A bibliometrics analysis of research on teachers' satisfaction from 1956 to 2022

PurposeThis research study aims to capture the movement of research focus and to highlight notable authors, journals and documents on teachers' satisfaction from 1956 to 2022.Design/methodology/approachThis paper analyzed the bibliographic metadata associated with 720 Clarivate Web of Science indexed articles on this topic, using descriptive, co-occurrence and thematic analyses.FindingsThe study first identified the growth trajectory of literature on this topic over time and found a steady increasement since 2016. The findings also revealed four sub-topics that scholars often investigate when studying teachers' satisfaction, which are: leadership, engagement, self-efficacy and retention, as well as the scholars' research focus on those sub-topics across different periods. In recent years, scholars have been paying more attention to exploring the influence of various leadership styles and teachers' professional identities on job satisfaction.Originality/valueThis paper is the first bibliometric review on this topic. The results of this study showed that there was little collaboration between authors across countries and territories. Therefore, there is a considerable demand for comparative studies on this topic, which can expose untapped insights from various cultures and societies. Finally, by featuring the most influential authors, documents and journals on teachers' satisfaction, this work might serve as an introduction for scholars who are new to this topic.