15 May 2022
In 1999 and 2011, the revista española de pedagogía published two similar studies reviewing the Spanish production in the field of education indexed in the Social Sciences Education Index (SSCI) database. The first study covered the period 1988-1997 and the second 1998-2009. Once enough time had passed, a quasi-replica study of the previous ones was undertaken for the period 2010-2020.
Objectives: To carry out a scientometric review of Spanish production in educational research indexed in the SSCI database of the Web of Science (WoS) in the period from 2010 to 2020. The intention is to inform the Spanish educational community of its research achievements with visibility and international impact and to draw supported scientometric conclusions about Spanish educational research.
Method: A descriptive-quantitative (scientometric) design has been used on an operating sample of 7016 documents (articles and reviews) recovered after an advanced search in the SSCI database by deliberate or purposive sampling. This study may also be characterized as secondary, since documents are used which have already been published, and revisional as regards research production.
Results: Results related to productivity and citation are provided. The diachronic production shows an increasing trend fitted to a pol nomial function. English (68.5%) and Spanish (30.3%) are the main languages of expression of such production. The most common subject areas of the Web of Science with educational areas are linguistics, and also Rehabilitation and Developmental Psychology. The institutional production is mostly of university origin, with the top ten universities listed in the following order: Barcelona, Autónoma Barcelona, Valencia, Granada, País Vasco, Sevilla, Autónoma Madrid, Nacional a Distancia, Complutense and Oviedo. International collaboration is mainly established with the following countries: USA (5.01%), England (3.9%), Chile (2.32%), Portugal (2.02 %) and the Netherlands (1.56%).
The citation results give a Hirsch h index of 89, with an increasing diachronic trend fitted to both a polynomial and an exponential model. Documents were also recovered that are citation classics, with more than 200 citations; the journal Computers & Education being the body where the most quoted Spanish educational research is published. The most active research fronts are inferred from the citation classics and by means of a word cloud of terms included in the titles; specifically: General Education, Educational Computing and Educational Evaluation.
Discussion: The results obtained and their adaptation to general laws of Scientometrics bear witness to the fertility of Spanish educational research and its adjustment to patterns typical of science. Taking into consideration two studies prior to this one, and after successive comparisons, Spanish achievements are considered to be optimistic given their abundance, impact and international visibility.
Conclusion: The way in which Spanish educational research, from very limited initial stages, has followed a complex path of improvement to achieve scientometric patterns which are comparable to those of other scientific disciplines is confirmed.
Please, cite this article as follows: Fernández-Cano, A., & Fernández-Guerrero, A. (2022). Producción educativa española en el Social Sciences Citation Index (2010-2020). III | Spanish educational production in the Social Sciences Citation Index (2010-2020). III. Revista Española de Pedagogía, 80 (282), 347-370. https://doi.org/10.22550/REP80-2-2022-08
