A Scientometric Study of Digital Literacy, ICT Literacy, Information Literacy, and Media Literacy

Abstract Purpose Digital literacy and related fields have received interests from scholars and practitioners for more than 20 years; nonetheless, academic communities need to systematically review how the fields have developed. This study aims to investigate the research trends of digital literacy and related concepts since the year of 2000, especially in education. Design/methodology/approach The current study analyzes keywords, co-authorship, and cited publications in digital literacy through the scientometric method. The journal articles have been retrieved from the WoS (Web of Science) using four keywords: “Digital literacy,” “ICT literacy,” “information literacy,” and “media literacy.” Further, keywords, publications, and co-authorship are examined and further classified into clusters for more in-depth investigation. Findings Digital literacy is a multidisciplinary field that widely embraces literacy, ICT, the Internet, computer skill proficiency, science, nursing, health, and language education. The participants, or study subjects, in digital literacy research range from primary students to professionals, and the co-authorship clusters are distinctive by countries in America and Europe. Research limitations This paper analyzes one fixed chunk of a dataset obtained by searching for all four keywords at once. Further studies will retrieve the data from diverse disciplines and will trace the change of the leading research themes by time spans. Practical implications To shed light on the findings, using customized digital literacy curriculums and technology is critical for learners at different ages to nurture digital literacy according to their learning aims. They need to cultivate their understanding of the social impact of exploiting technology and computational thinking. To increase the originality of digital literacy-related studies, researchers from different countries and cultures may collaborate to investigate a broader range of digital literacy environments. Originality/value The present study reviews research trends in digital literacy and related areas by performing a scientometric study to analyze multidimensional aspects in the fields, including keywords, journal titles, co-authorship, and cited publications.