Worldwide research history and trends on Blockchain applications in education: A bibliometric analysis, 2017-2022

Abstract

Academic scholars have been studying Blockchain technology since 2017. As a result, the progression of this technology has drawn interest from researchers in various research fields, including education. Because of this tendency, it is imperative that the existing literature be thoroughly reviewed to assist researchers in identifying gaps for future studies. Thus, this study used bibliometric analysis to assess the current research trend on blockchain applications in education. This study compiled all published works on Blockchain in education as of January 8th, 2023, from the Scopus database. The data was integrated using Publish or Perish software, and data visualization was done using VOSviewer. Additionally, Microsoft Excel was used to analyze the data. Fifty-one documents were retrieved in total based on the search results. In particular, from 2018 to 2019, the growth rate of publications in educational Blockchain increased dramatically. Most of the publications were written in English and published in journals and conference proceedings. Computer science has dominated research on educational Blockchain, and most research was done in India. The analysis also revealed that the most commonly used terms, "blockchain" and "blockchain in education," correspond to the main areas of study that have been done on the educational Blockchain. Unfortunately, the assessment component has received very little attention from previous educational blockchain studies. In addition to outlining the development of the scientific literature on the subject, this study also highlights areas of current research interest and possible future research prospects.