Mapping moral reasoning research among college students: a bibliometric analysis of traditional foundations and emerging digital ethics

The increasing complexity of ethical dilemmas in higher education, particularly those involving digital technology, has increased scholarly interest in college students’ moral reasoning. However, previous reviews have focused mainly on theoretical perspectives or ethics education interventions, with limited attention to the intellectual structure of this research field. This study maps the intellectual and thematic organization of research on college students’ moral reasoning and examines the emergence of digital ethics and artificial intelligence within the literature. A total of 677 documents published between 1983 and 2024 in the Web of Science Core Collection were analyzed using VOSviewer for co-citation and keyword analyses, following a PRISMA-based screening procedure. The findings show that Kohlberg’s theory of moral development and Rest’s Four-Component Model form major foundations of the field, while recent thematic developments include digital ethics, academic integrity, artificial intelligence, virtual simulations, and cross-cultural moral education. The study provides a systematic bibliometric knowledge map and identifies emerging and underexplored areas for future theoretical and empirical research.