ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Educational Psychology
Identifying the 50 most productive researchers in top-tier, topic-general educational psychology journals (2017–2022)? A new perspective with a focus on publication trends and diversity
Veit Kubik 1
Lena Keller 2,3
Lea Jaspers 4
Annika Koch 4
Vincent Hoogerheide 5
Julian Roelle 4
1. Julius-Maximilians-Universitat Wurzburg, Würzburg, Germany
2. University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
3. Universitat Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
4. Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Bochum, Germany
5. Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
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Abstract
The present study identified the most productive researchers in educational psychology by analyzing the number of published articles in top-tier, topic-general educational psychology journals from 2017 to 2022. Building on prior productivity research, we extended the scope in three distinct ways: (1) we expanded the sample to include the top 50 most productive researchers; (2) we applied three different scoring methods to assess productivity; and (3) we used a broader and more objectively defined set of journals, based on the Web of Science "Psychology, Educational" category. In addition, we conducted an online survey to examine characteristics of highly productive researchers and examined their publications in the target journals with respect to research topics, open science practices, collaboration patterns, and internationalization. Results indicated that three senior researchers (i.e., Richard E. Mayer, Reinhard Pekrun, and Herbert W. Marsh) consistently ranked among the top 5. In addition, early-career researchers accounted for a substantial share of the top 50, ranging from 25% to 40%. However, diversity of the most productive researchers was limited: the majority self-identified as White (86%), male (59%), non-first-generation students (60%), first-generation faculty members (86%), and primarily held European (46%) or North American nationalities (39%). Publication trends showed a predominance of quantitative studies, with articles typically reporting 1.2 studies and having an average of 4.2 authors. The most frequently used keywords were motivation, quantitative methods, and multimedia learning, reflecting a broad range of research interests within the field.
Summary
Keywords
diversity, educational psychology, Open Science, productivity, publication trends, ranking
Received
06 July 2025
Accepted
29 December 2025
Copyright
© 2025 Kubik, Keller, Jaspers, Koch, Hoogerheide and Roelle. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
*Correspondence: Lena Keller
Disclaimer
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