Mapping the Contributions of the Review of Educational Research to Education, 1931–2020

Abstract

The goals of this bibliometric review of the Review of Educational Research were to gain insights into the evolution of the journal and identify its key contributions to the education literature. Bibliographic data associated with the full set of 3,022 review articles published in RER from 1931 through 2021 were exported from Scopus for bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer software. The review confirmed that RER remains rooted in the American education context, with scholars located outside the United States accounting for only 6% of the RER corpus. The review identified authors and documents published in RER that have had the greatest impact on the broader education literature. Author co-citation analysis visualized the “intellectual structure” of the RER corpus, which is anchored by a “school of thought” associated with Teaching and Learning Strategies and Effects. This research stream has been informed by complementary schools of researchers who have generated theory and research on cognition, teaching, and learning as well as motivation and learning. Although conceptual reviews of research are more prominent, meta-analytic reviews have also come to represent a key pillar in the intellectual structure of RER. Journal co-citation analysis validated the centrality of RER’s place within a community of highly ranked education and psychology journals. The findings confirm the strong disciplinary influence of psychology in shaping the journal’s direction and content. Adapting to a changing global research landscape in education was identified as a key challenge facing RER in the next decade.