World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Higher Education
H-index 26

Higher Education

0018-1560

Published by: Springer

https://www.springer.com/journal/10734

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Social Sciences and Humanities 65 50 75 22

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 100
Documents by Best Scientists*: 122
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 3
SCIMAGO H-index: 137
SCIMAGO SJR: 2.15
Impact Factor: 4.6

Overview

Top Research Topics at Higher Education?

Higher Education primarily focuses on research topics in Higher education, Pedagogy, Mathematics education, Public relations and Economic growth. Higher Education holds forums on Higher education that merges themes from other disciplines such as Quality (business), Context (language use), Medical education, Government and Public administration. The study on Public administration presented is investigated in conjunction with research in Corporate governance.

It features studies on Pedagogy, including topics such as Curriculum. Topics like Teaching method and Academic achievement are tackled as part of the discussions on Mathematics education. The work on Economic growth addressed in the journal expands to the thematically related Politics.

  • Higher education (91.88%)
  • Pedagogy (23.93%)
  • Mathematics education (16.69%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • Enhancing Teaching through Constructive Alignment. (1937 citations)
  • Relations between teachers' approaches to teaching and students' approaches to learning (1092 citations)
  • Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (2): Epistemological considerations and a conceptual framework for teaching and learning (959 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Higher Education:

The published articles investigate areas of study like Higher education, Pedagogy, Mathematics education, Public relations and Economic growth. Quality (business), Context (language use), Discipline, Social psychology and Teaching method are some topics wherein Higher education research discussed in the most cited articles has an impact. The published papers focus on Pedagogy but the discussions also offer insight into other areas such as Scholarship and Medical education.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

  • Law
  • World War II
  • Education

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

The primary areas of discussion in the journal are Higher education, Public relations, Context (language use), Mathematics education and Medical education. Issues in Higher education were discussed, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Discipline, Pedagogy, Demographic economics, Gender studies and China. The Demographic economics study featured in it draws connections with the study of Inequality.

The work on Public relations tackled in Higher Education brings together disciplines like Employability, Corporate governance, Sustainable development, Power (social and political) and Field (Bourdieu). The research topics discussed in it include Mathematics education as well as Perspective (graphical).

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • COVID-19 and digital disruption in UK universities: afflictions and affordances of emergency online migration. (89 citations)
  • Scientific globalism during a global crisis: research collaboration and open access publications on COVID-19. (33 citations)
  • Higher education and the sustainable development goals. (18 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

The top authors publishing in Higher Education (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Donald F. Westerheijden (15 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • David Kember (15 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Simon Marginson (13 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition,
  • J. H. F. Meyer (12 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • Jürgen Enders (12 papers) absent at the last edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Higher Education (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Lancaster University (64 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition,
  • University of Hong Kong (58 papers) published 8 papers at the last edition, 4 more than at the previous edition,
  • Open University (50 papers) absent at the last edition,
  • University of Edinburgh (46 papers) published 4 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition,
  • University of Sydney (45 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 1 more than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 4.93% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 12.95% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 4.66% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 15.54% of all publications and 66.84% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

  • Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
  • Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
  • Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
  • Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
  • Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Becoming a Licensed Counselor

If you are interested in contributing more directly to the field of Higher Education, one option would be to become a licensed counselor. In addition to being able to offer guidance and support to students, counselors often play a pivotal role in the development and implementation of education policies and practices. Becoming a licensed counselor requires specialized education and training, along with passing a state-specific examination. While the exact requirements can vary depending on the state, generally you will need at least a master's degree in counseling or a related field. After completing your education, you would then need to acquire a certain number of supervised practice hours, again depending on your state's specific requirements. Once you have met all of the requirements, you can then apply for licensure. For example, if you are considering this career path in Washington, you can read more about the requirements for Getting a counseling license in Washington state. This detailed guide provides step-by-step instructions on becoming a licensed counselor in the state. Remember, becoming a licensed counselor not only allows you to give back to your community, but it also offers opportunities for continuous learning and professional growth.

Top Publications

  • Feedback literacy: a critical review of an emerging concept

    (2022)
    109 Citations
  • Mapping the scattered field of research on higher education. A correlated topic model of 17,000 articles, 1991–2018

    Stijn Daenekindt;Stijn Daenekindt;Jeroen Huisman

    (2020)
    107 Citations
  • Developing student competence through peer assessment: the role of feedback, self-regulation and evaluative judgement

    María Soledad Ibarra-Sáiz;Gregorio Rodríguez-Gómez;David Boud

    (2020)
    86 Citations
  • Knowledge hiding in higher education: role of interactional justice and professional commitment

    Usman Ghani;Xuesong Zhai;Xuesong Zhai;J. Michael Spector;Nian-Shing Chen

    (2020)
    72 Citations
  • Respecting voices: how the co-creation of teaching and learning can support academic staff, underrepresented students, and equitable practices

    Alison Cook-Sather

    (2020)
    69 Citations
  • ‘All things are in flux’: China in global science

    Simon Marginson

    (2021)
    65 Citations
  • What perspectives underlie ‘researcher identity’? A review of two decades of empirical studies

    Montserrat Castelló;Lynn McAlpine;Lynn McAlpine;Anna Sala-Bubaré;Kelsey Inouye

    (2021)
    59 Citations
  • Discipline-specific feedback literacies: A framework for curriculum design

    Naomi E. Winstone;Kieran Balloo;David Carless

    (2020)
    53 Citations
  • What influences PhD graduate trajectories during the degree: a research-based policy agenda

    Lynn McAlpine;Montserrat Castello;Kirsi Pyhaltö

    (2020)
    53 Citations
  • Effect of sport education on students’ perceived physical literacy, motivation, and physical activity levels in university required physical education: a cluster-randomized trial

    Siu Ming Choi;Kim Wai Raymond Sum;Fung Lin Elean Leung;Tristan Wallhead

    (2021)
    52 Citations

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