A Bibliometric Study on Mathematics Anxiety in Primary Education

Abstract

Mathematics anxiety, stemming from negative perceptions and feelings of tension among students, significantly impacts academic outcomes and attitudes at all ages, starting from Primary Education. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the existing scientific literature on mathematics anxiety in this context. A bibliometric analysis was developed using the Core Collection of the Web of Science database, resulting in 360 scientific publications. The distribution of publications by journal, institution, country, and authorship, as well as the temporal evolution of them and the co-occurrence of keywords, was analysed and visualised through the SciMAT and VosViewer software. Findings reveal a growing interest in mathematics anxiety within the scientific community, particularly concerning its correlation with gender stereotypes and students’ mathematical perceptions at the primary level. Moreover, the distribution of publications highlights the United States as the primary contributor to this research, with a notable majority of distinguished female authors.