A Comprehensive Overview of Higher Education Quality Management Through Bibliometric Analysis Applying VOSviewer

This article conducts a bibliometric review to analyze research trends in the field of educational quality management, utilizing a final dataset of 734 documents retrieved from the Scopus database for the period 2004–2024. With VOSviewer as the primary analytical tool, the study maps the intellectual structure and evolution of the domain. The results indicate that the volume of studies has increased sharply since 2004, reaching a peak in 2018, with the majority of impactful contributions originating from the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States. Network analysis identifies key authors such as Bjørn Stensaker and Lee Harvey, who occupy prominent positions not only due to their high citation counts but also their extensive connections across academic clusters focusing on policy and assessment. Meanwhile, journals like Quality in Higher Education and Quality Assurance in Education serve as central pillars guiding the community. Keyword analysis highlights “quality management” and “higher education” as core themes, while revealing a significant evolutionary shift from traditional governance models toward emergent areas such as online education and management technology. This transition reflects the sector’s adaptation to digital transformation. Ultimately, this study offers a comprehensive picture of the field’s development, helping researchers and policymakers identify critical gaps and suggesting new approaches to solve outstanding issues in an increasingly digitalized educational landscape.