A ten-year bibliometric network review on massive open online courses (Moocs) research: 2011-2020

Abstract

Massive open online courses (MOOCs) have also received interest from researchers worldwide; however, there was no comprehensive review of the MOOC research. This paper aims to identify the MOOCs research scientific landscape as the trend from publications worldwide. In assessing research trends, the bibliometric network analysis using distance-based network mapping in VOSviewer was applied in this review. The 3,211 eligible articles published between 2011 and 2020 confirmed three main research clusters: learning system, human characteristics and higher education clusters. The results also showed that terms, such as ‘learning systems’, ‘gender differences’ and ‘flipped classroom’ emerged as ongoing research trends. In addition, these findings indicated that the overall productivity rates in the Middle East and Gulf regions were low. Besides, the authorship mapping indicated an absence of the small-world properties. A discussion of the findings and directions for further research are also provided. Based on the network analysis method, this paper presents the researchers’ alternative method to review literature using an approach that possibly includes mostly published articles related to MOOCs.