What Can We Learn About Research on Parental Involvement in School? Bibliometric and Thematic Analyses of Academic Journals

Abstract

We present an empirical overview of current research in the area of parental involvement (PI) based on a bibliometric analysis of 544 articles published between 2014 and 2018, and a thematic review of 39 of the Q1-journal articles in the sample, which contributed to a more detailed illustration of the knowledge base of PI research. The findings reveal an ongoing increase in the intensity of research in five distinct foci. The research is shown to be largely urban- and US-centric and dominated by diverse psychological and sociological perspectives. Implications and avenues for future research have been suggested.