A review of international education literature: Interdisciplinary and discovery challenges

Abstract

The discovery of relevant research in the field of international education can be difficult due to the nature of the field and how scholarly work is indexed. This article presents a review of published international education literature to identify key topics and publication patterns, along with potential gaps and inequities in current scholarly discourse. Using the keywords “international education” and “global education,” the analyses focus on records retrieved from Web of Science. Of the 1492 peer-reviewed journal articles reviewed (published from 1991 to 2017), the analyses revealed only 705 articles relevant to the field of international education. Additional analyses of bibliometric data show a significant increase in international education publication over the past two decades; evolving trends regarding topical foci and methods; and publication disparities regarding national contexts and languages outside the Global North/anglophone-dominated discourse. The article concludes with recommendations to improve discoverability, better connect various areas of international education research, and expand scholarly discourse to include more diverse representation.