A Bibliometric Analysis of Digital Citizenship Education and Competences for Democratic Culture: Global Trends, Knowledge Structure, and Future Research Agenda
Research on DCE-CDC has grown significantly in recent years, with digital citizenship and rights forming the core body of knowledge, however, the research landscape remains dominated by attitude-oriented themes, while pedagogical dimensions, particularly learning models and assessments, still receive insufficient attention.
Abstract
Background The increasing integration of digital technology into education has raised concerns about students’ ability to participate responsibly in a digital society, highlighting the importance of Digital Citizenship Education (DCE) in strengthening Competencies for a Democratic Culture (CDC). However, studies mapping the relationship between DCE and CDC are limited. This study fills a gap in previous bibliometric research by explicitly linking DCE to DCC and providing comprehensive mapping based on DCC indicators. This study provides a foundation for researchers and institutions to investigate future research and supports the development of instructional models for strengthening the CDC through DCE to realize quality education. Methods A bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer, Bibliometrix, Publish or Perish, Microsoft Excel 2021, and Datawrapper was conducted to map the research network, analyze co-occurrence and emerging themes, identify highly cited publications, and examine leading authors and countries based on data from the Scopus database. Results The tracking identified 217 documents from 2008 to 2026. The number of publications is expected to increase significantly from 2023 to 2025, indicating growing research interest. The most frequently co-occurring terms were digital citizenship and rights, reflecting the field’s underlying knowledge structure. Emerging themes are dominated by attitude-related constructs such as attitude and digital empathy. However, pedagogical terms remain limited, and even the terms “learning models” and “assessment” do not appear in the network. The research landscape is influenced by highly cited works, such as Jones and Mitchell, with the United States as the leading contributor to both publications and citations. Conclusion Research on DCE-CDC has grown significantly in recent years, with digital citizenship and rights forming the core body of knowledge. However, the research landscape remains dominated by attitude-oriented themes, while pedagogical dimensions, particularly learning models and assessments, still receive insufficient attention.
Although digital ethics has become increasingly important in education, systematic evidence on its global research structure and thematic development remains limited. This study aims to map global research on digital ethics in education from 2015 to 2025 using bibliometric analysis and science mapping techniques. Data were retrieved from Scopus, yielding 782 documents published in 466 sources and involving 3,993 authors. The analysis was conducted using Bibliometrix and VOSviewer to examine publication trends, citation impact, collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence, co-citation patterns, thematic mapping, and thematic evolution. The findings reveal rapid growth in publication output and interdisciplinary collaboration, indicating the expanding scholarly relevance of digital ethics in educational research. Core keywords, including ethics, education, higher education, and female, form the intellectual backbone of the field. Network, overlay, and density visualizations show a thematic shift from methodological and COVID-19-related topics toward emerging issues such as digital literacy, AI literacy, generative AI, academic integrity, equity, and curricula. High research density remains concentrated around ethics and education, whereas AI-related themes are still comparatively underexplored. These findings highlight opportunities for future research on ethical AI literacy, AI governance, and responsible AI integration in educational curricula. This study contributes a comprehensive knowledge map by identifying leading actors, thematic domains, and research gaps, offering practical guidance for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners seeking to promote ethical, equitable, and accountable digital transformation in education.
Farid Fauzi· International Journal of Hum...· 0 citations
Introduction: Social studies education for students with special needs has become an increasingly important field of research as inclusive education advances. However, the temporal development of scientific production, prominent actors, and collaboration structures in this field have not been investigated comprehensively. This study aims to reveal the structural and trend-related characteristics of the field by analyzing the bibliometric properties of research published in this domain.Method: This study was a review based on bibliometric analysis. Publications indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and published between 2000 and 2024 were included in the analysis. The literature search was conducted on March 19, 2025. Bibliometric analyses were carried out using the Bibliometrix package and VOSviewer software. Publication and citation trends, as well as country, institution, and author productivity and collaboration networks, were examined.Findings: The findings indicate a significant increase in publications over the past decade and reveal that scientific output is concentrated within a relatively small set of countries, institutions, and authors. Collaboration networks among authors and countries display a structure organized around central cores.Discussion: The results suggest that knowledge production in the field has not yet reached a fully integrated structure. Increasing international and interdisciplinary collaboration, encouraging research conducted across diverse educational contexts, and diversifying studies focused on inclusive social studies education are identified as key strategies to enhance the field’s scientific visibility and impact.
Hasan Bozkaya· Ankara Universitesi Egitim B...· 0 citations
Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is increasingly recognized as a fundamental driver for achieving global sustainability, yet a comprehensive, long-term mapping of its intellectual structure is needed to guide future policies. This study aims to delineate the evolutionary trajectory of ESD research from 2000 to 2024, identify the most significant contributors (countries, institutions, journals, and authors), and uncover the prevalent thematic clusters within this domain. A quantitative bibliometric approach was employed. The sample consisted of 2,774 English-language peer-reviewed documents extracted from the Scopus Core Collection, spanning from 2000 to 2024. Performance analysis and science mapping were conducted utilizing RStudio (Biblioshiny) and VOSviewer to evaluate co-authorship networks and thematic co-occurrences. The findings confirmed a continuous, exponential growth in ESD publications post-2015. Germany emerged as the most productive country (12.5% of total publications), though the Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia was identified as the leading institution. Thematic analysis revealed 15 distinct clusters, heavily focusing on higher education, curricula, and teacher training, while also highlighting a significant geographical imbalance wherein developed nations overshadow developing countries in overall research engagement.
Van Vinh Le, T. Tran, Van Nga Tran et al.· TEM Journal· 0 citations
Global education faces persistent challenges in balancing a cosmopolitan orientation with the preservation of local cultural identities. Although Global Citizenship Education (GCE) has developed rapidly, its epistemic integration with indigenous and local cultures in learning models remains fragmented and has not been systematically mapped. This study maps the global research landscape on the integration of GCE and indigenous cultures into learning models through bibliometric analysis. The research employed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) combined with bibliometric analysis of 600 Scopus-indexed articles from 2010 to 2025, retrieved via Publish or Perish and analyzed using VOSviewer, following a four-phase PRISMA procedure with explicit inclusion and exclusion criteria to ensure transparency and reproducibility. The results reveal a significant increase in publications since 2016, peaking in the 2019-2021 period, followed by a phase of consolidation. Thematic structures are dominated by pedagogical aspects, educational actors, and institutional contexts, while exploration of indigenous cultures remains epistemically peripheral. Geographic analysis shows a pronounced concentration of publications from the Global North. Keyword network analysis indicates a shift from normative discourse toward a more implementation-oriented focus. The findings confirm a structural gap between the intensity of GCE scholarship and the epistemic integration of local cultures. The novelty of this research lies in its comprehensive quantitative mapping that operationalizes glocalization theory within a bibliometric framework, providing an empirical foundation for developing more contextual, equitable, and inclusive glocal learning models. Future research is recommended to pursue qualitative, community-based, and co-creation approaches that operationalize these findings into indigenous-informed pedagogical frameworks.
Muhammad Rusli, Raden Roro Nanik Setyowati, Akhwani Akhwani et al.· Jurnal Pendidikan dan Pembel...· 0 citations
The concept of local wisdom has become a significant strategic basis for culturally based education in Indonesia, though the structure of intellectual form and the developmental course of research in this area have yet to be fully synthesized. The paper explores the development and intellectual architecture of local wisdom research in Indonesian education between 2010 and 2025 through an inter-woven bibliometric and systematic approach. Based on PRISMA procedures, 132 studies were selected from 575 records of Scopus-indexed journal articles. The growth of publications, most popular journals, institutional productivity, and international contributions were analyzed using bibliometric mapping, and qualitative thematic synthesis identified the prevalent research clusters and theoretical orientations. According to the findings, a significant growth trend can be observed in recent years, and scholarship is concentrated mostly in Indonesian institutions, with a predominance of the sociocultural and constructivist approaches. Five important thematic areas were identified, reflecting an inclination toward pedagogical application. The paper finds that although the field is growing very fast, it is nationally confined and theoretically fragmented. This study provides intellectual scaffolding and strategic pathways for more rigorous and globally active scholarship by mapping the intellectual architecture of the field.
Djedjen Djedjen, D. Kurniawan, Yunus Abidin· Journal of Innovation in Edu...· 0 citations
A bibliometric study of gamification in learning undertook to map research trends, leading authors and institutions, and emerging themes with a specific focus on their relevance to Quality Education (SDG 4) affirms the close alignment between emerging research themes on gamification and the principles of Quality Education (SDG 4).
V. Muriira, A. Vasudevan, J. Gikonyo et al.· International Journal of Lea...· 0 citations
