A bibliometric analysis of the vocational education and training (VET) literature

The literature on Vocational Education and Training (VET) spans over six decades. This review conducts a bibliometric analysis of 447 Scopus-indexed documents from 1965 to 2023. It is the first to analyze VET-related literature published in ABS-listed journals within the field of economics. Our findings highlight significant publication growth since 2014 and identify four primary research clusters: “vocational education and skill formation,” “vocational training and labor market outcomes,” “human capital and economic growth,” and “apprenticeship contracts and training costs.” Based on the current knowledge structure, we suggest directions for future research.