Development and Main Topics of Psychological Giftedness Research: A Scientometric Study of Publications Between 1980 and 2014

This study presents quantitative scientometric results on the development and main focus of publications on giftedness in the fields of psychology from German-speaking countries (PSYNDEX) and Anglo-American countries (PsycINFO) published between 1980 and 2014. In comparison with the Literature on mental retardation/intellectual developmental disorders, the quantity of publications on giftedness (PSYNDEX: 1,066; PsycINFO: 8,572) amounts to one fifth. Both databases show a peak of publications in the 1980s and, again, a steady increase in publication numbers since the year 2000. For PSYNDEX, 38% of the publications refer to empirical studies with the quantity being rather stable since 2000. By contrast, 54% of the PsycINFO publications refer to empirical studies on giftedness and their number shows a steady increase since 2000. Approximately 80% of all publications refer to giftedness in school age (6-17 years old), while preschool age and adulthood are rarely studied. Publications focus mainly on giftedness in general cognitive, scholastic, mathematical, athletic, and musical ability while creative, verbal, nonverbal, or figural-spatial abilities are rarely studied. The implications of the results for research on giftedness are discussed.