Applied bibliometrics and information visualization for decision-making processes in higher education institutions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyse how using bibliometrics and information visualization can provide a “picture at glance” from which decision-makers can structure processes, thus organizing outputs/outcomes from inception. Design/methodology/approach This study carried out a bibliometric-oriented review on studies on higher education students' retention; 1,962 records were downloaded from Scopus and grouped into three five-year intervals: 2002–2006 (n = 236), 2007–2011 (n = 584) and 2012–2016 (n = 1,142). Centrality measures and text-mining techniques were used to analyse data. Findings Clusters of academic networks were identified by using co-citation analysis. Also, terms with high semantic value were ranked and grouped by using automatic term extraction and co-word analysis. Practical implications The bibliometric approach used in this study identifies clusters of authors specialized in student retention, as well as detects the primary terms within this research field. Originality/value This paper provides evidence that a bibliometric approach in conjunction with data visualization can be a valuable complement to in-depth literature reviews for the decision-making process.