Global Knowledge Structure and Evolution of Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL): A Bibliometric and Science-Mapping Analysis, 2016–2025

Abstract

Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) has emerged as an important approach to internationalization at home, enabling higher education institutions to provide digitally mediated international and intercultural learning opportunities without requiring physical mobility. Despite the rapid growth of COIL scholarship, the field remains conceptually and geographically fragmented, limiting a comprehensive understanding of its intellectual structure, research collaboration patterns, and thematic development. This study maps the global knowledge structure and evolution of COIL research from 2016 to 2025 using bibliometric and science-mapping approaches. Following the PRISMA 2020 framework, 1,083 Scopus-indexed publications were identified and analyzed using Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny and VOSviewer through performance analysis, co-authorship analysis, keyword co-occurrence, thematic mapping, and thematic evolution analysis. The findings show that COIL is a rapidly expanding and increasingly collaborative field, with an annual publication growth rate of 18.13% and international co-authorship of 38.87%. Research productivity and collaboration are concentrated among countries such as the United States, Spain, China, and the United Kingdom, revealing a core-periphery structure in global knowledge production. The thematic structure is anchored in virtual exchange, telecollaboration, intercultural competence, collaborative learning, educational technology, and internationalization. Thematic evolution further indicates a shift from communication- and language-oriented telecollaboration toward more interdisciplinary and learner-centered approaches emphasizing intercultural awareness, global competence, sustainability, and internationalization at home. The absence of dominant motor themes suggests that COIL remains in a phase of conceptual consolidation. These findings position COIL as an increasingly interdisciplinary framework for digitally mediated internationalization while highlighting the need for stronger theoretical development, broader participation of Global South institutions, and more inclusive international research collaboration.