Bibliometric analysis of flipped classroom publications from the Web of Science Core Collection published from 2000 to 2019

Abstract

Purpose This study analyzed the bibliometric characteristics of flipped classroom publications in the Social Science Citation Index and Science Citation Index Expanded from 2000 to 2019. Methods The terms related to “flipped classroom” and “inverted learning” were the keywords for searching journal articles on January 3, 2020. Results There are 645 articles (including 33 early-access articles), representing 1,938 authors in the 210 journals scanned. The United States, China, and Taiwan were three leading countries/regions in this field. In the top 10 countries, to 10 institutions, the top eight most-cited journals were identified by either the number of publications or the number of citations. Hot-spot themes from the 24 highly-cited articles and author keyword co-occurrence analysis focus on empirical research in the flipped classroom, the overall feasibility of the flipped classroom course design and practical model, and students’ performances, and student-regulated learning (active learning and readiness) outcomes. Conclusion The results indicate that the United States dominated flipped classroom research, originating most of the highly-cited articles, having more prolific authors, and presenting the most-cited institutions. Furthermore, little research has been undertaken into arriving at an understanding of evidentiary effectiveness or consistency in a flipped classroom. Based on the trends identified, we need a call for more specific types of research into the effectiveness of flipped classroom studies and systematic reviews.

Keywords

• bibliometric analysis
• flipped classroom
• visualization
• keyword co-occurrence, co-authorship