An Evaluation of the Publications in the Field of Geography Education: Bibliometric Analysis Based on the Web of Science Database

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine scientific publications about Geography Education in terms of bibliometric indicators. Case study method, one of the qualitative research methods, was applied in this study. The scanning range of bibliometric data obtained from the WoS database generated by Clarivate Analytics covers the dates between 1975 and March 2020. The bibliometric analysis technique was conducted in the study. As a result of the analyses, it was revealed that 559 of 64,874,978 studies registered in the WoS database between 1975 and 2020 were the studies related to Geography Education. It was also observed that 196 (35.06%) of these records were in the education / training research category. Through the analyses, it was concluded that the most common type of publication related to Geography Education was the articles with a total number of 196. Moreover, it is seen that approximately 106 of the published articles have been published during the years between 2016 and 2020. This rate indicates that the educational researches related to Geography Education have increased in recent years. In addition, at the end of the analyses, it was comprehended that there are 330 different authors contributing to the related field. It was determined that a total of 535 different keywords were utilized in 196 articles, and the most effective journal was the "Journal of Geography and Environmental Education". Besides, it is observed that the researchers from 25 different countries have published some articles that contribute to the field. In this regard, the most active country is the United States, and it is respectively followed by Britain, Australia, and Turkey. That Turkey with 18 articles takes place at the 4 th rank among the 25 different countries indicates that some comprehensive studies related to this field are carried out.

The Use of Technology in Geography Education Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

“…88% of the academic studies on the use of technology in geography education are conducted in English, while 8% are carried out in Portuguese and 2% are conducted in Spanish. Sönmez et al, [32] in their bibliometric analysis study on geography education, examined the distribution of academic studies by languages and obtained similar findings. When the findings of both bibliometric studies are taken into consideration, it can be concluded that English is the most preferred language in conducting research on geography education.…”

“…It is believed that the use of technology in geography education will gain more significance depending on the increasing number of publications and citations in the following years. Sönmez et al, [32] in their bibliometric analysis study, examining the publications on geography education, revealed that the number of publications and citations indexed by Web of Science increased over the years. In a similar line, the bibliometric analysis study by Melo and Queiroz [33], on geographic information systems between 2007 and 2016 revealed an increase in the number of publications over the years.…”

“…It is also revealed that in certain countries no studies were conducted, and that academic studies on this subject in North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus scarce in quantity. In their bibliometric analysis study on geography education research, Sönmez et al, [32] revealed that most of the studies were conducted in the USA, followed by England, Australia and Turkey. Melo and Queiroz, [33], in their bibliometric analysis on geographic information system studies, revealed that the countries with highest number of studies are the USA, Canada, Brasi, England, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, China, Turkey and Iran.…”