A student from the Library and Information Science (LIS) Study Program at the Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, Siti Rina Latifah, has published a scientific article mapping the development of global research trends in digital literacy at the higher education level. The 2024 article was authored under the guidance of LIS lecturers, Yunus Winoto and Ute Lies Siti Khadijah.
This research was motivated by the significant challenges faced by higher education institutions in the digital era. As centers of quality education, universities are tasked with continuously improving literacy skills relevant to technological developments. Therefore, this study aims to comprehensively map the research landscape, from publication trends, core journals, and productive researchers, to the knowledge structure in the field of digital literacy.
To achieve its objective, this study uses a quantitative method with a bibliometric analysis approach. Data was collected from the Scopus database over a ten-year period, from 2014 to 2023. VOSviewer software was used to assist in the analysis and to visualize the complex knowledge network from hundreds of scientific documents.
The analysis shows that the number of publications on digital literacy in higher education experienced significant growth over the last decade, although there were some fluctuations. The publication trend briefly declined in the 2014-2016 period, before finally increasing rapidly until 2021. The most cited journal and a primary reference in this field is “Education and Information Technologies”.
Furthermore, from a total of 646 documents analyzed, the study successfully identified 56 main keywords that are interconnected, forming 5 distinct research clusters. Another interesting finding is the emergence of a new set of keywords heavily influenced by global conditions, such as “Covid-19,” “pandemic,” “educational innovation,” “digital competencies,” and “digital transformation,” which indicates a new direction in this research area.
This scientific work provides a clear map of the developments, focuses, and current trends in the study of digital literacy at the higher education level. These analytical results can serve as a valuable reference for academics, practitioners, and policymakers to understand the research landscape and design more effective digital literacy development strategies for the future.
The full article is available at: http://media.unpad.ac.id/files/publikasi/2025/rpm_20250123195648_4777.pdf
Authors: Ridha Amalia, Nadziva Shaqeena, and Ariel Mohammad Alief Yusuf
