E-Learning in Higher Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Abstract It is undeniable that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused serious problems to education on a global scale, as well as to health systems and national economies. As a result, governments around the world have had to make extraordinary efforts to solve the various problems encountered not only in the area of health and the economy, but also in education. In terms of education, the changes include, but are not limited to, curriculum revisions, the provision of technology resources and infrastructure, changes in the academic calendar, and policies regarding instructional delivery and assessment. To limit the spread of the pandemic, universities, institutes and academic schools had to switch to online education using available educational platforms. This has been reflected in the emergence of numerous publications dealing with the subject. The study aims at the quantitative evaluation of the research carried out and published in the field of e-lerning in the university environment in the context of the pandemic crisis, starting from a comprehensive bibliometric analysis based on Scopus publications. The distribution of published papers in terms of years, authors, institutions, countries, journals, the network of co-authors, co-citations, and the cooccurrence of keywords is discussed. The main conclusions regarding the research trends in the field are drawn. The study represents a useful resource for those interested in the field of e-lerning in the academic environment in the context of COVID-19 that captures the main changes produced in the field and the potential research directions.