Charting confidence: bibliometric insights into self-efficacy and academic achievement

Self-efficacy has gained significant attention in scientific research over the past few decades. Despite the increasing amount of literature on the topic, there has been limited bibliometric research on self-efficacy and its correlation with academic achievement. In this regard, the present research has addressed this gap by reviewing 480 publications downloaded from Scopus. It examines trends in publication activity, leading institutions and countries, highly cited works, and frequently used author keywords. The VOS viewer software was utilized to facilitate the data analysis and visualization. Research findings indicated a notable rise in publications between 2016 and 2021, followed by a period of stagnation in 2022 and 2023 and a subsequent decline in 2024. Results showed that most publications were in English and predominantly in article format. The study identified Universidad de Granada as the most active institution, with the United States emerging as the leading country in this field. This review enhances the knowledge of self-efficacy and academic achievement by providing valuable insights into publication trends, citation patterns, and collaboration networks among institutions and countries.