Examination of Studies on Critical Thinking in Teacher Education: a Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the studies conducted on critical thinking in teacher education using bibliometric analysis method. Education Educational Research category of Web of Science was preferred as the database. 2,717 publications published between 1989 and 2022 were analyzed using citation, bibliographical coupling, and co-occurrence techniques. Obtained results reveal that the earliest works on critical thinking in teacher education were published in 1989. It was determined that critical thinking in teacher education was met with increased interest after 2010, and that 2019 was the year when the published papers reached a record high. An examination of the citation years of the studies showed that 2021 saw the highest number of citations. USA was found as the country with highest number of publications on critical thinking in teacher education. Most researchers publish their works on the field in the form of articles, and English is the most preferred publication language. The author with the highest citation figures in the field is found as Hwang, Gwo-Jen, while the most frequently cited work was written by Fang in 1996. Document with the highest number of links was authored by Gomez-Jarabo and Sosa in 2018. The keywords with the highest popularity in the studies of researchers in recent years, which have the highest total number of links, were identified as teacher education, higher education, education, learning, curriculum, professional development, creativity, technology, and pedagogy. In this context, researchers who will perform studies in the field are especially advised to prefer keywords with high citation rates in literature review stage. Similarly, researchers are recommended to examine the documents with high citation and link scores in the field. Finally, in their efforts to regulate teacher education policies and programs, countries are advised to find examples in national settings with high total link scores as regards critical thinking approach.