Work

A decade of digital competency: emerging themes and trends

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: This study applies latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) to analyse 2288 articles on digital competency (DC) from Scopus (2015–2024). It identifies key research themes, tracks their evolution and highlights shifts in research priorities. Fourteen topics emerged, with ‘Teacher Education’ being the most prominent. Post-COVID-19, DC research surged, with notable growth in ‘Scales for Digital Competency Measurement’ and ‘Higher Education and COVID-19 Digital Transformation’. ‘Business and Industry 4.0 Transformation’ showed the highest inter-topic acceleration. Conversely, interest in ‘Social Media Use’ and Psychological Well-Being’ declined. Although smaller in volume, the ‘Healthcare’ theme gained momentum. Visualization revealed thematic clusters around education, business transformation and assessment methods. The findings demonstrate a shift toward emerging fields, reflecting technological advances and evolving societal needs.

Source: Royal Society Open Science

DOI: 10.1098/rsos.251782

Authors: Seda Aktı Aslan, Ahmet Ayaz, Erdem Çekmez

Institutions: Fırat University, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon University

Language: English

Topic: Digital literacy in education

Subfield: Information Systems

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,471