Studying engagement in educational settings: a mapping review on high-impact academic engagement research

Introduction: Academic engagement provides opportunities and resources for students to engage in socio-educational interactions and learning. Our study provides an overview of high-impact research in academic engagement and the potential causes of its high valuation in the scientific community. Methods: We conducted a mapping review using bibliometric analysis of 1,607 articles indexed in Web of Science, processed mainly by VOSviewer software. Results: The publication of selected articles grew exponentially year by year, presenting concentration levels of 1% in authorship, 49% in a single country, and 5% in journals, identified as outstanding Keywords plus® central aspects of academic engagement (classroom-social environment and school engagement), in addition, 6% were in highly cited articles. Conclusion: These highly cited articles (6%) are associated with authors with high levels of publication. The most cited current topics relate to the motivation and emotional aspects of academic engagement.