1 Introduction

Leadership development is a continuous process throughout the entire lifecycle, encompassing stages from early childhood, adolescence, youth, early adulthood, adulthood, to late adulthood. Prior research has extensively documented these stages, highlighting the evolving nature of leadership skills [2]. Each of these phases possesses unique characteristics that should not be overlooked [3]. Developing good leadership skills is critical for all of us, and is especially important during adolescence. However, we don’t know at the time how to develop our leadership skills efficiently and quickly. Leadership skills need to be learned and built upon at different stages of life. Whether it is for personal motivation or for the benefit of others, leadership is constantly changing. If we allow it, leadership can be learned at any time and in any lifestyle. Leadership development is a natural process from youth to late adulthood. Just like any other aspect of life, leadership development goes through stages. These stages can be between youth and adulthood or different stages of adulthood. Development is an ongoing process that will continue throughout a person’s life. Leadership development should begin at an early age and continue into late adulthood.

To provide a comprehensive understanding of the trends in higher education leadership development, it is essential to consider significant developments prior to the last decade. During the 1990s, foundational theories and practices in leadership development were extensively explored. For instance, Harasim [4]. Discussed the early frameworks that shaped modern leadership paradigms in higher education. Additionally, the early 2000s saw significant advancements in educational technology and its impact on leadership practices, as detailed by Bradley [5]. These historical perspectives have laid the groundwork for the evolution of leadership development up to the present day and are critical for understanding recent trends and shifts in this field.

Leadership development in higher education has been a focus of extensive research over the past few decades. The evolution of leadership theories and practices, including transformational leadership, authentic leadership, and adaptive leadership, has significantly influenced the approaches to leadership development in educational settings [6]. Studies have shown that effective leadership in higher education is critical for fostering innovation, driving institutional change, and improving student outcomes [7]. Despite the extensive research on leadership theories, there is a gap in the literature regarding a comprehensive bibliometric analysis that maps the global research trends in leadership development in higher education. This study aims to fill this gap by providing a detailed examination of the existing literature over the past decade.

Leadership development and higher education have become two powerful systemic forces in contemporary society, affecting the lives of individuals, organizations, and society as a whole. This study aims to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of global research trends on higher education leadership development over the past decade. By focusing on specific aspects such as the impact of global events, technological advancements, and interdisciplinary approaches, this study provides a nuanced understanding of the evolving landscape in this field. This review aims to address several key research questions to enhance the understanding of the field: What are the main research trends and patterns in higher education leadership development? Who are the leading authors, institutions, and countries in this domain? What are the most influential publications and topics? How has the research focus evolved over time? By exploring these questions, the review can acquire a comprehensive overview of the current state of research in this field. This approach aligns with the principles outlined by Kunisch et al. [8] in their review research framework, emphasizing the importance of systematic inquiry and scientific rigor in review studies [8]. The rapidly changing social and economic environment around the globe has long made clear the strategic importance of leadership in organizations and the critical role that institutions of higher education are likely to play in supporting the development of future generations of leaders and professionals [9]. This study provides a bibliometric analysis of scholarly publications in the areas of “leadership development” and “higher education” and explores the interrelationships and evolution in scholarly research. Leadership development has become a critical component of successful organizations. Leaders play a critical role in today's complex and changing society and require a wide range of skills and competencies to meet the growing challenges [10]. Moreover, higher education creates knowledge, the value of which is reflected not only in the academic and professional success of individuals but also in the overall progress of society [11].

The primary objective of this study is to investigate how leadership development in higher education is defined, interpreted, researched, and implemented, and secondly, to determine how this interface contributes to the evolution of organizations and societies in this ever-changing world. A very comprehensive search of all available published scholarly resources (on Scopus) related to the areas of importance, higher education and leadership development, was conducted to identify and filter out all the major issues, main/dominant research directions, hot topics, and trends that exist in these two important areas. This study conducted a thorough and comprehensive survey and analysis of all existing scholarly resources (peer-reviewed scholarly publications) in the field of higher education and leadership development written on Scopus. By integrating key findings from significant previous studies, this analysis aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the current research landscape [12]. The results of the bibliometric analysis help to understand the scholarly landscape of higher education and leadership development and provide direction for future research. It is important to note the limitations of this study, including the scope of the Scopus database, the focus on English-language publications, and the ten-year timeframe, which may not capture all relevant literature or historical trends. These limitations highlight the need for further research that encompasses a broader range of sources and a longer historical perspective. This scholarly exploration is not only helpful to the university/academic community, but equally provides guidance, information, understanding, and navigation for policymakers, leaders, and educational practitioners related to the critical issues and concerns of these two important hot-spot areas or sectors. The most comprehensive bibliometric analyses in the fields of higher education and leadership development can create impetus for discussion of ongoing scholarly exploration and innovation in these two prominent and topical areas.

The literature for this paper was obtained by searching key terms in the Scopus database, which is a more comprehensive and richer literature database covering a wider range of journals, conference papers, and other scholarly materials, and is a powerful database to use when doing bibliometric analyses [13]. It has an interdisciplinary character, and the Scopus database covers journals and research from all over the world, making it the best choice for international researchers conducting surveys of global scholarship.

Leadership development in higher education is crucial for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4), which aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all [1]. Effective leadership is essential in navigating the complex challenges faced by educational institutions globally. Furthermore, our research underscores the importance of international collaboration, aligning with SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), which promotes multi-stakeholder partnerships for sustainable development [1].

In this paper, we aim to explore global trends in the literature on leadership development in higher education through a bibliometric analysis of 2188 articles published on the topic of leadership in higher education over a 10-year period from 2013 to 2023. Our objectives include review and analyze the quantitative output of publications on higher education leadership development during the study period, analyze the temporal distribution patterns and characteristics of higher education leadership journal articles, showcase prolific authors, leading authors National contributions on leadership development in higher education, analyze the most cited publications and authors in the literature on leadership development in higher education during the study period, view the subject areas of the literature to understand hot topics and focuses in the current research field, identifies hot topics and future research directions in current higher education leadership development literature. Effective leadership in higher education is critical for fostering innovation, driving institutional change, and improving student outcomes. Our paper and its updated findings can be particularly beneficial for researchers in the field of HE and LD. By reading for this paper, researchers can access the current information on publication background, preferred journals, leading countries and regions, leading subject areas, and top authors. This information can assist researchers in initiating related studies and connecting them with the relevant requirements. They can also save time by referring to this paper on they will not have to sift through each article. Our study also reveals several new and important trends in higher education leadership development research over the past decade, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in interdisciplinary research, the enhancement of international collaboration, and the diversification of research methods.

2 Methods

Literature metrics research provides comprehensive insights into a specific field or topic. By analyzing a vast amount of literature, researchers can gain valuable perspectives [14]. Firstly, it allows for a rapid review of a large body of literature, aiding researchers in swiftly understanding the current state of research within a field. Secondly, such research enables an understanding of the overall structure, developmental trends, and key themes within the research domain. Thirdly, literature metrics studies often span across multiple disciplinary fields, encouraging researchers to delve into the interrelationships and intersections between different disciplines. Additionally, it facilitates the tracking of developmental trends within a research field, offering insights into the evolution of research directions and the ability to anticipate future areas of study [15].

The dataset for this study includes only papers published in English. This decision was made because English is the predominant language used in international academic discourse, facilitating a wider reach and comparability of research findings. Additionally, the majority of high-impact journals in the field of higher education leadership are published in English. While this selection criterion ensures a consistent and comparable dataset, it may exclude valuable research published in other languages, potentially introducing a bias towards English-speaking countries.

2.1 Data source and search strategy 窗体顶端

The data mining process was conducted using the Scopus database from December 1st to 10th, 2023. Following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, we systematically identified, screened, and included relevant articles to ensure the comprehensiveness and replicability of our bibliometric review. First, identification, we identified 2,447 articles from the Scopus database using the search string: TITLE-ABS ("Leadership Development") AND ("higher education" OR university) AND PUBYEAR > 2012 AND PUBYEAR < 2024 AND [LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, "English")] AND [LIMIT-TO (SRCTYPE, "j")] AND [LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, "ar")]. Secondly, in the screening stage, 2447 articles were screened based on titles and abstracts after removing duplicates, and articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria were excluded. In the eligibility stage, we excluded 329 review articles and articles containing the terms “review,” “recent,” “advances,” “criticism,” “revisit,” “advance,” and “highlights.” Finally, a total of 2,118 articles were included in the bibliometric analysis. This total includes all articles that met the inclusion criteria during the initial and subsequent screening processes.

The primary focus of this research is on articles published between 2013 and 2023, within the last decade, with titles and abstracts containing the keywords "higher education or university" and "Leadership development." Although publications date back to 1995, the analysis, based on Murat Esen’s work in “Research in Higher Education for Two Decades (1995–2014): A Bibliometric and Content Analysis,” suggests a scarcity of meaningful growth in leadership research in higher education before 2014 [7]. Therefore, the retrieval and analysis were focused on the past decade, exploring global development trends. The query string used for the search is as follows: TITLE-ABS ("Leadership Development") AND ("higher education" OR university) AND PUBYEAR > 2012 AND PUBYEAR < 2024 AND [LIMIT-TO (LANGUAGE, "English")] AND [LIMIT-TO (SRCTYPE, "j")] AND [LIMIT-TO (DOCTYPE, "ar")]. This query string generated 2,447 documents. To ensure the exclusion of review articles from our analysis, additional phrases were added to the query string, resulting in 450 articles that might be unrelated to our study. These articles contained terms such as review, recent, progress, critique, revisit, advance, highlights, etc. After screening through abstracts and full texts, 329 of these were identified as review articles.

The search strategy was designed to identify articles with titles or abstracts containing the keywords "Leadership Development" in conjunction with "higher education" or "university." The temporal limit was set to include articles published between 2013 and 2023. The language criterion ensured that only English-language articles were included in the analysis. Additionally, the search was refined to include only journal articles (SRCTYPE: "j") and articles of the document type "article" (DOCTYPE: "ar"). The search results were analyzed and summarized according to year, source, author, affiliation, country/region, and subject area. Bibliometric indicators such as total number of publications, total citations, citation scores and h-index were used for ranking. Table 1 provides an overview of the retrieval methods and detailed information on the search strings used in Scopus. This search strategy was comprehensive and aimed to gather relevant literature on leadership development in higher education and university contexts to provide strong data support for subsequent bibliometric analysis.

Table 1 Summary of data collection
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The inclusion criteria for our study were as follows:

  • Articles published between 2013 and 2023.

  • Articles written in English.

  • Articles related to higher education leadership development.

  • Articles published in peer-reviewed journals.

Additionally, the exclusion criteria were articles that were review articles or contained the terms “review,” “recent,” “progress,” “criticism,” “revisit,” “advance,” and “highlight” in the title or abstract, as these were primarily review articles rather than original research.

These criteria were applied to ensure that our analysis focused on original research articles that provide new insights into higher education leadership development, rather than summarizing existing literature.

2.2 Bibliometric maps

The bibliometric analysis in this paper utilized the VOSviewer tool, and the visualization feature helped us to generate clear and intuitive graphs, which helped to understand the structure and relationships within the literature network. VOSviewer is well known for its support of various types of scientific maps, including author collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence networks, etc. [8]. VOSviewer is flexible so that the researcher can choose the type of map required according to the research requirements. The focus of the article is mainly on explaining the visual representation of literature landscapes in higher education leadership development.The visual literature maps produced by VOSviewer and Transpose.net include author collaboration networks, keyword co-occurrence networks, citation frequency networks, and so on. These visualizations reveal the structure of the literature, reveal themes, influential authors, and institutional collaborations, and provide a brief overview of scholarly patterns and dynamics related to leadership research in higher education. VOSviewer was found to be a very useful and informative tool to help researchers visualize a comprehensive understanding of trends and relationships in the field of leadership in higher education [16].

2.2.1 Analysis of co-authorship

Co-authoring refers to the presence of two or more authors in a research article utilizing shared information as a result of their interaction. Co-authoring has become a very common and essential pattern that is seen in academic research. Numerous research scholars of different domains are observed working with other experts to combine their knowledge and strengths for better outcomes and then publishing the research work. It is the process of publishing a research with another researcher i.e., it is a collaboration of two or more individuals to pursue the research work together with other researchers and getting the research published successfully. The analysis of the co-author network helps to understand the association amongst the co-authors by getting to know about their collaboration, network structures, formation and evolution of research teams, the latest trends in the development and the growth of the academic communities of a particular research domain [17].

The study of ‘Co-authorship’ and directed understandings of the structuring and the union of the factors around the co-authorship relations help us to understand the association and the structuring of the academic collaboration and growth from the time of over the past decades.

In the analysis of ‘Co-authorship’, the recurring terms of 497 keywords were taken into account for citations of 6179 authors and 47 different nations. Research works belong to regions or have been indexed at United States, Oceania Middle East, Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa.

2.2.2 Analysis of co-occurrence

In short, co-occurrence analysis is a method of studying what people say together. It means looking for frequencies and patterns of overlap in terms, concepts, and themes in any field of study. It means searching for these overlaps of terms, themes, or concepts in the great works of literature that our output searches may reveal, whether in schools, reading interventions, or even classrooms. It means "siphoning" or filtering as many articles as possible and extracting citations or bibliographic information from them. Since most indexes and many databases allow you to filter articles based on a particular author or year of publication or even the journal in which they were published, the filtered list is a manageable one about which some decisions can be made. The greatest value of co-occurrence analysis is in revealing interrelationships between terms or topics. The interrelationships may be strong (one topic is discussed significantly more often than another) or weak (one topic may be discussed only incidentally in relation to another), but any kind of interrelationship can tell us something about the field [18]. This analytical method is commonly used to construct keyword co-occurrence networks, assisting researchers in understanding the relationships between hot topics, key themes, and concepts in the research field.

Through retrieval from the Scopus literature database containing the keywords ‘higher education OR university’ AND ‘leadership development,’ and with additional specified conditions, the occurrences of these keywords in the same article, paragraph, or topic were determined. In VOSviewer, the minimum occurrence setting for the analyzed keywords was set to 3, resulting in 497 frequently occurring points out of 4414 keywords. Through the visualization graph, the relationships, strengths, and frequencies among them were observed."

3 Results and discussion

3.1 Publication output and growth of research interest

The tertiary education system has encountered the intricacies, difficulties, and transformations of the third millennium. This system holds the crucial and significant responsibility of preparing prospective leaders [17]. Higher education leadership education has been a focal point of scholarly attention, evident from the growing body of literature over the past decade. Utilizing the Scopus database, in Fig. 1, this study employs bibliometric analysis to elucidate the trends, research hotspots, and evolving academic interests in the field from 2013 to 2023. The analysis reveals a fluctuating yet overall upward trajectory in the number of published articles during this period. The years 2013 to 2015 exhibited relative stability, suggesting that scholarly activities in the field had not yet reached their peak, there is still room for growth. Nonetheless, Escalating scholarship in the field of higher education leadership has increased academic interest in this trend; The overall trend in the number of articles published from 2015 to 2018 showed a sharp increase, with 155 articles published in 2015 and 244 articles published in 2018, an increase of approximately 44.52% in the time period from 2015 to 2018. This shows a significant growth in higher education leadership research over the years, with more and more scholars focusing on the importance of the field of higher education leadership. From 2018 to 2023, the number remains relatively stable and higher than in previous years. This supporting data suggests the continued interest in higher education leadership studies during this time period, possibly because the importance of the topic is more widely recognized in the education field. There were 161 publications in 2013 and 234 publications in 2023, which is an increase of about 45.34% in the number of publications in this timeframe. The dramatic growth reflects the broader academic interest in higher education leadership during this period. Over the past decade, the field has seen a fluctuating upward trend in interest and activity. The number of articles published each year is influenced not only by academic research, but also by a range of social, policy, and technological factors. Higher education leadership is an interdisciplinary specialty that exists in a number of different disciplines, including education, management, and psychology, which makes higher education leadership both an interdisciplinary specialty and a major located in a university [19]. In addition, as the globalization of higher education continues to grow, researchers in various countries are paying more attention to the discipline of leadership education.

Fig. 1
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The annual and cumulative numbers of research articles on higher education leadership development indexed in Scopus from 2013 until 2023

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3.1.1 Current Trends in the Last Five Years

The last five years have shown important trends and developments in higher education leadership development research. This section aims to summarize and explain these trends to reflect the status of this article and its contribution to the current literature. Using bibliometric methods, recent hot research topics include the impact of Covid-19 on higher education leadership. Studies have investigated how the pandemic has significantly influenced leadership training, education management challenges, and opportunities. As technology and the Internet have become part of everyday life, many studies on leadership training improvements have specifically emphasized how technology can be used to improve the quality of education and the effectiveness of leadership training. The importance of research diversity has been increasingly valued, including people of all races, genders, and cultures in the leadership development process. The rise of research means that one of the main trends that has occurred in the past five years is the development of research methods and the increasing interest in using bibliometric analysis. Therefore, more and more studies follow the trend and use bibliometric analysis tools (such as VOSviewer) for more detailed data visualization and research trend analysis. Increase in interdisciplinary research, s have conducted comprehensive studies on leadership development in higher education across multiple disciplines such as education, psychology, and managemen. In our review of the past five years of research, we found that international collaboration in the context of globalization is becoming a new issue of concern for talented people from all over the world to collaborate and exchange ideas. Innovative leadership training models, recent research focuses on new approaches to leadership education that can meet the challenges in the current educational environment. As technology and the Internet have become part of everyday life, many studies on leadership training improvements have specifically emphasized how technology can be used to improve the quality of education and the effectiveness of leadership training. A comprehensive analysis of the latest literature from the past five years depicts the tremendous breadth and inherent complexity of higher education in leadership transformation. This study is well-established to expand on current perspectives and explore future directions for the enterprise by developing a comprehensive bibliometric analysis.

3.2 Preferred journals

Leadership development in higher education has received widespread attention in recent years, with more and more scholars realizing that it is an important field that is inextricably linked to many leaders [20] [21]. As shown in Table 2, this paper summarizes and analyzes the top ten journals in the field to gain insight into the trends, influence, and scholarly contributions to the field. The analyzed journals include “New Directions for Student Leadership,” “Leadership in Health Services,” “Journal of Management Development,” “Advances in Developing Human Resources,” “Leadership and Organization Development Journal,” “International Journal of Leadership in Education,” “BMJ Leader,” “Educational Management Administration and Leadership,” “Journal of Nursing Management,” and “Journal of Leadership Studies.”

Table 2 The top 10 most productive journals on higher education leadership development research
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The field of higher education leadership development is rapidly evolving. Research and practice in this field has accordingly gotten richer and more detailed. Keeping track of the key journals is crucial for researchers and practitioners [22]. In the spirit of giving back to the field and enhancing visibility to potential researchers and practitioners moving into this field, we attempt to offer a view on the cumulative influence and scholarly impact of key leadership journals in our field, via an analysis of the top ten journals in the field. In this domain, we take on these questions by examining the total citations = TC, Cite Score for the last year, SCImago Journal Rank for the last year or two or three, and the publisher.

A number of findings are worthy of note: “New Directions for Student Leadership” has a large TC, therefore a consistent readership can be assumed, whereas Cite Score and SJR give a middle-of-the road assessment of impact; it also has credibility by being associated with Wiley-Blackwell. “Leadership in Health Services” has a respectable TC, but the Cite Score implies it has a more significant presence within the academic community; both are visible due to their association with Emerald Publishing. The “Journal of Management Development” has the greatest TC and a high Cite Score, thereby rendering it the most notable source in the area; Emerald Publishing also bolsters its scholarly standing. “Advances in Developing Human Resources” has a balanced performance, even scoring respectably for its TC and Cite Score; its affiliation is worth mentioning; moreover, having a high Cite Score and SJR recommends it as an outlet of prestige and influence, while partnering with Emerald Publishing further augments this reputation. The “International Journal of Leadership in Education” maintains a low respectable TC, while sharing a connection with Taylor & Francis ensures quality publishing. “BMJ Leader” has an exceptional TC relative to the lower Cite Score and SJR; it also has the advantage of being linked to the well-established BMJ Publishing Group, an association that adds strength to its content. “Educational Management Administration and Leadership” is the leading journal by a long measure, having both a substantial Cite Score and high SJR, and benefits from the association with SAGE. The “Journal of Nursing Management” showcases a substantial high Cite Score and SJR, positioning itself as a key source in the field. The collaboration between Hindawi and Wiley-Blackwell adds to its prestige. The journal “Journal of Leadership Studies” possesses a low TC value of 19, indicating that its impact is low and there is still room for improvement.

The analysis of the top ten journals in higher education leadership development reveals a diverse landscape of scholarly contributions. In his book “Strategic Diversity Leadership,” Williams, D. A. mentions that in today's world, whether viewed from the perspectives of education, economic development, global competitiveness, leadership capability, or social justice and equity, diversity is not only the right thing to do but the only thing to do [23]. “Journal of Management Development,” this journal has a high TC value and SJR. the TC value is 44 and the SJR value is 0.778. It shows that this journal has a certain influence and popularity in its field of leadership, and it enjoys high reputation and influence in the academic world, and it is considered as an authoritative and influential publication. The association with reputable publishers such as Wiley-Blackwell, Emerald Publishing, SAGE, and others enhances the credibility and visibility of these journals. Researchers and practitioners in the field can leverage these insights to identify key sources for staying abreast of the latest developments in higher education leadership.

The elite journals in this field have published more and more researches that are related to how digital transformation is connected with leadership development. To illustrate, communication on social media can be one of the useful digital technologies' strategies. It would not only draw the attention, but also pique interest and provoke further discussion. Broadly speaking, this means that technology is being accepted as a means of reinforcing education with more or less favorable educational effects.

3.3 Leading countries and regions

In this Fig. 2, based on countries generated by VOSviewer, the nodes represent individual countries, and their sizes are typically indicative of the respective country’s contributions or activity level in the field of higher education leadership development, such as the number of published papers or citation counts. The United States has the highest level of activity, followed by the United Kingdom and Australia. The lines between countries indicate the possession of cooperative relationships, with the thickness representing the intensity of the cooperation.

Fig. 2
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International cooperation network diagram from 2013 to 2023 in higher education leadership development

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The US, which connects to 36 different countries in the network, is clearly in the leadership position for global research collaboration in higher education. The 36 different connections suggest close collaborative ties with many given countries, which makes sense given the large number of tertiary institutions in the US, the extensive number of scholars, and rich research resources in this tertiary sector. Closely following the US in top position is the United Kingdom (UK), with 35 connections. Such a high number of connections indicates that UK is exerting a significant amount of in the field of higher education leadership development. Although UK is just over one-third the size, in terms of connections, of the US, it is nearly equal in number to the US by virtue of occupying the number two spot for number of connections. Australia is also active in higher education leadership development, with 32 links to other countries, reflecting extensive collaboration with other countries. This may be due to the internationalization of the Australian higher education system, with academics contributing to research in this area [24]. With 26 links to other countries in the field of leadership development in higher education, Germany's position in international research cooperation cannot be ignored. Germany is a European leader in research, and its high quality higher education system and research capacity may be key factors in attracting other countries to collaborate with it. Canada, with links to 24 countries, also has stable and enduring international partnerships in higher education leadership development. Canada's high international reputation and worldwide recognition of the quality of its higher education contribute to its attractiveness as an international partner [25].

The close synergistic relationships among the five countries highlight that higher education leadership development is a well-established global field and deepened international collaborations is a critical driver. Also, full use of the internationalization trend renders that we can expect to deepen collaborations with more countries in higher education leadership development field [26]. The presence of the United States and the United Kingdom in leadership position further confirms its research prowess and leadership in this field offering opportunity to other countries to join their research and development with these leaders. These findings provide useful outlooks to guide researchers in shaping their future agenda and guiding strategies for international collaborations in higher education leadership development field.

The collaboration network visualization generated by VOSviewer is based on the co-authorship data extracted from the Scopus database, which can highlight prominent collaborative relationships between countries. The specific clustering patterns are determined by the frequency and strength of co-authorship links. In our visualization, the US and Australia form a distinct cluster, indicating a particularly strong bilateral collaboration in the field of leadership development in higher education. While Canada and the UK are also significant contributors to this research area, their collaborative ties with the US and Australia may not be as prominent in the dataset used, which results in their representation in separate clusters. It is important to note that the absence of Canada and the UK in the same red cluster as the US and Australia does not imply a lack of collaboration. Rather, it suggests that the visualized strength and frequency of their co-authored publications with the US and Australia were not sufficient to be grouped within the same cluster by the algorithm used by VOSviewer.

A Scopus search of countries' publication outputs in the area of leadership development in higher education from 2013 to 2023 summarizes the following data in Fig. 3: The United States has the highest number of publications, significantly higher than any other country, with 1101 publications, which indicates a significant contribution to and dominance of research in the field of leadership development in higher education. Among the top ten countries, the United States accounts for approximately 53.7% of total publications. After the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada rank second to fourth in terms of publication output, with 313, 185, and 154 publications respectively, indicating significant levels of research activity. South Africa, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Germany, India, and China exhibit comparatively lower publication outputs, yet underscore their contributions to research in the field of higher education leadership development. The data reflects the global nature of research in higher education leadership development, with multiple countries making substantial contributions to the field. In comparison to other countries, the United States stands out with its concentrated and prolific research activities. For researchers, focusing on research outcomes from countries beyond the United States may bring forth novel perspectives and methodologies. Encouraging international collaboration is likely to facilitate diversity and depth in research related to higher education leadership development [27]. Overall, while the United States dominates research activity in the field of leadership development in higher education, the contributions of other countries cannot be ignored. As global research networks continue to grow, international collaboration will be a key factor in driving progress in the field.

Fig. 3
figure 3

Top ten by number of publications in the field of higher education leadership development in 2013–2023

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3.4 Leading articles

Table 3 summarizes the 10 most frequently cited articles on leadership development research in higher education. Analysis of author country distribution shows that the United States is the most frequently represented country with author contributing to five out of the ten papers underscores the leading position of the US in the research landscape of higher education leadership. The notable contribution from the United Kingdom reflects its international reputation in higher education leadership and entrepreneurial studies. Additionally, the contributions from Italy and Germany highlight the diversity within European countries regarding higher education leadership development. The inclusion of Canada and Turkey further indicates a global interest and involvement in the advancement of higher education leadership. The diverse range of topics, encompassing leadership training, artificial intelligence and sustainable development, entrepreneurial leadership, authentic leadership, and the impact of work-life balance on registered nurses' engagement. This illustrates the interdisciplinary nature and multifaceted nature of leadership development research in higher education, reflecting the fact that the field is interesting and complex, can be applied across disciplines, and is worth exploring. The authors of these publications are from different countries, clearly highlighting the globalization of higher education leadership research. Researchers from different countries are collaborating to promote knowledge sharing and to broaden perspectives on leadership development in higher education. Conclusively, the data depict a global panorama of leadership development research in higher education with the contributions of researchers from multiple countries, research output dynamics over time, the broad topic spectrum of research conducted, and growing and diverse collaborative efforts around the world. The international collaborations and knowledge sharing are anticipated to propel further research and practices in higher education leadership on a global scale [28]. International collaboration has enhanced global competitiveness in higher education leadership development. This field has truly become global with researchers from different countries collaborating together, creating a global academic community.

Table 3 The top 10 most-cited articles on higher education leadership development research
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3.5 Leading productive affiliation

In the field of leadership development in higher education, in order to understand global leadership development research trends, the output of research institutions cannot be ignored. Figure 4 shows that five of the top ten institutions are from the United States, namely the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Washington, the George Washington University and the University of Florida. The concentration of these high-output institutions in the United States marks the active research in the field of leadership development in higher education in the United States, which reflects the important role of the United States in global research cooperation. Their research may influence international higher education policies and practices. The United States possesses a robust research foundation and scientific teams in the field of higher education leadership development, playing a crucial role in global research collaboration. The research conducted by these institutions may provide insightful guidance for higher education leadership practices worldwide. Additionally, two Australian universities, The University of Queensland and Monash University, have actively contributed to international higher education research. The high research output from Australia indicates its increasing influence in global research collaboration. In the era of globalization, the international research collaboration among these institutions is expected to propel in-depth studies on higher education leadership development. This collaborative effort is anticipated to contribute additional knowledge and experiences to the global higher education community.

Fig. 4
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Leading institutions in higher education leadership development publications

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3.6 Leading subject area

Higher education leadership development, as a complex and multifaceted field, has garnered widespread research attention. In this report, we have analyzed the top ten subject areas in detail based on the results of the Scopus analysis as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The aim is to gain a thorough understanding of the disciplinary distribution in higher education leadership development research, providing comprehensive insights for researchers, education practitioners, and policymakers. Social Sciences, with 1060 publications, accounting for 30.8%, emerges as the dominant disciplinary field in higher education leadership development research. The broad scope of social sciences encompasses studies on organizational behavior, leadership styles, interpersonal relationships, reflecting a profound interest in leadership behaviors and their influencing factors [39]. The field of Business, Management, and Accounting, with 800 publications representing 23.2%, highlights the close connection between higher education leadership development and theories of business management. This indicates a keen research focus on business practices at the leadership level, strategic planning, and organizational management within higher education. Medicine, covering 490 publications at 14.2%, expressed a strong interest in the relationship between leadership development in higher education and medical education [40]. Future research may focus on the unique challenges of leadership in medical school settings, and how leadership impacts medical education. Research in the field of higher education leadership development is multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary in nature. The dominance of business management and accounting and the social sciences reflects the need for leadership studies research in the field of higher education to encompass a wide range of disciplines. The inclusion of such a broad range of disciplinary areas underscores the multi-faceted and intricate nature of leadership development in higher education. This analysis of the current disciplinary landscape provides a comprehensive overview for future research and policy formulation, and provides valuable insights for developing future research directions.

Fig. 5
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Higher education leadership development publications subject area

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Fig. 6
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Number of higher education leadership development publications topic areas, 2013–2023

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3.7 Author keywords

By using the VOSviewer tool, we obtained a visualization of the keywords for leadership development in higher education, as shown in Fig. 7, which is a complex network diagram. Our aim is to get the globalization trends based on the visualization of key data, detailed analysis and summary of the number of entries, clusters, links, total link strength. 497 entries is a staggering number, reflecting the global scholarly attention to research in the field of leadership development in higher education. These 497 entries cover many areas, ranging from conceptual to applied aspects, demonstrating the richness and diversity and comprehensiveness of the field. There are 23 clusters in the visualization that show the themes and sub-themes present in the research network. Each cluster represents a specific research direction, which helps to understand the intrinsic content of the field and direction. 3534 Links have been well documented with relationships between individual keywords and a richness of interaction and relevance. The links fully reflect the strong connections researchers have made across diverse fields and topics, emphasizing comprehensiveness and richness. The total link strength of 5105 emphasizes the collective impact between keywords. A higher value suggests stronger connections among keywords, which portrays the main concepts and themes in this research field. This analysis zooming in on the target society of keyword, visualize the richness and complexity of the subject matter of higher education leadership development. Reading numbers of items, clusters, links and total link strength allows for a more in-depth comprehension of research patterns in this field, which also provides a good foundation for researchers to dig deeper into specific topics of their interest. Furthermore, the visualized map also provides invaluable insights to future research directions and academic collaboration.

Fig. 7
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Higher education leadership development keywords frame

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Leadership in higher education has been an ongoing and popular issue in academic debates. The author conducted a deep study by applying VOSviewer tool to analyze the keywords of relevant literature in order to obtain the hot topics and academic networks for the model of higher education leadership development in order to understand relevant knowledge structure in this field, as shown in Fig. 8. At the same time, it provides an in-depth analysis on the top 10 keywords, including frequency of occurrence and total link strength of each keyword. The keyword “Leadership” is firstly embodied and has been emerged as a term with the most frequency of occurrence and the largest total link strength. The keyword "leadership" emerged as the most frequently occurring, with a total of 515 mentions and a link strength of 200. It indicates that leadership constitutes a central and well examined theme in leadership development research in higher education consisting of a wide range of studies discussing different styles, behaviors, and others. The following with 449 occurrences and 174 link strength, the keyword “leadership development” is a closely related major focus since grooming is elemental for those who want to respire or excel in leadership positions in their respective institutions. Lastly mentoring is noted with 44 occurrences and 50 link strength. Mentoring is an integral part of shaping and growing the future leaders in higher education. The mentorship system demonstrates a close relationship with leadership development, potentially delving into how mentors influence the growth and development of leaders. “Higher education,” appearing 56 times with a total link strength of 45, establishes itself as the background and application context for leadership development, showcasing a strong correlation with leadership. “Coaching,” mentioned 44 times with a total link strength of 42, emerges as a significant means of leadership development, displaying a high link strength with both leadership and leadership development. Through total link strength analysis, we observe a tight-knit relationship among keywords such as leadership, leadership development, mentoring, transformational leadership, and coaching. This reflects an intricate interplay and mutual reinforcement of these themes in higher education leadership development research.

Fig. 8
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Higher education leadership development top ten keywords network

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In conclusion, this keyword analysis unveils the research hotspots and themes in the field of higher education leadership development. The interconnectedness and multifaceted nature of keywords like leadership, leadership development, and mentoring present a rich research landscape, offering valuable guidance for future studies.

3.8 Leading authors

Through Scopus data analysis, in Table 4, we identified the top ten authors who published the most on the topic of leadership development in higher education. These authors come from different countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Belgium, Australia, the Netherlands, Ireland and New Zealand, indicating that higher education leadership development research involves many countries around the world and has a wide scope. Higher education leadership development has gained increasing currency with researchers around the world. The global collaboration among researchers is essential to enrich the research content in this field. The global exchange of research related to higher education has better content as compared to domestic research as richer experiences and cultural diversity is added into its literature. It is pertinent to mention that research in the field of higher education leadership development is balanced, as the researcher from Australia had published more articles and his work has more aggregate citations by global researcher community. The researchers from Australia, Haslam, S.A., and Steffens, N.K., have demonstrated significant publication in terms of the number of articles published, total citations (TC), and h-index. Their contributions highlight Australia’s prominent role in the field of higher education leadership development. This underscores Australia’s research leadership and global reach on this topic, followed by researchers from Belgium, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom who also possess strong positions within the top ten, demonstrating Europe's strong record of conducting research in higher education leadership development and its important role in the worldwide research community [41]. The authors of these articles come from a variety of professional backgrounds (e.g., psychology, management) to underscore the interdisciplinary nature of leadership development in higher education. Understanding and responding to the complex challenges in the higher education leadership development require interdisciplinary research since these challenges require not only in-depth understanding of each discipline but also comprehensive understanding of the whole problem. Globalization becomes an evident trend in higher education leadership development in the 21 century. The research of higher education leadership development has become a global academic community. The researchers from different countries conduct collaborated research which contributes to the research development in the field. This collective, diverse and global approach to higher education research provides a broader scope and deeper insights for future research on higher education leadership development.

Table 4 List of the 10 most prolific authors on higher education leadership development research area
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3.9 Comparative analysis with previous review papers

This section aims to compare our study's results with findings from previous literature, highlighting the new contributions and insights our research provides. To illustrate the uniqueness of our study, we conducted a comparative analysis with previous review papers published in this or related areas. Table 5 provides a summary of key aspects and findings of these studies, comparing them with the contributions of our current research. The comparative analysis above demonstrates how our research builds upon existing literature, offering new perspectives and further advancing the field of higher education leadership development.

Table 5 Comparative analysis of review papers on higher education leadership development
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3.10 Future research directions

In this section, we outline potential future research directions based on recent trends and emerging topics in the field of leadership development in higher education. These directions are grouped into specific clusters to provide a clearer and more organized overview for researchers and practitioners. Table 6 summarizes these clusters and corresponding research directions.

Table 6 Future research directions in higher education leadership development
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3.11 Implications for theory

Our research shows that technology, especially the use of digital platforms, has become an integral part of leadership education. These platforms not only provide a flexible and interactive learning environment, but also significantly enhance training effectiveness through real-time feedback and personalized learning paths. The findings of this study would be incredibly interesting and novel to higher education leadership since it touches on several issues. Firstly, it brings out the effects of the COVID-19 era on the whole system: the demand it poses on education leadership sobriety, and the need for dynamic and resilient models for building up sound and strategic leadership practices. This study also indicates the extent to which technology plays a role in leadership education, specifically the use of digital platforms to assist in the training of leadership. Besides, the research confirms the principal difference of leadership development in terms of inclusion and diversity and the importance of including different views and practices in it [6]. The flourishing enthusiasm for bibliometric analysis and interdisciplinary research makes it trustworthy methodologically and cross-subject-discriminating at the same time [35]. Research is concluded with one final key implication on the growth of international collaboration, and the idea that global partnerships might serve as an innovative force in leadership creation at the level of higher education.

4 Conclusion

A bibliometric analysis of 2188 documents on leadership development in the field of higher education published in the Scopus over 11 years, from 2013 to 2023, was done. Several aspects were examined, including distribution of papers’ annual production, annual production per authors and average citations per document, and institutes producing the documents. International collaborations between countries and between institutions within countries were also discovered. Keyword analysis and research trend analysis helped to reveal the features of globalization, topical and thematic research trends in the field. It can be seen from the results finding that some researches show a keen interest this area of education on leadership development for the higher education is at medium and research activity is at high level. This field has truly become global with researchers from different countries collaborating together creating a global academic community. The countries producing the most output in the literature is Australia, United States, and United Kingdom demonstrating the vital contributions of various countries towards the research in higher education leadership. Further analysis of author and institution productivity identifies key authors and high contributing research institutions. These prolific researchers and institutions also produce high citation frequency which demonstrates their expertise in leadership and their strong influence in the research field. The exceptional work of certain authors like Haslam, S.A., and Steffens, N.K., from Australia and research institutions like the University of Maryland in United States, University of Exeter in United Kingdom, and University of Leuven in Belgium is noteworthy in advancing the research in this field.

Our bibliometric analysis revealed several unique and non-trivial findings that significantly advance the understanding of leadership development in higher education. Notably, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on leadership training, the integration of technology in leadership education, and the rise of interdisciplinary research were highlighted as emerging trends. These findings provide new perspectives on the changing landscape of leadership development in higher education.

The conclusions of the current study have practical implications for the purposes of meeting SDG 4 by making proposals that elevate the leadership level in higher education. In addition, the study enhances SDG 17 by enhancing global collaborations and alliances, and also the sharing of knowledge and best practices in leadership development.

There is a trend towards interdisciplinary and internationalized research in the field of leadership development in higher education. Strong research themes have emerged regarding global, international and comparative perspectives on leadership development. Research on different aspects of leaders, such as personal qualities and behaviors, is also a frequent topic in the literature. The study of organizational factors and the impact of the organizational environment on leaders and leadership development continues to be a hot topic in the field. While leadership is often used in academia to study the personal qualities and behaviors of leaders, there is a research gap in understanding how leaders are supported by leadership development in academic settings and what it means to be a leader in an educational setting. In order to increase the evidence base regarding the effectiveness of leadership development programs, the inclusion of more control or positive comparison groups would also be helpful. The study emphasizes the critical role of leadership in institutional success through robust leadership practices ensuring educational continuity and quality. Finally, there are many other topics that have yet to be addressed and explored in this area, making leadership development a rapidly growing discipline.