Purpose

This study uses bibliometric analysis to examine the development of research on bilingual higher education on the international academic stage and analyze its potential intellectual structure. The results are expected to facilitate the future exploration of research topics related to bilingual higher education in Taiwan and the formulation of feasible policies.

Design/methodology/approach

This study focuses on journal articles included in the Web of Science database, using bibliometric methods to summarize and analyze research on bilingual higher education over the past years. It further examines the overall status of related international research, providing a reference for domestic educational researchers. This study involves keyword co-occurrence analysis, co-citation analysis, and bibliographic coupling analysis for a total of 2,063 English-language journals. Its goal is to construct development trends, analyze intellectual structures, and identify interactive relationships in the field of international bilingual education research.

Findings/results

This study’s main findings can be summarized as follows:

1.International research on bilingual higher education shows a growing trend, with the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, and mainland China leading the way. A vast amount of literature has been accumulated and a wide range of research topics have been covered.

2.The literature co-citation network diagram shows that important scholars and publications are concentrated in the United States and the United Kingdom, suggesting that bilingual education cannot be disconnected from ethnic issues due to these countries’ unique geopolitical and cultural heritage.

3.The results of a keyword co-occurrence analysis further show that although the research topics in bilingual higher education cover a wide range, their knowledge structures are closely linked. This indicates that the relevant issues within the research field are inseparable.

Originality/value

The literature in Taiwan on bilingualism, bilingual education, and English-medium instruction mainly consists of case studies and surveys combined with qualitative interviews. Relatively few empirical studies have been conducted. This study uses a bibliometric analysis approach to systematically review the development of related research, to depict the international landscape of bilingual education research, and to provide a foundation for future research in this field in Taiwan.

Implications for policy/practice

Based on the trends of bilingual education research outlined in this study, empirical research in this field in Taiwan is significantly lacking. Furthermore, existing research tends to be narrow in scope. In contrast, the foreign literature covers a wide range of topics and research methods, providing valuable insights for Taiwan. Therefore, it is recommended that Taiwan’s bilingual education research incorporate more diverse research methods and conduct more longitudinal and empirical studies to enrich local research with Taiwanese characteristics and enhance Taiwan’s international competitiveness.