Scientometrics-Based Research Status and Hot Topics Analysis of Chinese Private Colleges under Policy Guidance

Private colleges play an important role in the cause of education, explore the research landscape and trends in development, and provide theoretical support and management practices for high-quality, healthy, and sustainable development. Based on a bibliometric analysis, and employing techniques such as scientometrics, social network analysis, a two-dimensional matrix, and textual analysis, this study analyzed the research literature on private colleges in the CSSCI database from 1998 to 2021, along with relevant policies from the legal literature database. This analysis addressed the dimensions of spatial and temporal distribution, author cooperation, primary journals, and research topics. The results showed a significant increase in the number of research papers published by private colleges, although with an uneven regional distribution of research development and differing influence and attention. The primary research forces of private colleges were mainly concentrated in the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions. For scientific research cooperation, several core research groups were formed. According to the content analysis of relevant policies, the research of private universities has gone through three evolutionary stages: the lead period, the development period, and the adjustment period. Scholars in the lead period focused on learning about the advanced systems and concepts of foreign private colleges, while conducting research from a macro perspective. During the development period, the focus was on researching the management modes of Chinese private colleges from the medium point of view, while exploring different operating modes. During the adjustment period, private colleges research has returned to the macro level, exploring the classified management and governance of private colleges and re-examining China’s private colleges.