Career Development Research in STEM Education: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Career development in STEM education has become a prominent interdisciplinary research area, emphasising career pathways, identity formation, and workforce readiness. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis to examine trends, influential contributors, and research themes in the field. A total of 216 Scopus-indexed journal articles published between 2006 and January 2026 were analysed using biblioMagika® for metric calculations, OpenRefine for data cleaning, and VOSviewer for network visualisation. The findings show a steady increase in research output after 2016, peaking in 2025, indicating growing scholarly attention. The United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom emerge as leading contributors, with institutions such as the University of California and Purdue University playing key roles. Highly cited works by Estrada et al. (2018) and Hadgraft and Kolmos (2020) highlight the field’s academic influence. Core themes include mentoring, self-efficacy, professional development, and STEM careers, with frequent keywords such as “career development”, “STEM education”, and “self-efficacy”. Citation metrics indicate a peak h-index of 11 and g-index of 21, reflecting increasing scholarly influence. Overall, this analysis provides a structured overview of the field and highlights the need for stronger conceptual integration across psychological, pedagogical, and structural dimensions.