A Bibliometric Review on Chemistry Education: Bodies of Research, 1980-2020

Abstract

Over the four decades, there has been sustained research activity in chemistry education. However, in terms of bodies of research, only a few different views were recorded. Thus, this study aimed to examine the trend bodies of research on chemistry education over the past 40 years (1980-2020) by using bibliometric analysis. Data based was collected from Scopus-indexed documents based on the ‘title’ search results. A total of 1041 finalized documents from various research types were used for further analysis. Two software (Harzing Perish and VOSviewer) were used to complete the bibliometric review using standard bibliometric indicators. This study found 12 types of documents published is related to chemistry education. 57 % of the total publications are from articles. The highest source type is journals (81%). Then, the growth of the related publications has risen gradually. English is the top language used in publications. The United States is ranked first in productivity published documents when an analysis by country is done. Citation analysis results can identify key authors and documents that designed the progress of this review. This analysis is used to determine the intellectual structure of the chemistry education knowledge base. In conclusion, this review delivers a better understanding of the development trends in chemistry education bodies of research over the past 40 years. Furthermore, the review result can also offer a reference for future research.