Trends in Research on The Use of Digital Games in Education

Abstract

This research aimed to examine studies on the use of digital games in education using bibliometric analysis. It used a descriptive scanning model. Academic studies indexed in the Web of Science (WoS) database were reached in the data collection phase. The database was searched using the keyword “digital game”. “Document title”, “abstract”, and “keyword” were chosen as the search criteria. 760 academic studies in the “Education/Educational Research” and “Education Scientific Disciplines” categories published between 2005 and 2021 were included in the research. The bibliometric analysis method was used in the data analysis. The research results showed that most of the studies were articles and published in 2017 and 2018, English and Portuguese were the most published languages, most of the authors were affiliated with or supported by the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology among all the institutions and Anadolu University among the Turkish universities, Taiwan and the USA were the countries with the most publications, the number of citations increased after 2008, and the most common keywords used in the studies were digital game-based learning, game-based learning, and digital games. The research presents an overview of many components in the use of digital games in education. It is believed that the findings of the research will serve as a reference for future studies.