Trends, Hotspots and Future Prospects: The Evolution of Teachers’ Roles in Educational Settings: A Bibliometric Analysis (2005-2025)

This study adopts bibliometric analysis to systematically examine the research development on teachers’ roles from 2005 to 2025. Based on 1,648 documents retrieved from the Scopus database, we conducted a comprehensive bibliometric analysis using both performance and science mapping approaches. The findings reveal a steady growth in teachers’ roles research, with a significant acceleration after 2015, reflected in increased publication volume. The analysis identified influential journals, authors, and highly cited documents. Through co-word analysis and thematic mapping, it identified major research themes including online teaching roles, teacher professional development, learner-centered teaching approaches, and technological pedagogical content knowledge. The thematic evolution indicates a shift from traditional teaching roles to more diverse and adaptive roles in technology-enhanced learning environments. However, the study is limited by its exclusive reliance on the Scopus database, its focus on English-language publications, and the citation-latency effect, which may underestimate recent works. Future research should pursue comparative studies, address under-examined themes such as cultural responsiveness, teacher well-being, and professional autonomy, and adopt innovative methods such as large-scale text mining and social network analysis. This bibliometric analysis contributes to a deeper understanding of research trends in teachers’ roles. The results offer the potential to inform educational exploration and offer valuable insights for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.