Page 63 - RUICHSS 2023 Proceeding

University of Ruhuna ISSN: 2706-0063
Matara, Sri Lanka

laws, counter negative attitudes towards disability, and provide adequate

support (Hayes and Bulat, 2017; Park & Kim, 2018).

In line with this perspective, this study aims to conduct a Bibliometric

analysis to uncover the trends in research on SWDs in HE. Accordingly, the
results of the study are expected to answer the following research questions.

• What is the extent of scholarly output, the rate of research
development and citation trends related to the Students with

Disabilities (SWDs) within the context of higher education?

• Who are the most prolific authors that have taken research initiative
on SWDs in HE?

• What are the primary sources that exhibit high levels of productivity

in research concerning SWDs in the context of HE?
• What is the geographical distribution of research advancement in the

field of SWD in higher education?

• What are the most used keywords on SWDs in HE and how the
themes evolved over time?

To address the above questions, bibliometric methods were employed to

deeply explore the existing literature. The bibliometric analysis provides a
comprehensive overview of the literature and it is beneficial in

understanding the research gaps (Xu, 2021). Bibliometric analysis is a

quantitative research practice by nature. This data-driven approach allows
researchers to objectively measure the impact of publications, identify

4