Mapping Mathematical Literacy Research in Elementary Education: A Bibliometric Analysis of Trends, Innovation, and Inclusive Practices
Abstract
publication trends, conceptual structures, influential documents, productive authors,
publication sources, institutional contributions, country contributions, and future research
directions related to innovation and inclusive practices. This study employed a bibliometric
approach using Scopus data from 1983 to 2026. A total of 310 documents from 196 sources
were analyzed using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer to identify annual growth, citation patterns,
keyword co-occurrence, document coupling, source productivity, institutional distribution,
and country collaboration. The findings show that this field has developed over a long period
with relatively stable growth, an annual growth rate of 4.63%, and an average citation rate of
16.44 per document. Publications increased notably after 2015, although recent citation
patterns indicate that the field is entering a more mature stage. The dominant keywords are
primary education, numeracy, mathematical literacy, literacy, and early numeracy.
Numeracy functions as a central theme, early numeracy appears as a more specific influential
theme, and mathematical literacy serves as a broader framework linking reasoning, problem
solving, interpretation, real-life contexts, assessment, curriculum, instructional innovation,
and socio-educational issues. Spaull’s article is the most influential document, while Pauline
Rose, Mike Askew, and Margaret Brown are productive authors. At the institutional level, the
University of Cambridge, University of London, and Monash University emerged as major
contributors. At the country level, the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia, and the United
States were important contributors. Future research should strengthen methodological
quality, digital learning innovation, inclusive practices, local contexts, and cross-country
collaboration.
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