Abstract：

Objective This study aims to analyze the research on universal preschool education in China using CiteSpace, exploring its current status, research hot spots, and frontiers, providing a reference for research and practice in this field. Method The study searched for Chinese literature related to universal preschool education in CNKI, VIP, and Wanfang databases from January 1, 2010, to September 3, 2024. CiteSpace software was utilized for co-occurrence analysis, cluster analysis, and burst detection analysis. Result After screening and deduplication, a total of 843 valid documents were included. The annual publication volume showed an overall upward trend. The Department of Education at Beijing Normal University, the Department of Education at East China Normal University, and the College of Education Science at Nanjing Normal University were the leading institutions in terms of publications. Authors such as Jiang Yong, Pang Lijuan, and Liu Yan were the most active. Topics like educational quality, public welfare, educational equity, existing problems and strategies, preschool education policy, and educational development funding were hot issues in this field, while educational quality and teacher teams were potential research frontiers. The cooperation among institutions and authors was relatively loose, and no large-scale collaboration network had been formed. Conclusion The research in the field of universal preschool education is developing, but the collaboration among various entities is poor. It is necessary to seek broader and larger-scale research cooperation and to delve deeper into and explore the thematic hot spots and frontiers.

Key Words：

CiteSpace; universal; preschool education; bibliometrics