A bibliometric review of research on digital leadership, 1991–2025: Implications for digital leadership in education

This study utilised bibliometric techniques to test the meta-data of literature on digital leadership published during 35 years from 1991 to 2025 with 557 documents. Two research databases were established, namely, database of digital leadership in general (415) (74.51%) and database of digital leadership in education (142) (25.49%). The bibliometric techniques allow for summarising the descriptive trends, uncovering the underlying intellectual structures, and identifying the most influential themes. The unique feature of contrasting two sets of literature in this review especially provides implications for digital leadership in education through data comparison. The combination of bibliometric techniques and comparative study provides broader overviews of the evolution and contrast of the digital leadership literature in general and in education in particular. Copyright © 2025 The Author(s).