Background: Regular bibliographic analysis (BA), the detailed evaluation of scientific publications, provides meaningful information to guide research.

Aims: To provide a theme-based, longitudinal BA on recent research publications in anatomical pathology (AP) from Australia.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective BA on publications indexed in PubMed between 2012 and 2016, with at least one co-author from the departments of AP in Australia. Abstracts of all types of articles were analysed for the article theme(s), subject focus, and research design.

Results: Analysis of739 abstracts, published in 322 journals, showed that the number of publications increased dramatically, from 26 in 2012 to 269 in 2016. Pathology, the official RCPA journal, hosted most of the publications (84 articles), followed by PLoS One (23). Assessing 4,038 keywords/subjects showed that the main focuses were on genetics (163), immunohistochemistry (89), and tumour biomarkers (63). Breast (45) and lung (32) neoplasms were the most common subjects. Key study designs were retrospective (42) and cohort studies (27), with only four systematic reviews and one meta-analysis.

Discussion: This study, as the first BA in AP in Australia, provides a new overview of current research landscape. Future research can leverage upon this BA to create novel opportunities for additional research.