ABSTRACT
Online distance learning emerged as a solution to continue with teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to more scholarly publications in the field. The current study critically analyzed the publications using a range of scientometric techniques. The journal article was the predominant form of publication, and collaborative research work was preferred by scholars in this domain. The most-cited articles were published primarily in interdisciplinary journals. Most of the papers (43.64%) used quantitative methods, followed by qualitative methods (13.33%), and mixed methods (9.09%). A large proportion of publications (33%) did not indicate a research methodology. Visualizations of research show that the field has focused largely on remote teaching as a new term to depict online distance learning but has also covered a wider spectrum of issues in relation to teaching and learning, with an emphasis on technologies for teaching and learning, assessment, teacher capacities, and institutional preparedness.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the editor and reviewers for their invaluable feedback on the previous version of the article.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was declared by the authors.
Data availability statement
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Notes on contributors
Sanjaya Mishra
Sanjaya Mishra is education specialist, elearning at the Commonwealth of Learning, Canada. Previously he served as director of the Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia, New Delhi and Programme Specialist (ICT in Education, Science and Culture) at UNESCO, Paris.
Sidhartha Sahoo
Sidhartha Sahoo is currently scientific officer at Knowledge Resource Centre, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India, Hyderabad, India. He has contributed several research papers in the field of scientometrics and return on investment analysis of libraries.
Shriram Pandey
Shriram Pandey is currently assistant professor in the Department of Library and Information Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India. He is a recipient of the prestigious Commonwealth Professional Fellowship at the University of East London, UK.