Editorial: Reviews in Educational Psychology

Alberto Díaz-Burgos¹Jesús N García^1,2*Mª Lourdes Álvarez-Fernández¹Jesus de la Fuente³Douglas F Kauffman^4,5Ting-Chia Hsu⁶

• ¹Universidad de Leon, León, Spain
• ²University of León, León, Spain
• ³Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
• ⁴Boston University, Boston, United States
• ⁵School of Clinical Medicine, Medical University of America-Nevis, Denves, MA, United States
• ⁶National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei City, Taiwan

The present article introduces the Research Topic "Reviews in Educational Psychology," part of the "Reviews in" series launched by Frontiers in Psychology. This initiative highlights the growing importance of synthesis studies in consolidating knowledge and advancing the maturity of the discipline (Campos et al., 2024; Jaramillo-Mediavilla et al., 2024).Educational Psychology, as an applied field, has reached a stage where synthesizing accumulated evidence is not only valuable but necessary. This collection showcases the diversity of review formats-systematic, theoretical, scoping, meta-analytical-and includes a comprehensive systematic review of reviews, reflecting a shift toward second-order syntheses that integrate large bodies of prior research.Although the focus is on reviews, a small number of original studies are also featured. These contributions, some based on expert consensus or large-scale data analysis, complement the review findings by offering empirical insights into key constructs and emerging research trends.The distribution of articles by typology and year illustrates both the scope of contributions and the growing methodological variety in the field. Together, these works demonstrate how diverse approaches-qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-contribute to a cumulative, theory-informed understanding of psychological processes in education (DeCuir-Gunby & Schutz, 2024; Kumar & DeCuir-Gunby, 2023), as summarized in Figure 1. The geographical distribution of the selected articles reveals a notable balance between Western and Eastern regions, highlighting the global scope and interdisciplinary appeal of current research in educational psychology (Figure 2). This near parity underscores the increasing internationalization of review-based research and the relevance of educational challenges across diverse cultural and regional contexts. Collectively, these contributions reflect the evolving and multifaceted landscape of educational psychology research, highlighting critical issues such as creativity, emotional regulation, literacy, teacher values, and mental health in education. Each study enriches our understanding and provides practical implications, ultimately guiding educators, researchers, and policymakers toward more informed and effective practices. This compilation underscores the necessity for ongoing interdisciplinary collaboration, robust research methodologies, and continuous innovation to address educational challenges in an ever-changing global context.