Revealing breakthrough trends in teacher effectiveness research: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis with Lotka’s and Price’s law

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to examine the key domains and prevailing trends in the context of teacher effectiveness while proposing directions for future research in this area.

Design/methodology/approach

Utilising the Science Citation Index Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index databases within Scopus, covering the period from 2014 to 2024, a bibliometric review of 555 studies related to teacher effectiveness is conducted. This paper employs Bibliomagika 2.2, OpenRefine, R Output, IIPMaps and VOSviewer to screen, clean, analyse and report relevant and ethical data.

Findings

Based on the bibliometric analysis, we identified and revealed the subsequent publication trends, Lotka’s law and Price’s law authorship distribution patterns, the most active countries and thematic analysis of highly cited documents. We further integrate thematic analysis that emerged in highly cited documents with co-occurrence analyses of author keywords in the literature on teachers’ effectiveness research. However, the findings contradict the traditional distribution of Lotka’s law and Price’s law.

Research limitations/implications

This finding has a notable limitation as it only covers 10 years of Scopus database data and predominantly focuses on English-language documents. Furthermore, this study does not thoroughly examine contextual factors influencing these trends, such as educational policy, technological progress and COVID-19 endemic repercussions. Finally, it should be emphasised that the analysis of trends extracted in Scopus cannot be generalised as the study relies heavily on citation metrics, which vary significantly across disciplines, leading to potential biases in evaluating teacher effectiveness studies, particularly those with an interdisciplinary nature.

Originality/value

This study provides readers with an in-depth analysis and understanding of the development of teacher effectiveness research with Lotka’s law and Price’s law. It also highlights recommendations for future research directions to ensure its sustainability, survival and expansion in the coming decades align with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's (UNESCO’s) Sustainable Development Goal 4 of quality education.

Citation

Wan Liah, W.N., Zulnaidi, H. and Kenayathulla, H.B. (2025), "Revealing breakthrough trends in teacher effectiveness research: a comprehensive bibliometric analysis with Lotka’s and Price’s law", International Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 338-360. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-09-2024-0571