Lifelong learning as a research topic in European journals: Prevalence, subjects, and types of research

The paper discusses lifelong learning as a research topic in European journals through three research questions concerning its prevalence, the subjects of lifelong learning and lifelong education-related papers, and the type of research. To address these questions, we conducted a systematic literature review. We established a precise procedure for data collection and employed a coding strategy for categorizing research subjects. The analysis encompassed articles published in European journals from 2019 to 2024 - a total of 326 publications released across 125 European journals. For data collection, we used content analysis techniques and applied a structured protocol for content analysis as an instrument. We present the results in terms of frequencies and percentages. We found that authors from Europe and America most commonly discuss the subject of lifelong learning in European journals, that the majority of the research is focused on questions related to LLL policies, and that most of the papers are theoretical.