Charting the Course of School Dropout Research: A Bibliometric Exploration

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis focused on the research domain of school dropout. Over the course of time, nations across the globe have come to acknowledge the significance of this phenomenon and have made concerted efforts to gain deeper insights into it, with the aim of mitigating the associated risks. Consequently, it has become evident that the origins of this phenomenon can be traced back to a child’s formative years, and, once identified, it can be ameliorated through the implementation of an array of mitigation strategies. Therefore, the principal objective of this paper is to navigate the body of work published in connection with the school dropout phenomenon, shedding light on the research community’s interest in this subject. Our investigation was inaugurated by assembling a comprehensive dataset encompassing 1,592 papers sourced from the ISI Web of Science database, spanning the years from 1976 to 2022. Notably, the research community has exhibited a significant level of engagement with this research area, as evidenced by a robust annual growth rate of 11.14%. To uncover emerging research trajectories, we conducted an exhaustive examination of keyword usage. Moreover, we explored into the complex web of collaborative relationships among authors, identifying the most prolific contributors to this field. Furthermore, we conducted a thorough analysis of the most salient papers within this domain, and, for enhanced elucidation, we have presented a review of the top-10 most cited works, thereby spotlighting the prevailing research directions that have captured the attention of scholars hailing from diverse corners of the world. The results of our analysis reveal a burgeoning global interest in the school dropout phenomenon over time.