Review Article

Immersive frontiers: A two-decade bibliometric analysis of virtual and augmented reality research in science education (2006-2026)

Natalia A. Orekhovskaya 1 * , Marina N. Svintsova 1 , Olga V. Shevchenko 1 , Evgeniya S. Buzhor 1 , Nina O. Voskresenskaya 1 , Mikhail S. Miroshkin 1
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1 Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, Moscow, RUSSIA* Corresponding Author
Contemporary Educational Technology, 18(4), October 2026, ep697, https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/19596
Published: 13 October 2026
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ABSTRACT

During the last twenty years, virtual and augmented reality applications have become a key component of science education. However, there is no systematic analysis of the intellectual basis of scientific research in this area. A bibliometric study of 116 articles published in peer-reviewed journals listed in Scopus in 2006-2026 was carried out, during which the performance of the authors was analyzed using the bibliometrix R software and co-authorship, co-citation, and keyword co-occurrence networks were created using the VOSviewer software. All articles had 4,742 citations with an average of 40.88 and an h-index of 33; the authors of the articles came from 42 countries; the most productive ones are the United States, Australia, China, and Greece. Five articles have received 44% of all citations and represent the major theoretical contributions, including the importance of embodied VR-based learning and the role of such learning environments in fostering students’ understanding of physics and biology concepts. Based on the keyword co-occurrence analysis, the articles can be grouped into four clusters, characterized by the common themes of immersive and embodied learning, disciplinary learning, the use of augmented and mixed reality, and computer science education. The paper contributes to the understanding of the scientific basis of VR and AR applications for science education: it was found that the area is based on the concepts of embodiment, presence, and situated meaning, which integrate into the common framework.
Keywords: virtual reality, augmented reality, science education, bibliometric analysis, immersive learning

CITATION (APA)

Orekhovskaya, N. A., Svintsova, M. N., Shevchenko, O. V., Buzhor, E. S., Voskresenskaya, N. O., & Miroshkin, M. S. (2026). Immersive frontiers: A two-decade bibliometric analysis of virtual and augmented reality research in science education (2006-2026). Contemporary Educational Technology, 18(4), ep697. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/19596

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