Science mapping the knowledge base on educational leadership and management in the Arab region: A bibliometric review

This bibliometric review examined the emerging knowledge base on educational leadership and management (EDLM) in the Arab region. The review analyzed 718 Scopus-indexed journal articles to reveal the research landscape, author productivity and impact, thematic trends, and co-authorship patterns in Arab EDLM scholarship. The review found that the Arab EDLM literature began to grow significantly after 2010. Nonetheless, knowledge production is not evenly distributed, with some nations (e.g. the UAE, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia) publishing a substantial number of studies, and others relatively few (e.g. Algeria, Yemen, Libya, and Sudan). Leadership emerged as the most extensively studied theme, including studies of teacher, transformational, instructional, distributed, and social justice leadership. However, conceptual papers that analyze how EDLM is framed and understood in the Arab region are scarce. Co-authorship network mapping found that regional and international collaboration has played an important role in shaping research capacity and output. This finding highlights the potential of research collaboration as a regional strategy for strengthening the Arab EDLM knowledge base. The results reinforce calls to increase conceptual contributions, especially those that explore how the cultural features of Arab and Islamic societies shape conceptualizations of leadership roles, responsibilities, and stakeholder relationships. Strategies should also be enacted by regional organizations and scholars that address the capacity-building needs of scholars in Arab societies that have yet to make significant contributions to EDLM discourse. Higher education institutions are encouraged to create mechanisms that facilitate, reward, and sustain research collaboration.