose published.Examining each of these themes helped highlight the nuance and variety of the programs.Within the education theme, there was further variation in the form of sub-themes such as: educational theory, teaching practice, teaching and learning skills, assessment, evaluation, design, and curriculum implementation.Within the personal/ professional development theme, we noted topics such as: communication skills, professional development, critical analysis, achieving career goals, well-being of healthcare providers, and reflective practice.The research theme tended to be more unified, and we noted mention of only production of scholarship and performing research.In the community improvement theme, there was mention of: community engagement, diversity, service, clinical care to resource-limited environments, and inclusion.Finally, with regard to the theme of organizational level skills, we noted a propensity of these programs to discuss: preparing leaders, managing change, quality improvement, interprofessional relationships, and mentoring.

Admissions requirements
Across the 110 programs we reviewed, many different admissions requirements were appreciated.For example, 10 programs (9.09 %) required a professional exam for entrance, while 16 (14.5%) required previous teaching experience.Complete results of all admission requirements extracted are included in Table II.Notably, only 26 programs (23.6 %) explicitly stated that they require a terminal degree for their applicants.

Specialization/concentration
Only a few specializations or concentrations were noted in Tekian and Harris's 2012 review including: leadership development, clinical education, surgical education, medical education, and HPE more generally 13 .Our analysis found the field has broadened over the past 10 years with all of the aforementioned specializations/concentrations appearing within our review, as well as some new ones: simulation, philosophy, statistics, ethics, healthcare principles, assessment methods, technology in education, mentoring, research methods, organizational structure and change, academic and professional writing, diversity, quality improvement, and communication.

Program requirements and duration
Program requirements and their durations varied across the MHPE programs analyzed.The average minimum number of years for a master of HPE degree was 2.15 ± 0.88 years for a full-time student.The average advertised range of years typically needed as a part-time student was 4.18 ± 1.45 years.A total of 20 schools (18%) explicitly stated that they offer part-time options within their range of years to completion, while 84 (76%) mentioned it somewhere across their website.We also noted 14 programs (12.7 %) implemented a maximum time frame allowed to complete the masters.Some of these data appear unchanged from previous analysis in 2012, where the average time to completion was "approximately two years" for a full-time student 13 .The same specific study noted that a part-time student often completed these degrees in a 2-5 year range 13 .

Instructional strategies and format
In 2012, Tekian and Harris found that "several programs" offer online and face-to-face education, or a combination of the two 13 .By 2022, 28 programs (25.5 %) offered their education only in the online format.A total of 13 programs (11.8 %) allowed participants to choose either online or face-to-face format, while 50 programs (45.5 %) were "blended", allowing a mix of both educational methodologies.Finally, 12 (10.9%) are only face-to-face, while eight programs (7.27 %) published no information on this matter.
Interestingly, it was noted in Tekian and Harris's 2012 review that one program used simulation along with virtual learning.
Although we cannot explicitly state the distribution, it is highly likely that there were more schools that do this in 2022, given the number of programs that teach a course in simulation has grown to 18 (16.4%).
Overall, there is significant heterogeneity in how programs structure their courses, the types and numbers of classes offered, and requirements for graduation, and therefore these were not discussed in this paper but could be the subject of future research.

Discussion
MHPE is an evolving field; the number of programs, their goals, their teaching methodologies, the technology utilized, and many other aspects, remain dynamic.With the increase in MHPE programs, it has become important to scan the breadth and focus of these programs and to recognize the impact of programs' online presence for current and prospective learners and MHPE scholars.This study reviewed the websites of all FAIMER graduate MHPE programs for two purposes: First, to summarize the current state of MHPE programs with regard to geographic distribution, goals and mission, curriculum development and overall programmatic priorities.Second, to complete the review of MHPE graduate programs through a website review which affords MHPE institutions to represent themselves through the information publicly available on their websites.Through this study, we found a few pertinent insights that highlight the landscape of HPE Master's programs as seen through their websites.First, the content MHPE programs published on their websites says a lot about how they view their program, what they offer, what their goals are, and how they intend to progress in the future.Second, the distribution of HPE masters programs is unequally distributed globally.Third, despite being awarded degrees considered to be equitable, these programs are diverging with little to no oversight.Finally, prior to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and accentuated by it, Master's of HPE institutions are moving towards various teaching modalities, including online learning as a primary means of instruction.
Websites enable programs and prospective students to find each other more easily and ensures alignment of their respective goals and missions.Despite a lack of specific regulatory oversight (there is no accreditation body that specifically accredits all MHPE programs), by beginning an investigation into these program characteristics, we are starting an important conversation for the development of this field 5 .Healthcare and education disparities continue to spread across the world, and will continue to worsen as technology plays a more important role in healthcare 16,17 .Despite growth in all WHO regions, the relative increase of MHPE programs is much more significant in "Europe" and the "Americas" when compared to "South-East Asia", "Africa", or the "Western Pacific" (Figure 2).This is worth noting because education is correlated with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as improved gender equality and maternal, newborn, and child health; it is critical that MHPE programs do not comply with this geographic maldistribution of education and urgently address this need 16 .
With the number of programs growing, their missions diverging, and minimal oversight across programs, there is a risk of significant educational differences received at one institution versus another, despite being awarded similar degrees.The overview of programs' specializations/ concentrations suggests that, unsurprisingly, when the missions and/or purposes vary from another program, it is likely that they have differing focus areas.Although we have continued to develop this discussion, a detailed analysis of MHPE programs' coursework and goals/competencies is needed to garner a comprehensive understanding of this issue.
Setting clear expectations helps learners and programs thrive.MHPE websites need to improve the clarity around applicant requirements and, secondarily, come to a consensus on program names and course titles.Do programs named differently truly tend to have differing missions and goals?Do those with the most popular name of "Master of HPE" have similar goals?Our research suggests the former may be true and the latter may be false, however more in-depth analysis is needed to gain a deeper understanding of this claim.
Our research also highlights the importance of transparency in the process of applicant requirements.Given HPE's status as a Master-level degree, one might reasonably assume that all applicants have a terminal degree of some sort by the time they apply to HPE programs.However, this requirement was not explicitly stated on a majority of websites; unfortunately, this either suggests a lack of transparency or lax academic standards for entry.Furthermore, there was great variation in Master's graduate HPE program names (see Underlying data).
One area where programs were similar throughout our review was their duration for both part and full-time students.Program requirements, on the other hand, were not as streamlined.This, in and of itself, is not necessarily problematic.Whether or not a program decides to use a thesis or final project to culminate their learning experience, or has students take differing combinations of mandatory or elective courses, theoretically does not matter.However, in light of a lack of standardization to ensure adequate MHPE learning, it could be problematic as these programs, and future ones, continue to diverge over time.
It has been generally appreciated that the modem by which education is delivered is gradually becoming more virtual.This was undoubtedly accelerated by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic 17 .However, as mentioned in the results, with only 28 MHPE programs (25%) currently offering their degrees online, as well as 50 being blended (45%), it is possible that there is room for future growth into the online domain in this field.One area of particularly interest for research would be to gain a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of MHPE education online versus traditional in-person methods.Assuredly, more research is needed on this topic.
There were several limitations of our study.Although quite extensive, the FAIMER list is not comprehensive.Therefore, there are possibly other programs that would have been identified with a different search strategy.This includes our decision to exclude programs with non-English websites.Although translation tools could theoretically be used, we found these worked inconsistently and potentially introduced errors of interpretation in a topic that could confound the intended message.Another limitation is that some programs do not publish their data.We made notes of this above, but the quantity of these absences of data could greatly alter the landscape of what conclusions are reached from a website review of MHPE programs.
Further, information, and often the naming of this information, was not uniform across HPE programs' websites, as mentioned above.Therefore, while grouping data based on their similar contexts and inferred meanings, a lack of explicitly coordinated names leaves room for error of interpretation when we re-categorized them under common headings.
As MHPE programs continue to grow around the world, in quantity and stature, programs' ability to advertise effectively online will prove critical to attracting applicants and to sharing their mission and purpose with the broader MHPE community.
The information published on Master of HPE programs' websites provides much fruitful data, but there is information missing from these spaces.This research is intended to provide some guidance to applicants and programs as to what MHPE programs are available and what they offer, based on what they publish online.Further, to impart to those in MHPE the importance of intentionality in conveying their public messages, while giving a few keen insights into other programs globally.Although clearly not comprehensive, we hope this will be a stepping stone towards empowering programs and their applicants to fulfill their goals in Health Professions Education.

Data availability
Underlying data DRYAD: Master in Health Profession Education Website Data, https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.0zpc86725 18is project contains the following underlying data: • List of MHPE Programs Data for Publication.csv;A list of masters of Health Professions Education programs, or similar, as found online per the above methods section.
• MHPE Courses Publication Data.csv;Data used to analyze the courses offered t masters of Health Professions Education or similar degrees, as per their online websites.
• MHPE Missions Publication Data.csv;Data used to analyze the mission statements of masters of Health Professions Education or similar degrees, as per their online websites.
• MHPE_Program_List_from_FAIMER.csvHPE programs in different parts of the world and how their online interface can present their identity and some of their educational details.
I have the following comments to be considered by the authors: I understand that the analysis of mission and purpose was done by thematic analysis; however, authors selected to report the themes that are "common" without identifying how much they are common relative to each other.I think that revealing the frequency of themes can provide more accurate and objective reporting.

1.
Data of geographical distribution is unnecessarily repeated in both figure 2 and table 2. I see that the figure is quite illustrative.Table 2 may be deleted or used to summarize data of another studied item.

2.
The authors could also comment on the structure of the programs, in terms of number of courses/modules, requirement of a classical thesis, publication or applied project.I think that potential applicants would be interested to know that.

3.
I also see that such a manuscript is supposed to be more inclusive, and specifically the language should not be an exclusion criterion because web-based translation tools are common, free and easy to use.

4.
I think that the statement in page 4 "the significant growth in "American" programs in contrast to the decrease in "African" programs", is partially incorrect because the number of African programs actually increased from 2 to 4 as stated in table 2 and figure 2.

5.
The manuscript is supposed to end with a meaningful conclusion that conveys useful messages to the HPE programs and their potential applicants.

6.
The list of underlying data at the end of the manuscript (page 11) should be hyperlinked to the related webpages.In the same page, there is a typing mistake in the line before the last one. 7.

Is the work clearly and accurately presented and does it cite the current literature? Yes
Is the study design appropriate and is the work technically sound?Yes

Are sufficient details of methods and analysis provided to allow replication by others? Yes
If applicable, is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate?Not applicable

Have any limitations of the research been acknowledged? Yes
Are all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility?

Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results? Partly
Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.
Reviewer Expertise: Curriculum development, Quality assurance of higher education I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.

INTRODUCTION
Unsure the first paragraph is necessary, seems very broad and disconnected from the article as a whole.
○ I am unsure the purpose of the research is clear.From what it seems, the paper is really a characterization/description of common themes among MHPE programs based on a review of their website.That does not necessarily demonstrate that websites create a brand--that work would require some additional exploration of brand perceptions by those visiting the sites, analytics, etc.In addition, there is an assumption that information on the website is accurate.
○ METHODS I personally wanted a more exhaustive list of the protocol for collecting data from each website, rather than having to go to the raw data.Unsure if that can be adequately addressed in the limited space, though.

○
Can you describe why you excluded certificate and PhD programs?The title may need revision to specifically state this was MHPE programs rather than "graduate health professions education" programs, since that would also include PhDs.

○
Why is a veterinary college excludable?Are only "valid" or "quality" MHPE programs offered ○ by schools of medicine?Seems like that limits the scope and potential and also prohibits IPE.Comment about that should be included.
To clarify, all programs had information about ALL of these components (mission/vision, specialization/concentration, program requirements/duration, and instructional strategies) correct?Otherwise if one piece were missing they would have been excluded--such as the 4 listed in the exclusion criteria.According to the discussion it seems there were absences of data--can you provide an overall estimate of how much data was missing.
○ DISCUSSION Provides a reasonable connection to broader impact, but does not connect back to the original purpose well.I think the purpose itself needs to be re-stated for alignment.
○ A significant limitation that does not appear to be stated is an assumption that the information is accurate for the website.It is very easy for programs to offer features that may no longer be present or may not be consistent with the experiences of those participants.An additional research opportunity may be the alignment with actual participant experiences.In figure 1 I was surprised to see that veterinary MHPEs were excluded, as veterinary medicine belongs to HPE.This also led me to wonder how many of the 110 MHPE programs were not in medical schools but in other HPE schools.I think there are nursing and veterinary MPHE programs and maybe others; can the authors specify that? 2.
I was wondering about the admission criteria and the word terminal degree.In Europe, admission to Master's degrees require the possession of a Bachelor degree (according to the 1999 Bologna agreement -signed by at least 48 countries).But 'terminal' degree in academia suggests that there is not a higher degree.But PhD is higher.Or, sometimes in questionnaires, respondents are asked to list 'their' terminal degree, with could then be a bachelor (baccalaureate) degree.So what is terminal?

3.
The authors find that programs are diverging with little to no oversight.What does that 4.
mean?There programs have not been accredited by and independent body to support their quality?I would be interested to see how many of the 110 MHPE programs are not accredited.In Europe that should not be possible.I would hope that every website for a MHPE would specify the accreditation (preferably with a recent date of approval).And the statement 'there is no accreditation body that accredits MHPE program' does not hold for European Master's programs.I was puzzled by the sentence "the relative increase of HPE programs is much more significant in "Europe" and the "Americas" when compared to "South-East Asia", "Africa", or the "Western Pacific"".That contradicts both the figure and the table II.

5.
Since this was an international study reporting on world regions, I found it a bit unsatisfactory that all non-English language MHPE programs were excluded.To be critical about geographic maldistribution would require that the authors expand their linguistic scope.They may be right, but how many non-English programs did they encounter that were excluded?Is there something about this the authors can say?6.
I hoped to see something about differences in tuition fees.For many potential applicants of such website the first things you probably want to know are on quality (i.e.accreditation) and costs (tuition fee).This paper could have provided something of a range that would have been helpful for potential applicants.

7.
There were some typographical issued.'Often' in a sentence in the penultimate paragraph was uses twice; 'publish', page 6, column 2, para 2, should be 'published' 8.

Have any limitations of the research been acknowledged? Yes
Are all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility?No

Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results? Partly
Competing Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.

Figure 1 .
Figure 1.Review Criteria Utilized in MHPE Analysis.This figure is a PRISMA chart used to represent the inclusion and exclusion criteria for review in our Analysis.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Distribution of MHPE programs in absolute numbers in 2012 (Grey) and 2022 (Black).This demonstrates the distribution of all master of Health Profession Education programs across the world that were part of our inclusion criteria.The Grey represents programs that were present in 2012 as per Tekian and Harris 2012 review study 13 .The black blocks represent the additional programs that were added from 2012 to 2022.The categorizations of geographic location are categorized based on WHO member states country groupings for more objective organization, based on a precedent set in the same Tekian and Harris 2012 review 13 .
MHPE_Program_Names.csv • MHPE Time Requires Data for Publication.csv;Data used to analyze the time commitments required for masters of Health Professions Education or similar degrees, as per their online websites.Data are available under the terms of the Creative Commons Zero "No rights reserved" data waiver (CC0 1.0 Public domain dedication).

○
Is the work clearly and accurately presented and does it cite the current literature?YesIs the study design appropriate and is the work technically sound?YesAre sufficient details of methods and analysis provided to allow replication by others?PartlyIf applicable, is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate?Not applicableHave any limitations of the research been acknowledged?PartlyAre all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility?PartlyAre the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results?YesCompeting Interests: No competing interests were disclosed.Reviewer Expertise: Program evaluation, curriculum design and development, creative problem solving, assessment I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.Reviewer Report 10 March 2023 https://doi.org/10.21956/mep.20891.r32994© 2023 ten Cate O.This is an open access peer review report distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Olle ten Cate Center for Research and Development of Education, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands This paper reports on the evaluation of websites that advertise or more generally inform visitors about MHPE programs, to show informative they are and how they meet some earlier published criteria about such programs.I read this manuscript with interest, but felt it has some limitations, some of which may be correctable I would suggest to speak of MHPE programs throughout the manuscript.There are three reasons.(a) "graduate" is any program after a degree, including postgraduate medical education education and that my confuse readers; specifically those from non-North American countries; (b) in the selection of programs, the authors have explicitly excluded PhD programs in their review; towards the end of the manuscript the MHPE abbreviation suddenly emerges -please use this throughout, from the title; and (c) the most fundamental reason is that HPE as used in the paper is confusing and perpetuates its use in a very specific direction.HPE just refers to educational programs for health professions: medicine, nursing, physical therapy, veterinary medicine, et cetera.So the two openings sentences sound odd.Medical education, exists since mankind.We now use a different and more broad term: health professions education, to include nursing, etc. HPE programs are simply programs for training of physicians and other health professionals.So, I propose to correct the terminology throughout the paper and speak of MHPE.Linguistically the abbreviation suffers from a similar flaw, but that I believe is not confusing and widely used with only one meaning 1.