Bibliometric Analysis of Publications on Parents of Children with Special Needs

Introduction: Children with special needs are individuals born with congenital or acquired physical, intellectual, sensory or behavioral differences. Since these children have different needs from other individuals in society, these differences affect their own lives and the lives of their families in different ways. This study aimed to reveal the future course of research on parents of children with special needs by examining the current situation and improvements in the field of special education, evaluating the scientific outputs of research on parents of children with special needs on a global scale.Method: Articles concerning the experiences of parents of children with special needs were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), and bibliometric analyses were conducted using VOSviewer software. The analysis was based on research articles on “parents of children with special needs” discovered between January 1, 1990 and December 31, 2023 using all WOSCC indexes. In this study, WoSCC' title, abstract, authors, nations, institutions and keywords were used to identify “parents or family.” AND special needs OR special needs AND child" search terms were used.Findings: Parents of children with special needs experience difficulties in childcare and upbringing. In this study, 1831 articles published by 5109 authors from 2001 institutions in 92 countries were examined. The universities of London, California, and Toronto were the most publishing institutions; the USA ranked first with 417 articles, followed by Canada, the UK, Australia, and Türkiye.Discussion: Research in this field has been shaped by international collaboration and highlights issues, such as cerebral palsy, autism spectrum disorder and quality of life. Parent-focused studies go beyond the medical perspective to include psychosocial and social dimensions. Parental stress and social support are prominent themes in the literature. Interdisciplinary approaches and institutional contributions make important contributions to the field at academic and policy levels.