A cross-database bibliometrics analysis of blended learning in higher education: Trends and capabilities

This study looks closely at research papers about blended learning (BL) from the last 10 years (2014-2023). It pulls information from Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). By using both, it gives a full picture of what is being published and what’s important in BL research. The search found 1,704 articles in Scopus and 1,545 in WoS. After putting them together and removing duplicates, there were 2,455 articles for the study. The study used a Bibliometrix R to look at who published a lot, which countries and schools did most, who worked together, and which articles got mentioned a lot. Each year, the number of articles grew by about 15.58%. Most of these, 93.00%, were articles. Universities in Australia were among those that wrote the most. “Education and Information Technologies” and “International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education” were often cited, which shows they have big roles in this research area. Some of the main researchers who connect a lot of the work are Zhu, Graham, and Jackson. It is found that keywords “higher education”, “online learning”, “students”, and “COVID-19” are very common in discussions and help shape the research being done. While much research comes from Australia and the West, there is also growing work from Asia and the Middle East. This shows that BL is becoming important in different parts of the world. But there’s a chance to get more research from less wealthy countries. This study puts together a clear picture of BL research. It looks at what’s been published, who talks to who, and which places are doing the work. The research has grown who the main people are, where there’s a gap between different regions, and what we should think about for the future. This can help make policies and change how we teach.