Research Trends in Chemistry Education: A Bibliometric Review (1895–2022)

Abstract

Chemistry plays an essential role in human life, especially in teaching and learning; however, only a few studies offer an up-to-date and comprehensive overview of chemistry education research (CER) using quantitative bibliometric analysis. For this purpose, the current study explores the trends and status of research in chemistry education over time. A total of 4110 peer-reviewed journal articles were retrieved from the Scopus database. The number of publications in CER demonstrates a significantly increasing pattern from 1895 to 2022. The most frequently cited articles belong to Black and Deci, Hartinger and Dyson, and Baepler et al., Journal of Chemical Education, Chemistry Education Research and Practice, and International Journal of Science Education are the most productive journals. The most prominent institutions are Purdue University, Universitat Bremen, and the University of South Florida. The US, Turkey, and Germany stand out in the number of publications. I. Eilks, V. Talanquer, and M.M. Cooper lead the top three authors with the most publications. The most frequently used author keywords are “first-year undergraduate”, “chemistry education”, and “upper-division undergraduate”. The current study provides a holistic understanding of the development of CER and a reference for future studies in the field.