Research trends and intellectual structure of early childhood mathematical development: A bibliometric analysis (2006–2025)

Abstract

Mathematical skills acquired during early childhood are widely recognized as strong predictors of later academic achievement. However, studies systematically mapping the global knowledge structure of research on preschool mathematical development remain limited. This study examined 143 academic publications from the Web of Science (WoS) database between 2006 and 2025 using bibliometric analysis, aiming to provide a comprehensive, integrated structural map of the field. Publication trends, author, country, and institution distributions, citation patterns, and keyword co-occurrence clusters were analyzed using VOSviewer 1.6.20. Findings revealed a significant increase in publications after 2015, with the United States, Germany, and Belgium as leading countries, and KU Leuven as the most productive institution. A longitudinal study on executive functions received the highest number of citations. Keyword analysis demonstrated that executive functions and cognitive processes constitute the dominant research focus; however, notable gaps exist in digital technology integration, cross-cultural perspectives, and play-based learning approaches.