A bibliometric study of e-learning literature on SSCI database

Abstract

This paper investigates the publishing trends of e-learning literature catalogued in SSCI database during 1967-2009. Our findings indicate that (1) the quantity of recent research on e-learning is expanding remarkably; (2) the frequency indexes of authors productivity do not appear to abide by Lotca's Law; (3) most research papers on e-learning are generated by multiple authorship; and (4) applications of e-learning have most found in research areas such as Education & Educational Research, Information Science & Library Science, and Computer Science/Interdisciplinary Applications. Finally, future directions of research on e-learning are considered. Moreover, according to Bradford's Law, the three zone ratio comparisons almost equal as 1 : 8 82, which means the data does match Bradford's Law. And the seven core journals in e-learning are identified and analyzed. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.