Paradigm shifts in e-book-supported learning: Evidence from the Web of Science using a co-citation network analysis with an education focus (2010-2019)

This paper aims to provide research-based evidence for highlighting the paradigm shifts of e-book research. The most popular e-book-related keywords (e.g., electronic book, e-book) were used to retrieve the most relevant and quality journal articles published in the recent decade (2010-2109) from the Web of Science. Unlike most e-book review studies based on content analysis, this present paper employed a co-citation network analysis to examine the bibliographic relationships for the development of e-book-supported learning research. While the co-citation analysis is to identify the most highly joint-referenced e-book articles, social network analysis is to visualize the e-book co-citation networks with the main characteristics of the research interest (e.g., the focused research subjects and variables that measured learning outcomes). After careful screening and reviewing of the search data, a total of 55 high-quality e-book articles with 1203 citations were collected and analyzed. The result of the e-book research networks across two periods provided a decade overview of the development of e-book-supported learning research. (1) Early research (2010-2014) focused on improving the emerging literacy of preschool children and the learning effects of e-books. A sub-stream of high-risk students' e-book use was also identified. (2) In recent years (2015-2019), e-books were used at various education levels and were adopted in more diverse learning contexts. For young children's e-book use, researchers focused on e-book reading for early literacy, especially in the situation of co-reading with an adult. For university students, researchers focused on developing e-book-based systems to achieve better results and reduce their anxiety during formal learning. Discussion and implications are provided.