Thirty-five years of the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning: A bibliometric overview

Background Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL), which started its publication life in 1985, is a leading international journal in the field of computer and instructional technologies and celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2020. Objectives This study aims to provide a bibliometric overview of leading publication and citation trends of JCAL over the past 35 years. In order to achive the aim of the study, metadata of all the articles (N = 1305) published in the journal in this process were obtained from the Scopus database. Methods The study includes JCALs bibliometric analyses such as the total number of articles and citations, h-index, citations per paper, citations per year, citation thresholds, average number of citations per year and annual citation counts between 1985 and 2020. In addition, the study presents visual maps based on citation, co-citation, bibliographic coupling, co-authorship and co-occurrence of author keywords with a bibliometric mapping analysis performed with VOSviewer software. Results and Conclusions The results indicate that JCAL has become one of the leading journals over time in the field of computer and instructional technologies, as indicated by citation counts of articles published in JCAL, receiving citations from publications in esteemed journals, and publishing international rigorous work. Additionally, researchers who have published in JCAL in recent years have directed their attention to subjects such as learning analytics, massive open online courses (MOOCs), multimedia learning, game-based learning, blended learning, online learning, mobile learning and virtual reality. Implications Further investigation of the scientific collaboration of authors who conduct research in different disciplines related to education, topics and education levels may yield more diverse perspectives.