Mobile Learning in Higher Education: Insights from a Bibliometric Analysis of the Body of Knowledge

Abstract

Mobile learning is a research domain that has gained wide prominence in contemporary Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literature. As a result, there is a need for periodic and extensive review studies to keep abreast with the latest scholarly trends. Nevertheless, review studies on mobile learning, particularly in the post-COVID-19 era, are still limited. This article presents a bibliometric overview of mobile learning in higher education literature published between 1 January 2002 and 15 November 2022. The methodology used in this research is enshrined in the core principles of scientometrics forming the basis of the bibliometric approach utilised in the study. The articles for analysis were extracted from the Web of Science (WoS) database and analysed according to defined bibliometric indicators. The VOSviewer software tool (version 1.6.18) was employed in mapping the bibliometric articles. The findings of this research reveal that mobile learning scholarship has grown consistently in the period of analysis covered in this study. It was observed in the bibliometric analysis that the most productive countries in mobile learning in higher education are the USA and China. The most influential author is M.A. Almaiah. In the recent past, universities in the Middle East have demonstrated an excellent growth projectile in mobile learning research. Education and Information Technologies produced most content on mobile learning research demonstrating its stature as a leading publication platform advancing scholarly debate on mobile learning relating to context, augmented reality, COVID-19, continuance intention and knowledge. From the foregoing, possible future research avenues are discussed.