90 Most Influential OT Research Articles

Learn how we review the most influential occupational therapy research. And, see our 2025 list of the most influential OT-related journal articles.

90 Most Influential OT Research Articles

How OT Potential helps you keep up with new research

Approximately 1,000 research articles containing OT are published EACH YEAR. That means roughly 5,000 articles have come out over the past five years!

As busy clinicians, we obviously don’t have time to keep up on all of the evidence. But, we do owe it to our patients to stay on top of the most influential research. 

In our membership community, The OT Potential Club, we find and review the most influential research for you. In our two week rotation, we first share a written review of the research and give you space to discuss it. Then the follow week, we release an episode of the OT Potential Podcast, where we invite an expert guest to help us pull out actionable takeaways. These episodes are AOTA approved courses.

See the process in the video below. You can also sign up for a free trial to see our platform!

See sample journal article reviews and take 2 free CEU courses
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How we select OT research to review

Each year, we generate a list the 90 most influential OT-related journal articles from the past 5 years.

We team up with a research librarian to make this happen. 

For our 2025 list, we searched the Scopus database for articles published from 2020-2025 that had “occupational therapy” included in either the title, abstract, or keywords. (By the way, Elsevier’s Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature.) Then, we ranked the list by the number of times the articles had been cited in other journal articles.

The articles with green check marks have already been discussed in the OT Potential Club, and we will continue to work through this list throughout 2025.

The 90 most cited OT articles from the past five years

✅ = Already reviewed in the OT Potential Club and featured as CEU course on the OT Potential Podcast
  1. ✅ Diagnosis and Treatment of Parkinson Disease: A Review (2020) JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association
  2. ✅ American College of Rheumatology/National Psoriasis Foundation Guideline for the Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis (2019) Arthritis and Rheumatology
  3. Osteoarthritis: Pathology, Diagnosis, and Treatment Options (2020) Medical Clinics of North America
  4. Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process-Fourth Edition (2020) American Journal of Occupational Therapy
  5. Parkinson Disease Epidemiology, Pathology, Genetics, and Pathophysiology (2020) Clinics in Geriatric Medicine
  6. ✅ State of the Evidence Traffic Lights 2019: Systematic Review of Interventions for Preventing and Treating Children with Cerebral Palsy (2020) Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports
  7. A rapid review of the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of healthcare workers: implications for supporting psychological well-being (2021) BMC Public Health
  8. Epidemiology of and Risk Factors for Coronavirus Infection in Health Care Workers; A Living Rapid Review (2020) Annals of Internal Medicine
  9. Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease 2023 Report: GOLD Executive Summary (2023) European Respiratory Journal
  10. Schizophrenia (2022) The Lancet
  11. Clinical Best Practice Advice for Hepatology and Liver Transplant Providers During the COVID-19 Pandemic: AASLD Expert Panel Consensus Statement (2020) Hepatology 
  12. Depression in young people (2022) The Lancet 
  13. Recommendations for prioritization, treatment, and triage of breast cancer patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. the COVID-19 pandemic breast cancer consortium (2020) Breast Cancer Research and Treatment 
  14. American Association of Clinical Endocrinology Clinical Practice Guideline: Developing a Diabetes Mellitus Comprehensive Care Plan—2022 Update (2022) Endocrine Practice
  15. Considering the potential for an increase in chronic pain after the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) Pain
  16. Cerebral palsy in children: A clinical overview (2020) Translational Pediatrics
  17. Considerations for postacute rehabilitation for survivors of COVID-19 (2020) JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
  18. Osteoarthritis year in review 2021: epidemiology & therapy (2022) Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
  19. Rhinitis 2020: A practice parameter update (2020) Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
  20. Feasibility and clinical impact of out-of-ICU noninvasive respiratory support in patients with COVID-19-related pneumonia (2020) European Respiratory Journal
  21. Cerebral palsy: An overview (2020) American Family Physician 
  22. Metrics of sleep apnea severity: Beyond the apnea-hypopnea index (2021) Sleep
  23. Outpatient Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapy Synchronous Telemedicine; A Survey Study of Patient Satisfaction with Virtual Visits during the COVID-19 Pandemic (2020) American Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  24. Exercise and lifestyle physical activity recommendations for people with multiple sclerosis throughout the disease course (2020) Multiple Sclerosis Journal
  25. Mitigating ethnic disparities in covid-19 and beyond (2021) The BMJ 
  26. Coronavirus disease 2019 in pregnancy: early lessons (2020) American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology MFM
  27. Secondary Fracture Prevention: Consensus Clinical Recommendations from a Multistakeholder Coalition (2020) Journal of Bone and Mineral Research
  28. One year in review 2020: Pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (2020) Clinical and Experimental Rheumatology
  29. Professional identity: A concept analysis (2020) Nursing Forum
  30. Pediatric Teleheath: Opportunities Created by the COVID-19 and Suggestions to Sustain Its Use to Support Families of Children with Disabilities (2021) Physical and Occupational Therapy in Pediatrics
  31. Management of critically ill patients with COVID-19 in ICU: statement from front-line intensive care experts in Wuhan, China (2020) Annals of Intensive Care
  32. Is Motor Impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder Distinct from Developmental Coordination Disorder A Report from the SPARK Study (2020) Physical Therapy
  33. Benefits of pulmonary rehabilitation in covid-19 – a prospective observational cohort study (2021) ERJ Open Research
  34. Sepsis-associated encephalopathy: From delirium to dementia? (2020) Journal of Clinical Medicine
  35. Nutrition Therapy in Critically Ill Patients With Coronavirus Disease 2019 (2020) Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition
  36. ✅ Estimation and Comparison of Current and Future Racial/Ethnic Representation in the US Health Care Workforce (2021) JAMA Network Open
  37. Borderline personality disorder (2021) The Lancet
  38. 2019 EACTS/EACTA/EBCP guidelines on cardiopulmonary bypass in adult cardiac surgery (2020) European Journal of Cardio-thoracic Surgery
  39. ✅Diagnosis and management of functional neurological disorder (2022) The BMJ
  40. Psychological interventions to foster resilience in healthcare professionals (2020) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
  41. The effect of mindfulness training on burnout syndrome in nursing: A systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) Journal of Advanced Nursing
  42. Co-production: A resource to guide co-producing research in the sport, exercise, and health sciences (2023) Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
  43. The Association between Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus and Parkinson’s Disease (2020) Journal of Parkinson’s Disease
  44. Post–COVID-19 Syndrome (Long Haul Syndrome): Description of a Multidisciplinary Clinic at Mayo Clinic and Characteristics of the Initial Patient Cohort (2021) Mayo Clinic Proceedings
  45. Assessment tools to evaluate activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) in older adults: A systematic review (2020) Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic of Iran
  46. Clinical application of virtual reality for upper limb motor rehabilitation in stroke: Review of technologies and clinical evidence (2020) Journal of Clinical Medicine
  47. Addressing the post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection: a multidisciplinary model of care (2021) The Lancet Respiratory Medicine
  48. Emerging health challenges for children with physical disabilities and their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic: The ECHO French survey (2021) Annals of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
  49. Review treatment options for motor and non‐motor symptoms of parkinson’s disease (2021) Biomolecules
  50. Assessment of Emergency Department and Inpatient Use and Costs in Adult and Pediatric Functional Neurological Disorders (2021) JAMA Neurology
  51. Neurological and cognitive sequelae of Covid-19: a four month follow-up (2021) Journal of Neurology
  52. The American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine Diagnostic Criteria for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury (2023). Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
  53. Rehabilitation after COVID-19: An evidence-based approach (2020). Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London 
  54. Bladder cancer (2023). Nature Reviews Disease Primers
  55. Explicit and implicit disability attitudes of healthcare providers (2020). Rehabilitation Psychology
  56. Social Isolation – The Other COVID-19 Threat in Nursing Homes (2020). JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association
  57. Osteoarthritis year in review (2020): epidemiology & therapy (2021) Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
  58. Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: A Comprehensive Review (2021) Pain and Therapy
  59. Systematic rapid “living” review on rehabilitation needs due to COVID-19: Update to March 31st (2020) European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine
  60. Primary drivers and psychological manifestations of stress in frontline healthcare workforce during the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the United States (2021) General Hospital Psychiatry
  61. Developing and testing a measure of COVID-19 organizational support of healthcare workers – results from Peru, Ecuador, and Bolivia (2020) Psychiatry Research
  62. Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease: A Nutritional Toxicology Perspective of the Impact of Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, Nutrigenomics and Environmental Chemicals (2020) Journal of the American College of Nutrition
  63. Clinical Neurorestorative Therapeutic Guidelines for Spinal Cord Injury (IANR/CANR version 2019) (2020) Journal of Orthopaedic Translation 
  64. Hypersensitivity pneumonitis (2020) Nature Reviews Disease Primers 
  65. ✅ Occupational therapy consensus recommendations for functional neurological disorder (2020) Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry
  66. A comprehensive meta-review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses on nonpharmacological interventions for informal dementia caregivers (2020) BMC Geriatrics
  67. Breast cancer in adolescent and young adult women under the age of 40 years (2021) JCO Oncology Practice
  68. A practical review of functional neurological disorder (FND) for the general physician (2021) Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London 
  69. Decade of progress in motor functional neurological disorder: Continuing the momentum (2021) Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 
  70. ✅ Motor learning in neurological rehabilitation (2021) Disability and rehabilitation
  71. Association of Geriatric Comanagement and 90-Day Postoperative Mortality among Patients Aged 75 Years and Older with Cancer (2020) JAMA Network Open 
  72. Management of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (2020). Frontiers in Endocrinology 
  73. ✅ Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Practical Diagnostic and Treatment Guidelines, 5th Edition (2022) Pain Medicine (United States) 
  74. Effect of early mobilisation on long-term cognitive impairment in critical illness in the USA: a randomised controlled trial (2023) The Lancet Respiratory Medicine 
  75. Effect of delaying treatment of first-episode psychosis on symptoms and social outcomes: a longitudinal analysis and modelling study (2020) The Lancet Psychiatry
  76. The Impact of the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 on Therapy Service Delivery for Children with Disabilities (2021) Journal of Pediatrics 
  77. Responding to the hidden pandemic for healthcare workers: stress (2020) Nature Medicine 
  78. Occupational therapy in the promotion of health and well-being (2020) American Journal of Occupational Therapy
  79. Toward a theory-based specification of non-pharmacological treatments in aging and dementia: Focused reviews and methodological recommendations (2021) Alzheimer’s and Dementia 
  80. Optimal Terminology for Services in the United States That Incorporate Horses to Benefit People: A Consensus Document (2021) Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 
  81. Nonpharmacological Interventions to Improve Depression, Anxiety, and Quality of Life (QoL) in People With Dementia: An Overview of Systematic Reviews (2020) Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology 
  82. Guidance for identification and treatment of individuals with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorder based upon expert consensus (2020) BMC 
  83. Medicine Management of functional communication, swallowing, cough and related disorders: Consensus recommendations for speech and language therapy (2021) Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry 
  84. Interventions to improve return to work in depressed people (2020) Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 
  85. Universal and selective interventions to promote good mental health in young people: Systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) European Neuropsychopharmacology 
  86. Recovery from Severe COVID-19: Leveraging the Lessons of Survival from Sepsis (2020) JAMA – Journal of the American Medical Association 
  87. Stroke self-management and the role of self-efficacy (2021) Disability and Rehabilitation 
  88. Telerehabilitation During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Outpatient Rehabilitation Settings: A Descriptive Study (2021) Physical Therapy 
  89. What is the threshold dose of upper limb training for children with cerebral palsy to improve function? A systematic review (2020) Australian Occupational Therapy Journal 
  90. Interventions Associated with Reduced Loneliness and Social Isolation in Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (2022) JAMA Network Open

Need help accessing these articles?

As you can see, each of the articles in our list is hyperlinked for your convenience—and I’m always surprised by how many research articles are free! However, if you find one that is not free, you can also see if it’s available via your AOTA membership in AJOT or via ProQuest with your NBCOT membership.

All that being said, some articles you may simply have to purchase. 

Resources derived from our OT research list

As we spend time exploring this research, we’ll continue to systematically pull information that is helpful for OTs. Check out these other blog posts, which incorporate information we find in our research:

Conclusion

We hope this list fills you with excitement for occupational therapy—and the research that is driving it. And, we hope you consider joining us in our favorite corner of the internet…the OT Potential Club.😀

Join the OT Potential Club

13 replies on “90 Most Influential OT Research Articles”

Sarah,

Thanks for taking the time to research and share these articles, I live by and truly believe that Team Work Makes a Dream Work!
I look forward to our club and please count me in 🙂
One way that I would keep up with the latest and greatest was having mini lunch time discussions with my therapy pals. We would switch off who was responsible to bring in an article and share what we learned but most importantly how we can apply it. I think if more DOR could get behind these groups this would make big impacts in our daily practices.
Look forward to your next blog! Aloha
<3

Hey Monica!!

I am so excited to hangout with you in the OT Potential Club, and talk about ways to apply new research! I agree that lunch time journal clubs are such a great tool for departments. Hopefully the OT Potential Club will make preparing content for these even easier!

Thank you so much for all your support! (And please send some of your warm weather to those of us in the Midwest!)

  • Sarah

Hi Sarah,

As a future OT student, I’m curious if you have any insight into the following question. As I read about advancements in childhood development research, it strikes me that OT’s are often not included in these discussions. For instance, I went to a Brookings Institution panel on "A prescription for play" (https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2018/08/21/a-prescription-for-play/) and it would have been great to have an OT on the panel since they work "on the ground" with children. As neuroscience continues to break ground on new issues related to childhood development (i.e. the brain and trauma), why aren’t OT’s being included in these discussions? Is it because they are considered practitioners and not researchers?

  • Laura

Hi Laura, You’ve stumbled onto a huge problem here, and it isn’t specific to OT. One often cited study showed that it takes about 17 YEARS for new medical knowledge to be adopted into practice (and even then only a fraction of best practices actually get adopted.) There is clearly a disconnect between academia and practitioners on the ground. To solve the complex challenges of today and the future, we certainly need new tools and bridge builders to help us shorten this gap!

Thanks – this is helpful to know. And I’m glad it’s just a problem with OT, because it had me wondering what the issue was.

Hi Laura. As Sarah stated, you’ve stumbled upon a huge problem, that I think IS specific to occupational therapy. The medical and research communities (and general community for that matter) remain under-educated about the existence and value of the occupational therapy profession. We very rarely have a seat at the table, as you recognized. Occupational therapy, though being around for over 100 years, continues to be quite insulated. Although this is changing! In my opinion, AOTA has never done an excellent job of marketing us OUTSIDE the occupational therapy community, and thus hasn’t had the skillset to teach us how to market ourselves. This is a challenge I continue to struggle with but am working solidly towards addressing.

A few strategies I use are to always identify myself as an "occupational therapist," instead of an "OT" and I work in the field of "occupational therapy". I also don’t refer to PT in my definition of what occupational therapy is. A third way I do this is to have an elevator pitch of what occupational therapy is ready at all times.

Hope this helps answer your question 🙂

Ahhh! Thank you! I am consistently inspired by the OT community and can’t wait to hang out with OT practitioners in the OT Potential Club!

I wish there were more exert articles about OT in Mental Health, such a great need for mental health supports now-a-days!

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