Augmented Reality in Early Childhood Education: Bibliometric Insights Into Global Trends and Thematic Clusters

ABSTRACT This study aims to conduct a bibliometric analysis of academic research on Augmented Reality (AR) technology in the field of preschool education. In the study, the distribution of publications according to years, countries, universities, authors, journals and keywords was analysed. Keywords were visualized using the VOSviewer bibliometric analysis software. The analysis revealed an increase in the number of publications over the past 3 years, with 2024 standing out as the year with the highest number of articles published. At the country level, Turkey demonstrated notable leadership in terms of the number of articles and citation rate. However, Greece, China, Slovakia and Spain were also identified as significant contributors to the field. At the university level, Middle East Technical University and University of Western Macedonia stand out, while the study with the highest number of citations was authored by Gecu‐Parmaksız and Delialioğlu (2019). In terms of journals, Interactive Learning Environments, Education Sciences and Education and Information Technologies are among the most published journals, while the British Journal of Educational Technology stands out as the most cited journal. In the keyword analysis, it was seen that the terms ‘Augmented Reality’, ‘Preschool Education’ and ‘Science Education’ were used extensively. The findings of the study indicate that AR practices in preschool education represent an emerging area of research and offer important recommendations for interdisciplinary collaborations and studies to be conducted in different contexts.