The Synthesis for Research Trends in Identity Studies in STEM Education: A Bibliometric Analysis of the STEM Literature

This review aims to analyze trends in identity studies research in peer-reviewed articles in STEM education indexed in the Web of Science database from first mention through the end of 2024. This study used bibliometric analysis for the evolutionary examination of large amounts of meta-data. Performance analysis and science mapping analysis were performed. For performance analysis, metrics-related to publications and citations-related metrics are used. For science mapping analysis, citation analysis, bibliographic coupling analysis and co-word analysis of documents for prevailing themes and emerging areas of interest, and relationships between identity topics in STEM education are presented. This study found that the number of identity studies in STEM education and citations to these studies have been steadily increasing. Identity research in STEM education is mostly conducted in the United States of America. Teacher education and professional identity are the prevailing themes while STEM identity, mathematics identity, science identity, belonging, inclusivity, gender, and COVID-19 are emerging areas of interest. Science, professional, physical, online, and physics identities are predominantly studied. However, more research is needed on specific identity types. This review sheds light on the current state of identity studies and research gaps in STEM education and offers important implications and recommendations.