A Scientometric Analysis of Forty-Three Years of Research in Social Support in Education (1977–2020)

: This scientometric study examines the overall research trends, publication and citation structures, authorship and collaboration patterns, bibliographic coupling, and productivity patterns in the ﬁeld of social support in education. Bibliometric data consisting of 545 documents was retrieved from the Scopus database during a period of 43 years (1977–2020) on 1 January 2021. Data analysis was performed using various scientometric software including MS Excel, VOS Viewer, Biblioshiny, CiteSpace and ScientoPy. The results of the study revealed that the ﬁrst publication on this topic appeared in 1977, however, the major increase was observed during 2017–2020, whereas the maximum number of publications (N = 57) in a single year was published in the year 2020. Similarly, the highest number of citations ( n = 1002) were observed in the year 1995 with an average of 334 citations per document. The most productive countries were the United States (N = 194), the United Kingdom (N = 56), and Australia (N = 50 publications). Results further indicated that more than 50.7% of the research in the social support area was done in medicine. Overall, the ﬁndings of the study reveal that most of the research in the aforementioned ﬁeld originated from the developed countries which can be related to the developments in the medical ﬁeld. The study indicates the importance of social support in the educational context due to an increased trend of inclusion and diversity in the education ﬁeld. This research is the ﬁrst bibliometric study in the ﬁeld of social support in education.


Introduction
Social support is often a common study area in social-psychological and socialeducational research focusing on social relationships within the members of the same community. It is achieved through interpersonal and inter group relationships [1] and is referred to as a mutual interaction between people, which can be affected by individual character, the nature of the relationship and socio-economical differences [2]. Social support is defined as "an individual's perceptions of general support or specific supportive behaviors (enabled or enacted upon) from people in their social network, which enhances their functioning and/or may buffer them from adverse outcomes" [3].
Social support comprises both qualitative as well as quantitative aspects under its umbrella [4]. Elaborating on the qualitative aspect, it is more of a process and usually points to the supposed values and expressions received in a social relationship. Adams hypothesized that the three major factors of any social network were a sense of duty or 1.
What are the publishing and citation structure in social support research in education from 1977 to 2020? 2.
Which of the countries, organizations, and authors are most productive in social support in education research? 3.
Which journals are frequently preferred by social support researchers? 4.
What are the authorship and collaborative patterns of researchers working on social support in education? 5.
What are most frequent keywords and major themes used in social support research in education? 6.
What kind of bibliographic coupling of countries, journals and authors exist in the social support research in education?

Method
The bibliometric method was used to examine the publications output, research trends and publishing patterns on social support in education. Bibliometric is a quantitative method for analyzing publishing trends of scholarly documents (research articles, conference papers and books etc.) Tijjani et al. described bibliometric method as "an established quantitative method to investigate publishing patterns of scholarly work" [40]. Further, it is a method that provides scientific landscape of authors, countries, organizations, and collaborations contributing in global scientific literature [41]. Bibliometric data from published literature on social support were extracted. Conceptual (co-occurrences of authors/keywords, thematic evolution), intellectual (co-citation network), and social (collaboration network) structures of the retrieved data were also studied.

Database Selection
There are many indexing and citation databases, with global and regional coverage of journals, books, reviews, and conference proceedings. Each database has its style, concentration, and area of focus. Scopus was selected to extract the data because of its comprehensive coverage in the field of social sciences. Scopus is the world's largest data source of peer reviewed scientific literature with 75 million indexed items. Furthermore, Scopus updates the data on daily basis and 32% of the overall content indexed in Scopus belongs to the social sciences literature. Furthermore, there are number of studies that prioritize Scopus (over other databases such as Web of Science, Dimensions, etc.) for bibliometric studies due to its largest data source [42,43]. Scopus is also known as a curated, and high-quality bibliometric data source for academic research. Researchers have been using it as a bibliometric data source on a large-scale [42][43][44].

Search Query
To retrieve the bibliographic data on social support in education, the following search query was run in the main search interface of the Scopus database in the search field type: "Article Title, Abstract, Keywords." Search terms were combined by the operator "AND" TITLE-ABS-KEY ("social support" AND education) AND SUBJAREA (soci).

Date of Data Extraction
The query was run on the 1st of January 2021 at Imam Abdulrehman Bin Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. A total of 4464 documents were found using this search query.

Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria
No publication year filter was used to get these 4464 documents; however, search results were limited to Scopus sub-categories related to social sciences. The search was also limited to article, book, book chapter, conference paper, and review articles. No language or geographical filters were applied. Short survey, note, editorial, letter, conference review, retracted, and undefined document types were excluded. From the initial search results of 4464 documents, 3813 records were excluded after individual screening of titles and abstracts of all acceptable documents. The final 545 records consisting of articles (N = 490), Books (N= 6), book chapters (N = 16), conference papers (N = 2), and review articles (N = 31) appeared in the period from 1977 to 2020 ( Figure 1).
No publication year filter was used to get these 4464 documents; however, search results were limited to Scopus sub-categories related to social sciences. The search was also limited to article, book, book chapter, conference paper, and review articles. No language or geographical filters were applied. Short survey, note, editorial, letter, conference review, retracted, and undefined document types were excluded. From the initial search results of 4464 documents, 3813 records were excluded after individual screening of titles and abstracts of all acceptable documents. The final 545 records consisting of articles (N = 490), Books (N= 6), book chapters (N = 16), conference papers (N = 2), and review articles (N = 31) appeared in the period from 1977 to 2020 (Figure 1) The whole process was repeated by two authors to standardize the selection of items and ensure the data's accuracy.

Data Analysis
Different bibliometric analysis tools were used to get meaningful data from the 545 yielded documents. MS Excel (V16.0) was used to perform some basic functions, e.g., to know publications and citation trends. VOS viewer (version 1.6.15), Biblioshiny (version 2.0), CiteSpace (version 5.7.R3), Gephi (version 0.9.2), and ScientoPy (version 2.0.3.) are the tools that helped the authors in data visualization such as journals, researchers, and The whole process was repeated by two authors to standardize the selection of items and ensure the data's accuracy.

Data Analysis
Different bibliometric analysis tools were used to get meaningful data from the 545 yielded documents. MS Excel (V16.0) was used to perform some basic functions, e.g., to know publications and citation trends. VOS viewer (version 1.6.15), Biblioshiny (version 2.0), CiteSpace (version 5.7.R3), Gephi (version 0.9.2), and ScientoPy (version 2.0.3.) are the tools that helped the authors in data visualization such as journals, researchers, and individual publications. The tools were also used in finding the relations in citations, bibliographic coupling, co-citation, or co-authorship. Figure 2 depicts the annual research productivity in social support in education in terms of publications and citations. The first publication on this topic appeared in 1977 and was unable to get any citation. After the appearance of the first publication in 1977, social support in education research productivity progressively increased. The major increase was observed during 2017-2020, where 38% of the publications were produced. In 1995, three publications were cited 1002 times. The maximum number of publications (N = 57) occurred in year 2020.

Research Productivity
Educ. Sci. 2021, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 20 individual publications. The tools were also used in finding the relations in citations, bibliographic coupling, co-citation, or co-authorship. Figure 2 depicts the annual research productivity in social support in education in terms of publications and citations. The first publication on this topic appeared in 1977 and was unable to get any citation. After the appearance of the first publication in 1977, social support in education research productivity progressively increased. The major increase was observed during 2017-2020, where 38% of the publications were produced. In 1995, three publications were cited 1002 times. The maximum number of publications (N = 57) occurred in year 2020.  Table 1 demonstrates annual publishing and citation structure of social support in education. A total of 383 publications (70.28% of total publications) were produced between 2011-2020, and the number of citations during the same time period was 3042 (32.82% of total received citations). The highest number of documents (N = 57) appeared in 2020 while the highest number of citations (N = 1002) were received in the year 1995 with an average of 334 citations per document. The publication trends indicate that the research on social support in education is significantly increasing with the passage of time. The average citations per cited publication (C/CP) of 1995 is 334. The year 2001 has 146.67 C/P and C/CP, followed by 1994 (73.67 C/P and C/CP).

Publishing and Citation Structure of Social Support in Education
These findings indicate that the discipline has progressed slowly but has gained prominence in 2020 in terms of publication. Until now research in the social support area was limited to health education (Shi et Table 1 demonstrates annual publishing and citation structure of social support in education. A total of 383 publications (70.28% of total publications) were produced between 2011-2020, and the number of citations during the same time period was 3042 (32.82% of total received citations). The highest number of documents (N = 57) appeared in 2020 while the highest number of citations (N = 1002) were received in the year 1995 with an average of 334 citations per document. The publication trends indicate that the research on social support in education is significantly increasing with the passage of time. The average citations per cited publication (C/CP) of 1995 is 334. The year 2001 has 146.67 C/P and C/CP, followed by 1994 (73.67 C/P and C/CP). These findings indicate that the discipline has progressed slowly but has gained prominence in 2020 in terms of publication. Until now research in the social support area was limited to health education [32], family education [33][34][35], community education [36] and work-related professional setting [37]. One of the main reasons of increased research in the social support in education could be the increased diversity in university enrollments in terms of age, gender and nationalities discussed in-depth in the proceeding sections. Another reason for this increase could be the revolution and ubiquity of information technology (IT) in education and social support. Table 1 shows "social support in education" annual citation structure between 1977 and 2020. It also shows the total number of social support in education publications (TP), number of cited publications (NCP), total citations (TC), average citations per publication (C/P), average citations per cited publication (C/CP), and the h-index (h). Table 2 summarizes the top ten countries and organizations on social support in education research productivity in terms of publications, citations, and citation impact.   There may be various reasons behind the highest contributions by the institutions from developed countries. For instance, there is an increase in the enrollment of international students in the universities in OECD (developed) countries. These enrollments are not only diverse from age perspectives but from nationality perspectives as well. As mentioned by Mishra, during the last ten years the enrolment of students aged 25 to 34 years in the universities of Australia, Czech Republic, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, and Switzerland has increased by more than 10% [45]. Furthermore, there is an increase in international students by 85% in the United States only [46]. As stated by Vedder et al., all students irrespective of their cultural background require social support and in particular immigrant (international) students [14]. Hence the increasing number of students in universities in terms of diversity necessitate a social support system in the education sector and related research. Table 3 lists the most productive authors for social support in education research. The author, Pyhältö, K. affiliated with the University of Oulu had 5 publications, and was cited 74 times with a citation impact of 14.80 (the most in the list). Seven authors (Soini, T., Gijbels, D. Bodycott, P., Mak, A.S., Ramos-Díaz, E. and Yu, B.) produced 21 publications with an equal share and received 53, 53, 43, 23, 23, 17, and 7 citations, respectively. Cunningham, M. is on the bottom of the list but with a high number of citations (45) and high citation impact (22.5). The overall productive authors result indicates that this is an emerging area and have scope for significant researchers in the future. This table lists the top authors on social support in education with at least two publications and seven citations between 1977 and 2020. It also shows the institution and country affiliated with the author, total number of publications by each author (TP), total citations associated with these publications (TC), citations per publication (C/P), and h-index (h). Table 4 presents the top 10 research journals that produced literature on social support in education. These ten journals produced 165 publications (36%); four of those journals produced over 100 publications. Academic Medicine (Quartile 1), BMC Medical Education (Quartile 2), and Medical Teacher (Quartile 1) emerged as top sources with a total of 90 publications and 2463 citations, followed by the Medical Education (Quartile 1) with 29 publications and 1228 citations. Three journals, Social Work Education, Medical Education Online and Teaching and Learning in Medicine produced 21 publications with an equal share and received a total of 346 citations; these three journals are in Quartile 2. Social Work Education is the only nonimpact factor journal in this list. As found in the present bibliometric study, more than 50.7% of the research in the social support area has been done in medicine and the supremacy of this area might be related to its evolution and relevance [47]. Academic Medicine was the source with the highest impact factor (5.354); it produced 30 publications and received the highest number of citations (1235). Most of the journals belonged to England (5) and the United States (3), while Netherlands and Sweden had one journal each. This shows that the research of this area has better chances to get published in the impact factor journals.    Figure 3 depicts the authorship patterns in social support in education. The top three authorship patterns were two authors (134 publications), three authors (125 publications), and one author (124 publications). This pattern trend is quite opposite to other disciplines where top authorship patterns comprise more than 3 authors [48]. This trend may be attributed to the slow progress of the field and a limited number of research publications, mainly from a limited number of countries (developed). The relationship between authors and publications is inversely proportional from four authors to nine authors; an increase in the number of authors resulted in a decrease in the number of publications. No publication is authored by ten or twelve authors. 11, 13 and 14 authors have the same number of publications, that is, one.  Figure 4 presents the keyword co-occurrences in social support in education research. Keywords with minimum 5 times co-occurrences or more were included; 31 of 1333 keywords met the criterion. It shows that top five keywords are social support, higher education, education, international students, and stress with 98, 47, 26, 17, and 15 weightages of   Figure 4 presents the keyword co-occurrences in social support in education research. Keywords with minimum 5 times co-occurrences or more were included; 31 of 1333 keywords met the criterion. It shows that top five keywords are social support, higher education, education, international students, and stress with 98, 47, 26, 17, and 15 weightages of occurrences, respectively. Keywords (self-concept, youth, retention, support, doctoral education, inclusive education, and transition) show minimum co-occurrences (5) in this group.

Keyword Co-Occurrences in Social Support
Educ. Sci. 2021, 11, x FOR PEER REVIEW 10 of 20 occurrences, respectively. Keywords (self-concept, youth, retention, support, doctoral education, inclusive education, and transition) show minimum co-occurrences (5) in this group. Closely related keywords are classified into seven clusters; the connections between the clusters can be described using quantitative network indicators. Social support (key word with highest occurrences) is placed in cluster 3 along with education, social capital, social networks and inclusive education. Social support, higher education, education, stress, and burnout are the keywords with 74, 36, 21, 21, and 20 total link strengths, respectively.  Table 5   Closely related keywords are classified into seven clusters; the connections between the clusters can be described using quantitative network indicators. Social support (key word with highest occurrences) is placed in cluster 3 along with education, social capital, social networks and inclusive education. Social support, higher education, education, stress, and burnout are the keywords with 74, 36, 21, 21, and 20 total link strengths, respectively. Table 5   This table lists the main themes included in social support in education. It also shows the total number of publications classified under the respective theme (TP), total citations associated with these publications (TC), and average citations per publication (C/P). The remaining three columns (P1, P2, and P3) depict the temporal evolution of the themes over three periods (1977-2000, 2001-2010, 2011-2021, respectively) and presents the respective count of the publications for each period.  Table 2], is in the cluster 3 along with Turkey, Malaysia, Norway, and Thailand. The United Kingdom (publications 56, and citations 1377, Table 2) is with Finland and Sweden in the cluster 6. The Russian Federation is placed in cluster 7.

Bibliographic Coupling of Journals
Bibliographic coupling is a measure of subject matter commonality among different publications, and journals are bibliographically coupled if they refer to a common third publication. Figure 6 illustrates the bibliographic coupling among selected journals. The size of the circle and its colors indicate bibliographic coupling levels and different coupling clusters, respectively. Journals with a minimum of three or more publications were included; 25 of 259 journals met this criterion. Journals with the highest bibliographic coupling activity included Academic Medicine (30 documents, 1235 citations, and a 214 total link strength); the BMC Medical Education (30 documents, 565 citations, and a 490 total link strength); and Medical Teacher (30 documents, 663 citations, and a 234 total link strength). Journals that are closely related in content are classified into clusters; the connections between the clusters can be described using quantitative network indicators. Bibliographic couplings of journals in social support in education research were classified into four clusters and visually displayed using the gephi package.

Bibliographic Coupling of Journals
Bibliographic coupling is a measure of subject matter commonality among different publications, and journals are bibliographically coupled if they refer to a common third publication. Figure 6 illustrates the bibliographic coupling among selected journals. The size of the circle and its colors indicate bibliographic coupling levels and different coupling clusters, respectively. Journals with a minimum of three or more publications were included; 25 of 259 journals met this criterion. Journals with the highest bibliographic coupling activity included Academic Medicine (30 documents, 1235 citations, and a 214 total link strength); the BMC Medical Education (30 documents, 565 citations, and a 490 total link strength); and Medical Teacher (30 documents, 663 citations, and a 234 total link strength). Journals that are closely related in content are classified into clusters; the connections between the clusters can be described using quantitative network indicators. Bibliographic couplings of journals in social support in education research were classified into four clusters and visually displayed using the gephi package.        Figure 9 presents the three-factor analysis of the relationship among countries, keywords, and journals. It shows that the top five countries (USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Australia) published social support in education literature mostly using four main keywords (social support, education, higher education and stress). These countries and keywords have a strong relationship with five journals (Academic Medicine, Advances in Health Sciences Education, BMC Medical Education, Medical Teacher, and Medical Education). The leading positions of developed countries in medical sciences and medical journals being highly influential in this area [47]make these countries as main sources of publications and publishing institutions. 3.13. Three-Factor Analysis (Countries, Keywords, and Journals) Figure 9 presents the three-factor analysis of the relationship among countries, keywords, and journals. It shows that the top five countries (USA, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, and Australia) published social support in education literature mostly using four main keywords (social support, education, higher education and stress). These countries and keywords have a strong relationship with five journals (Academic Medicine, Advances in Health Sciences Education, BMC Medical Education, Medical Teacher, and Medical Education). The leading positions of developed countries in medical sciences and medical journals being highly influential in this area [47] make these countries as main sources of publications and publishing institutions.  Keywords "social support and education" are important keywords as these show up in all three stages, however "stress" has only shown up in the first two stages. It is noticed that most of the research in this stage relates to medical students, gender and stress. This is supported by the high level of stress among medical students during those years [49,50]. Figure 10 shows that stage one (1983-2005) has little con-   (1983-2005, 2006-2015, and 2016-2020). Keywords "social support and education" are important keywords as these show up in all three stages, however "stress" has only shown up in the first two stages. It is noticed that most of the research in this stage relates to medical students, gender and stress. This is supported by the high level of stress among medical students during those years [49,50]. Figure 10 shows that stage one  has little connection with stage two (2006-2015), as there are only two common keywords between these two stages; in addition, stage two (2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014)(2015), and stage three (2016-2020) have more common keywords as compared to the previous stage, which manifests that the focuses of these two stages are relatively close.

Conclusions
Overall findings reveal that although social support research progressed slowly, it started gaining importance with the passage of time and has become a mainstream area in the field of education. This is evident by the number of publications and upsurge in number of citations. Social support was studied and practiced in the medical fields mainly for patients and at the community levels for families. The importance of social support to health care professionals in COVID-19 pandemic still form a major part of COVID-19 related research [51][52][53]. Similarly, during the pandemic, research on social support to patients and people suffering due to pandemic related mental health problems was also a main research agenda in 2020 [54][55][56]. No doubt, the main reason behind the importance of social support in education is the diversity of students enrolling in universities requiring social support at the institutional level. Social support will become even more crucial in this pandemic that the world is going through. As found , social support along with administrative, course design and technical support has a positive impact on the quality of e-learning in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic [57]. Being the first bibliometric study in the field of social support in education, the present study will help the researchers to identify the previous research trends and research gaps, and implications of research. It will also help the educational policy makers, educationists and educational administrators to make informed decisions in the current scenario of the COVID-19 pan- Figure 10. Thematic evolution map of keywords from 1977 to 2020 with respect to social support in education research. Usage and emergence of keywords related to this study is highlighted.

Conclusions
Overall findings reveal that although social support research progressed slowly, it started gaining importance with the passage of time and has become a mainstream area in the field of education. This is evident by the number of publications and upsurge in number of citations. Social support was studied and practiced in the medical fields mainly for patients and at the community levels for families. The importance of social support to health care professionals in COVID-19 pandemic still form a major part of COVID-19 related research [51][52][53]. Similarly, during the pandemic, research on social support to patients and people suffering due to pandemic related mental health problems was also a main research agenda in 2020 [54][55][56]. No doubt, the main reason behind the importance of social support in education is the diversity of students enrolling in universities requiring social support at the institutional level. Social support will become even more crucial in this pandemic that the world is going through. As found, social support along with administrative, course design and technical support has a positive impact on the quality of e-learning in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic [57]. Being the first bibliometric study in the field of social support in education, the present study will help the researchers to identify the previous research trends and research gaps, and implications of research. It will also help the educational policy makers, educationists and educational administrators to make informed decisions in the current scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic. A limitation of the study is its reliance on a single database source (Scopus) and its selection of broader keywords "education AND social support". This study is also limited to purely correlational and quantitative nature and hence the results of the study may be strengthened with qualitative inspection of materials. Future research may explore and evaluate the importance of social support in the context of the specific education level, for example, higher education or primary level.