A Visual Analysis of Virtual Reality Research in Education Using CiteSpace

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) is considered as a promising technology for teaching and learning that is gaining popularity in both educational research and practice. However, despite the bits and pieces of research on VR, there has been a lack of synthesis efforts that help visualize and systematize current knowledge on this area. To address this research need, this study employed CiteSpace and Bicomb software to analyze 17 years of relevant VR literature (2005–2021) visually and statistically, with the purpose of revealing trending patterns of VR research in education. The results have located the main regions, institutions, and authors that contribute to the scholarship, and revealed a series of research hotspots and frontiers with their evolving trends. Additionally, the co-citation status was also examined to identify most influential researchers and representative publications. Several implications for future research were proposed based on the analysis results.