The Makerspace Phenomenon: A Bibliometric Review of Literature (2012–2020)

This paper uses bibliometric methods to review the research on makerspaces. The objective of the study was to document the growth and geographic distribution of makerspace literature, identify the main authors, documents. In addition to this, the study also combined two bibliometric analysis methods, co-citation analysis and co-word analysis to identify the intellectual structure of the makerspace knowledge base and the evolution of research themes over time. A total of 654 documents related to makerspaces between 2012 and 2020 were identified from the Scopus database. The review found that research base on makerspace is starting to grow from 2017 onwards with an accelerating growth rate, however, the published studies are mainly from USA and Europe. The paper also lists the most cited documents, the influential sources of publications and the main authors working on this area. The review also identified five research clusters using co-citation analysis that have emerged over time which are “innovation and development in makerspaces”, “child development in makerspaces”, “learning and STEM education in makerspaces”, “implementation of makerspaces in education”, and “university makerspaces”. Another major finding highlighted “innovation, design, and creativity”, “engineering curriculum”, “skill development”, “computer programming knowledge”, and “learning, collaboration and community development” as the five main research themes using the co-word analysis. These findings provide a robust roadmap for further investigation in this research field.