Research article    |    Open Access
Journal of Innovative Research in Teacher Education 2025, Vol. 6(3) 153-167

From taboo topics to socio-scientific issues: A bibliometric analysis on the trend and growth of knowledge about teaching controversial issues

Sedat Yazıcı, Fatih Yazıcı

pp. 153 - 167

Publish Date: December 23, 2025  |   Single/Total View: 0/0   |   Single/Total Download: 0/0


Abstract

Teaching controversial issues in the classroom has been praised for several educational reasons, including its contribution to critical thinking, the development of citizenship competencies, and the fostering of an understanding of science and technology. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of works indexed in the Scopus database related to teaching controversial issues. We investigated the trends in publications and citations, keyword co-occurrence, country performance, and research collaborations on works completed between 1993 and 2023. Our findings indicate a significant increase in studies examining the teaching of controversial issues, particularly since 2006, with variation by subject. Research on teaching socio-scientific issues in science education has significantly increased, with 346 papers out of 743. Keyword co-occurrence analysis revealed nine clusters, predominantly focusing on teaching socio-scientific issues, addressing controversial issues, and integrating these issues into teacher training. Analyzed by total publication and citation counts, nine of the top ten journals and eight of the top ten articles have a scope and content related to science education issues. We found three research collaboration patterns: language proximity, geographic proximity, and an independent collaboration pattern. While the US and Great Britain were among the leading countries, scholars from other nations have also made substantial contributions to the growth of this research field.

Keywords: controversial issues, socio-scientific issues, teaching, bibliometric analysis


How to Cite this Article?

APA 7th edition
Yazici, S., & Yazici, F. (2025). From taboo topics to socio-scientific issues: A bibliometric analysis on the trend and growth of knowledge about teaching controversial issues. Journal of Innovative Research in Teacher Education, 6(3), 153-167.

Harvard
Yazici, S. and Yazici, F. (2025). From taboo topics to socio-scientific issues: A bibliometric analysis on the trend and growth of knowledge about teaching controversial issues. Journal of Innovative Research in Teacher Education, 6(3), pp. 153-167.

Chicago 16th edition
Yazici, Sedat and Fatih Yazici (2025). "From taboo topics to socio-scientific issues: A bibliometric analysis on the trend and growth of knowledge about teaching controversial issues". Journal of Innovative Research in Teacher Education 6 (3):153-167.

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