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Little is known about the progress of medical education research in advancing the field through clarification studies situated within a strong conceptual framework. We aimed to determine if there is a trend towards increase in clarification studies as opposed to description and justification research purposes (Cook et al., 2008) in the Asia-Pacific region in the last 5 years. We conducted a systematic review of eligible original research abstracts presented at the 2008, 2010 and 2012 Asia Pacific Medical Education Conferences (APMEC). We conducted trended Chi-square tests with post-hoc pairwise comparisons followed by logistic regression adjusted for variables that are significant in bivariate analyses, to determine if there is a longitudinal trend towards increase in clarification studies. Our sample comprised 517 abstracts (2008: 136; 2010: 195; 2012: 186). There was a significant trend through the study period (Clarification studies: 4.4% vs 8.7% vs 12.9%; p = 0.001), with post-hoc analyses significant for clarificationdescriptive (p = 0.004) but not clarification-justification (p = 0.19) comparisons. The trend remained significant even after excluding submissions from non-Asian countries (5.0% vs 7.4% vs 12.9%; p = 0.003). When adjusted for professional group, country of study, presence of clear study aims and non-descriptive study design, abstracts in 2012 were still significantly more likely to have a clarification research purpose compared to 2008 (OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.04-7.23). Our results of a trend towards increased rigor of research purpose, even after excluding submissions from non- Asian countries, affirm the progress made in the quality of medical education research in the Asia-Pacific region in the last 5 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]