Research trends in mobile learning: A global perspective

Mobile learning is an opportunity for libraries to develop new information services to enhance efficiencies and overcome the digital divide. The present study has found 1958 research papers in SCOPUS and Web of Science, published on mobile learning till January 1, 2013. They have received 6872 citations till December 31, 2013. These publications have originated from 157 institutes from 79 countries and were published in 64 journals. The paper has studied the global Research Trends in Mobile Learning from the analysis of the data. It uses different Bibliometric parameters in this context and it particular applied the transformative activity index (TAI). The journal entitled ‘Lecture Notes in Computer Science’ has produced the highest number of papers 106 (5.4 %). Taiwan has published 249 (12.7 %), the maximum literature on mobile learning. The number of publications in United Kingdom, Italy, Finland, and Hong Kong declined during 2007-12 compared to the first quarter 1984 to 2006. The literature on mobile learning is spread over 26 subjects. The highest number of publications 1290 (41.6 %) was in computer science. Average citations per publication were recorded ∼3.5. Top 15 prolific institutions have produced 366 (18.7 %) of the total publications and these publications have received 3374 (49.1 %) citations. The National Central University Taiwan (45; 2.3 %) is found to be the most productive institution. Ogata, H. from Showa University, Department of Internal Medicine, Tokyo, Japan is the most productive author with 25 (1.3 %) publications in the subject.