Content Analysis Study of E-learning Literature Based on Scopus Record through 2013: With a Focus on the Place of Iran's Productions

摘要

Background: E-learning and virtual university in the recent years have been among the important applications of information and communication technology in the world, and most famous universities in the field of education development have taken important steps in this regard. For as much as the importance of learning and development in every community and to keep pace with global developments in the field of learning and teaching, becoming familiar with this area and its implementation is necessary. Purpose: The present research aimed to describe the quantity and quality of publication trends of E-learning based on Scopus reports. Methods: This study was conducted on 23805 documents on E-learning published through 2013. The results were analyzed based on date of publication, type of documents, language of the documents, source of publications, subject areas, authors and their affiliations, and the countries involved in developing the articles. Citation indicators formed the second phase of investigation in the present study. Results: With a negligible amount of fluctuation, the number of publications on E-learning has increased steadily over years, with the greatest number occurring in 2012. In Iran, the first article to be found on E-learning belongs to 2002 and the greatest number of articles was related to 2012 (47 documents, 24.6%). Data analysis based on document types indicated that out of the 23805 documents, 11336 (48%) were conference papers and 9548 (40%) were articles. In Iran also, among the 191 documents under study, 92 (48.16%) were conference papers and articles. Moreover, 23077 documents (97%) were published in English and the rest were presented in other languages. The largest number of documents belonged to the United States (6238 documents, 38%), and Shih from Taiwan was the most prolific author. Thematically, the greatest number of documents was produced in computer sciences (11659 documents, 35%). Besides, the largest number of documents was published in lecture notes in computer sciences followed by computers and education. The most cited articles from 1996 up to 2013 included 20 documents on the H-index zone. According to the results, from early 1996 to 2013 (when the data were retrieved), the 23411 documents had received a total of 69939 citations. In Iran, the 191 documents had received a total of 241 citations, implying an average of 1.2 citations per document. Conclusion: The steady growth in publishing E-learning in this period has apparently coincided with development of E-learning. In Iran, however, we witnessed a slow growth in production in this area.