Digital and media literacy of pre-service early childhood teachers in the context of digital education: a bibliometric analysis of research trends

The digital transformation of education is increasing the demands placed on the professional preparation of pre-service early childhood teachers, including the development of digital competence, media literacy, and emerging competencies related to the use of artificial intelligence. Despite the growing body of research in this area, the conceptual structure of the field and the relationships among these strands remain insufficiently systematized. This study aims to analyze the structure and development of international research on the digital and media literacy of pre-service early childhood teachers, identify the main thematic directions, examine the nature of their interrelationships, and determine existing research gaps. The bibliometric corpus was constructed using data from Scopus and the Web of Science Core Collection through a refined search strategy, comparison of the results of two searches, and manual screening of non-relevant records. To avoid distortions associated with an incomplete calendar year, the analysis was limited to the period 2012–2025, resulting in a final corpus of 86 publications. The analysis was conducted using Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny and included descriptive bibliometric indicators, analysis of scientific collaboration and citation impact, structured content analysis of the most highly cited publications, frequency and network analysis of author keywords, and thematic mapping. The findings show that digital competence and early childhood education occupy central positions in the conceptual structure of the field, whereas media literacy represents a related but less integrated research strand. AI-related topics are present in the field but remain relatively infrequent and do not yet form an independent thematic cluster, indicating a limited degree of thematic consolidation. The identified structure points to uneven development and limited thematic integration among digital competence, media literacy, and AI literacy. Based on these findings, the Conceptual Continuity Model of Digital Competence, Media Literacy and AI Literacy in Pre-Service Early Childhood Teacher Education is proposed. The model conceptualizes these components as complementary dimensions of professional digital judgment, integrated at the level of responsible pedagogical decision-making concerning children's digital experiences. The model is conceptual, non-hierarchical, and non-causal in nature and requires further empirical testing.