Exploring the emerging COVID-19 research trends and current status in the field of education: a bibliometric analysis and knowledge mapping

Abstract

Background/purpose – The current study aims to analyze the thematic
\nstructures and trends of scientific publications that examine the relationship
\nbetween the COVID-19 pandemic and education, while presenting a
\nroadmap for future research on this topic.
\nMaterials/methods – The data were obtained from the Web of Science
\nCore Collection (WoSCC) bibliographic database by identifying the
\npublications that examine the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic
\nand education, then were analyzed using bibliometric methodology and
\ncontent analysis. VOSviewer, GraphPad softwares, and visualization maps
\nwere used to analyze the data and to present the findings.
\nResults – The results of the study show that publications examining the
\nrelationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and education focused on
\n“online education” and “teacher education,” while the countries that
\ncontributed the most to publications on this issue were USA, United
\nKingdom, Canada, and Spain. It was determined that most publications
\npreferred the “theoretical model” and the majority of the research data
\nwere obtained through “scale/interview forms.” Furthermore, the findings
\nof this study revealed that during the COVID-19 pandemic period, the
\neditorial/refereeing processes of the articles submitted to academic journals
\nwere carried out very quickly and the articles were published unusually
\nquickly.
\nConclusion – This study indicated that the majority of scientific studies on
\nCOVID-19 are focused on the field of health, and that there is limited edition
\nresearch on COVID-19-related education. To the best of the authors’
\nknowledge, the current study is the first research article in the international
\nliterature to examine the thematic structures and trends of scientific
\npublications on the relationship between solely education and COVID-19
\nthrough bibliometric and content analysis; and contributes to the knowledge
\nbase on COVID-19-related education by mapping the existing knowledge.