Vol.:(0123456789) SN Soc Sci (2021) 1:228 https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00235-1 ORIGINAL PAPER Investigating the active learning research landscape through a bibliometric analysis of an infuential meta‑analysis on active learning Amedee Marchand Martella 1  · Jane Kinkus Yatcilla 2  · Helen Park 3  · Nancy E. Marchand‑Martella 4  · Ronald C. Martella 3 Received: 15 February 2021 / Accepted: 2 August 2021 / Published online: 1 September 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 Abstract To gain a better understanding of the landscape of active learning research, we conducted a bibliometric analysis of 1671 scholarly sources that cited the infuen- tial meta-analysis on active learning conducted by Freeman et al. We investigated eight research questions including yearly publication trends; authorships; country/ region afliations, organizations, and funding entities; Web of Science Core Collec- tion (WOSCC) subject categories; document types; and publication outlets. Results showed an increasing number of sources from 2014 to 2019, 17% of sources sup- ported by the National Science Foundation, approximately 75% of sources published in journals, the majority of sources published in Science, Technology, Engineer- ing, and Mathematics (STEM) journals, and most of the publication outlets cate- gorized in education- or science-related disciplines in WOSCC. In addition, there were 5 countries/regions and 8 universities that tended to be the most highly rep- resented within sources citing the meta-analysis. These results highlight the impact of a prominent meta-analysis and the widespread reach it has had around the world. Implications for how this study may impact research consumers and producers are discussed. Keywords Active learning · Bibliometric analysis · Bibliometrics · STEM education · Course * Amedee Marchand Martella martella@purdue.edu 1 Department of Psychology, College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, 610 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA 2 Libraries and School of Information Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA 3 Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA 4 College of Education, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA