The Intellectual Evolution of Educational Leadership Research

A Combined Bibliometric and Thematic Analysis Using SciMAT

Bibliographic Data

ID22045189
AuthorsTurgut Karaköse (0000-0003-0346-8154, Dumlupinar University, corresponding author), Kenneth Leithwood (0000-0002-8053-7347, University of Toronto), Tijen Tülübaş (0000-0001-9406-8361, Dumlupinar University)
Year2024
Volume14
Issue4
Pages429
Publication date2024-04-19
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducation Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2227-7102 • E-ISSN: 2227-7102
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/educsci14040429
OpenAlexW4394962865
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited137

This study aims to describe the century-long trajectory of educational leadership research (ELR), including changes over time in its main and subsidiary themes, as well as its most influential authors, papers, and journals. The study combines the bibliometric performance and science mapping analysis of 7282 articles retrieved from the Scopus and WoS databases. SciMAT software (version 1.1.04) was used to analyze changes over four sequential time periods and to exhibit the thematic evolution of the field—Period 1 (1907 to 2004), Period 2 (2005 to 2012), Period 3 (2013 to 2019), and Period 4 (2020–2023). Research during Period 1 focused on principals and included efforts to distinguish between their administrative functions and forms of ‘strong’ leadership contributing to school improvement. Period 2 included research aimed at understanding what strong principal leadership entailed, including the development and testing of more coherent models of such leadership. While instructional and transformational leadership models were prominent during Periods 1 and 2, Period 3 research invested heavily in conceptions of leadership distribution. Early research about ‘social justice leadership’ appeared during this period and eventually flourished during Period 4. While principals were an active focus through all Periods, the leadership of others gradually dominated ELR and accounted for the broader leadership theme found in all four periods. The results point to the evolutionary nature of ELR development, which eventually produced a relatively robust knowledge base. Experiences with the COVID-19 pandemic suggest that crises such as this might prompt more revolutionary orientations in the ELR field

Bibliometrics · Content analysis · Educational research · Geography · Library science · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Qualitative research · Social science · Sociology · Statistical analysis · Statistics · Thematic analysis · Thematic map · Competency Development and Evaluation · Computer Science · Educational Innovations and Challenges · Human Resource Development and Performance Evaluation · Psychology