Science mapping the knowledge base of distributed leadership in schools, 1988 to 2023

Over the past decades, distributed leadership has been extensively studied in educational settings, owing to its empirical association with school improvement, and enhanced student achievement. Consequently, researchers, policymakers, and those working on educational reform are increasingly focusing on adopting a distributed approach to school leadership. This review aimed to analyse the intellectual structure of the concept of distributed leadership within the field of school leadership over 35 years (1988 to 2023) by employing bibliometric methods to examine the meta-data of 572 selected documents. This review summarised the key features of the distributed leadership knowledge base by analysing its volume and citations trends, the geographical distribution of knowledge production, key scholars and their patterns of collaboration, and its underlying intellectual and conceptual structures. This review offers a resource for scholars by providing insights into the foundations and dynamic evolution of the knowledge base on distributed leadership. The review offers a roadmap for future research directions on distributed leadership, empowering scholars to explore new research possibilities, by building upon the existing knowledge base. Furthermore, this review makes a contribution to the ongoing development of distributed leadership within the field of school leadership. It offers an overview of the evolution of the scholarship on this specific leadership topic, and it offers greater understanding of the development of the research base on distributed leadership.