Bibliometric Mapping of Socio-Scientific Issues Research in Science Education: A Fleckian Epistemological Interpretation (2010–2026)

This paper conducts a bibliometric science-mapping analysis of international research on Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI) in Science Education. Although SSI research has expanded considerably, limited attention has been given to how the field is organized thematically, intellectually, socially, and epistemologically. To address this gap, the study analyzes 738 articles indexed in the Web of Science and published between 2010 and 2026. The bibliometric analysis was performed using VOSviewer and included keyword co-occurrence, document bibliographic coupling, author co-citation, and country co-authorship networks. The results indicate that SSI research is thematically polycentric, organized around pedagogical-curricular mediations, cognitive and argumentative processes, normative and civic orientations, and institutional anchoring in educational levels and disciplinary contexts. Temporal keyword analysis identified emerging topics such as systems thinking, STEAM, professional development, media literacy, inquiry-based learning, COVID-19, engagement, and epistemic beliefs, while argumentation, scientific literacy, decision-making, Nature of Science, reasoning, and environmental education remain stabilized thematic cores. Bibliographic coupling revealed contemporary intellectual cores marked by both continuity and renewal, while author co-citation analysis identified a differentiated intellectual canon around authors such as Sadler, Zeidler, Osborne, Kolstø, Hodson, Lederman, and others. Country co-authorship analysis showed that SSI research circulates internationally through uneven but interconnected collaboration routes. Interpreted through Ludwik Fleck’s epistemology, these patterns indicate processes of thought-style stabilization, thought-collective formation, and thought traffic within the WoS-indexed international SSI literature. The study contributes to Science Education by providing a relational and epistemologically informed diagnosis of the field, with implications for curriculum development, teacher education, and future research agendas.