Learning about research and readership development in STEM education: a systematic analysis of the journal’s publications from 2014 to 2018

Abstract

In this editorial, we conduct a systematic review of 144 items published in the International Journal of STEM Education over its first 5-year period from 2014 to 2018. We analyze publication quantities and types, authorship nationality, publication readership, research topic, and top 10 most accessed and top 10 most cited articles over the years. The results provide a snapshot of the research and readership development in multidisciplinary STEM education as an international field.

Research and trends in STEM education: a systematic review of journal publications

“…Given a broader range of journals and a longer period of time to be covered in this review, we can examine some of the same questions as the IJ-STEM review (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019), but we do not have access to data on readership, articles accessed, or articles cited for the other journals selected for this review. Specifically, we are interested in addressing the following six research questions:…”

“…A recent review of 144 publications in the International Journal of STEM Education (IJ-STEM) showed how scholarship in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education developed between August 2014 and the end of 2018 through the lens of one journal (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019). The review of articles published in only one journal over a short period of time prompted the need to review the status and trends in STEM education research internationally by analyzing articles published in a wider range of journals over a longer period of time.…”

Five years of development in pursuing excellence in quality and global impact to become the first journal in STEM education covered in SSCI

“…It should be noted that a journal's performance can be measured in many different ways, such as peer reviews, recognition in the field, authorship and readership development. In a recent editorial (Li, Froyd, & Wang, 2019), we summarized and shared the journal's performance in its authorship and readership development. Interested readers can check that editorial to obtain further information.…”

“…Interested readers can check out recent publications in STEM-ER that Springer makes them available for free downloads in 2018 and 2019. It should be noted that STEM-ER also enjoyed significant access in its first year (Li et al, 2019). The existence and success of these two different journals and some others in STEM education are important indications of the rapid growth of the international field of STEM education and the great need of the development and sharing of new and robust scholarship.…”

“…It took the journal five publication cycle years from August 2014 to July 2019 to gain this recognition, which practically makes the journal one of the fastest in reaching this status among all the educational journals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics published by Springer since a journal's inception. The journal's achievements reflect very well not only the quality and impact of its publications, but also the rapid development of STEM education as an international field (Li, 2018a;Li, Froyd & Wang, 2019).…”