A bibliometric analysis to reveal the drivers of university reputation

Abstract

University reputation is a topic that is attracting increasing interest. The first analysis of university reputation through the twin perspectives of performance analysis and scientific mapping is presented. The aim of this study is to employ bibliometric tools to visualize the thematic development, the relations, and the tendencies between the topics related with university reputation. In particular, (i) identify the structure of the relationships between past, present, and future research topics; and (ii) determine emerging research trends in the topic research from a longitudinal perspective. Concretely, a bibliometric analysis based on the co-occurrence of keywords (co-word analysis) was carried out, drawing from a sample of 219 papers extracted from the Web of Science. The main results indicated that the university reputation has, as a research topic, only started to attract academic attention more conclusively since 2006. Above all, for the differentiation of some terms from other concepts such as image and where a maturity of analysis has yet to be reached, especially in such topics as university governance and social networks (digital reputation). Moreover, there are topics considered emerging that leave possibilities for research development. Finally, there is a growing interest in academics in relation to the university reputation.