Analysis of the Productive, Structural, and Dynamic Development of Augmented Reality in Higher Education Research on the Web of Science

Abstract

Augmented reality is an emerging technology that has gained great relevance thanks to the benefits of its use in learning spaces. The present study focuses on determining the performance and scientific production of augmented reality in higher education (ARHE). A bibliometric methodology for scientific mapping has been used, based on processes of estimation, quantification, analytical tracking, and evaluation of scientific research, taking as its reference the analysis protocols included in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses for Protocols (PRISMA-P) matrix. A total of 552 scientific publications on the Web of Science (WoS) have been analyzed. Our results show that scientific productions on ARHE are not abundant, tracing its beginnings to the year 1997, with its most productive period beginning in 2015. The most abundant studies are communications and articles (generally in English), with a wide thematic variety in which the bibliometric indicators “virtual environments” and “higher education” stand out. The main sources of origin are International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED) Proceedings and Education and New Learning Technologies (EDULEARN) Proceedings, although Spanish institutions are the most prolific. In conclusion, studies related to ARHE in the WoS have become increasingly abundant since ARHE’s research inception in 1997 (and especially since 2009), dealing with a wide thematic variety focused on “virtual environments” and “higher education”; abundant manuscripts are written in English (communications and articles) and originate from Spanish institutions. The main limitation of the study is that the results only reveal the status of this issue in the WoS database.