Principal Leadership, School Management, and Governance in K-12 Education: A Bibliometric Performance and Thematic Mapping Analysis, 2015-2026

Principal leadership is frequently examined through instructional, transformational, and distributed leadership perspectives. Yet the field has expanded faster than its conceptual integration with school management and governance. This study maps the development, intellectual structure, and emerging agenda of K-12-focused principal leadership research. Methods: A Scopus search using the supplied Boolean logic returned 2,441 records. Filters for English language, article document type, and 2015-2026 produced 1,456 interface records. The imported Biblioshiny report contained 1,450 analyzable articles, which formed the final corpus. Performance indicators, source and author profiles, keyword frequencies, temporal topic trajectories, and network centrality measures were analysed. Results: The corpus spans 411 sources, 3,213 authors, and 93,852 cited references. Bibliometrix reported annual growth of 15.52%, 11.7 average citations per document, 2.88 co-authors per document, and 20.97% international co-authorship. Annual output grew from 36 articles in 2015 to 273 in 2025. The keyword structure is organised around four connected domains: principal-centred leadership and organisational context; instructional, distributed, and improvement leadership; transformational leadership and teacher work outcomes; and context-specific, inclusive, and primary education leadership. Recent topics include digital transformation, policy enactment, and job performance. Conclusion: The field is mature in leadership models and teacher-mediated pathways but less integrated in governance mechanisms, longitudinal designs, and technology-enabled leadership. Future studies should connect leadership practice with autonomy, accountability, equity, data use, and digital governance under explicit contextual conditions.