Impactful Research Fronts in Digital Educational Ecosystem: Advancing Clarivate's Approach with a New Impact Factor Metric

Tran Ai Cam^1*Nguyen Huu Thanh Chung^2*

• ¹Nguyen Tat Thanh university, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
• ²University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Hanoi, Vietnam

This study investigates impactful research fronts in the digital educational ecosystem through an extended Clarivate formulation incorporating a novel Impact Factor (IF) metric. Unlike the traditional Clarivate Citation Production Trajectory (CPT), the IF metric provides a more comprehensive assessment by considering publication productivity, growth rate, core papers, and citation dynamics. It also introduces the publication gap between core and citing papers, offering deeper insights into research evolution. Applying this enhanced method to Scopus data (2019)(2020)(2021)(2022)(2023) identifies key research fronts, including online learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, hybrid learning, and digital assessment, with the first two being the most influential. The new IF metric demonstrates greater precision in identifying impactful research fronts compared to CPT, while also revealing significant global contributions, particularly from developing regions. This study highlights the value of a refined IF approach in capturing both the immediacy and lasting influence of digital education research. The findings also reveal the global distribution of research activities in digital educational ecosystem, highlighting significant contributions from institutions and countries, particularly in developing regions.