[Paper Review] Publication Trends in Physics Education: A Bibliometric study

Seyedh Mahboobeh Jamali, Ahmad Nurulazam Md Zain+2 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Jun 6, 2017

Physical Education and Pedagogy53 references19 citations

TL;DR

This bibliometric study analyzes 1,360 publications in Physics Education (1980–2013) from the Web of Science database to identify research trends, productivity, and citation patterns. It reveals a significant rise in publications—especially those including 'Physical Education' in their topics—from 0.14% in 1980 to 16.54% in 2011, with an average of 5.93 citations per paper, indicating growing global interest and impact in the field, particularly highlighting Malaysia’s strong publication output.

ABSTRACT

A publication trend in Physics Education by employing bibliometric analysis leads the researchers to describe current scientific movement. This paper tries to answer "What do Physics education scientists concentrate in their publications?" by analyzing the productivity and development of publications on the subject category of Physics Education in the period 1980--2013. The Web of Science databases in the research areas of "EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH" was used to extract the publication trends. The study involves 1360 publications, including 840 articles, 503 proceedings paper, 22 reviews, 7 editorial material, 6 Book review, and one Biographical item. Number of publications with "Physical Education" in topic increased from 0.14 % (n = 2) in 1980 to 16.54 % (n = 225) in 2011. Total number of receiving citations is 8071, with approximately citations per papers of 5.93. The results show the publication and citations in Physic Education has increased dramatically while the Malaysian share is well ranked.

Motivation & Objective

• To identify and analyze publication trends in Physics Education from 1980 to 2013.
• To examine the productivity and citation impact of research in the Physics Education subject category.
• To assess the geographical distribution of publications, particularly focusing on Malaysia’s contribution.
• To determine the thematic focus of publications by analyzing keywords and topics, especially the inclusion of 'Physical Education'.

Proposed method

• Bibliometric analysis was conducted using the Web of Science database, focusing on the 'EDUCATION - EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH' research area.
• A total of 1,360 publications were extracted, including articles, proceedings papers, reviews, editorials, book reviews, and biographical items.
• The study analyzed publication counts, citation frequencies, and topic trends over time, with a focus on the term 'Physical Education' in article topics.
• The data were categorized by publication type, year of publication, and subject category to assess productivity and impact.
• Citation analysis was performed to calculate the average citations per paper, with a total of 8,071 citations recorded.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 What are the major publication trends in Physics Education from 1980 to 2013?
• RQ2 How has the inclusion of 'Physical Education' in publication topics evolved over time?
• RQ3 What is the citation impact of publications in the Physics Education field during the study period?
• RQ4 How does Malaysia’s publication output in Physics Education compare globally?

Key findings

• The number of publications with 'Physical Education' in their topic increased from 0.14% (n = 2) in 1980 to 16.54% (n = 225) in 2011, indicating a growing thematic focus on physical education in physics education research.
• The total number of citations across all publications reached 8,071, resulting in an average of 5.93 citations per paper.
• The study identified 840 articles, 503 proceedings papers, 22 reviews, 7 editorials, 6 book reviews, and 1 biographical item, showing a diverse publication output.
• Malaysia’s share in Physics Education publications was found to be well-ranked globally, indicating strong regional contribution.
• The field experienced a dramatic increase in both publication volume and citation impact over the study period.
• The most cited publication type was articles, followed by proceedings papers, reflecting the primary role of peer-reviewed articles in advancing the field.