Scientific research on bullying and cyberbullying: Where have we been and where are we going

Abstract

Bullying and cyberbullying are studied all over the world. Nevertheless, even though prevalence rates are extremely high in the poor countries, not much attention is paid to them. Similarly, unequal attention is being paid to different topics. Thus, this work is a review of the studies with the highest impact on the field, pointing out what is already broadly recognized and raising concern about issues which still need more attention. With this purpose, the ten most cited articles on bullying and also on cyberbullying in each year published throughout the whole history of research in the field were analyzed. In total 309 articles were analyzed in categories such as the number of authors, country of origin, international collaboration, journal, field and main topic. RESULTS show that most of the highly cited papers come from Northern Europe and Northern America, that teamwork and international collaboration increased with time and that the highest percentage of articles were published in the field of psychology. The vast majority of articles focused on the nature and dynamics of the phenomena and also on related variables. More studies are needed in relation to involvement of minorities and, above all, on prevention and intervention in bullying and cyberbullying.