Abstract:

In recent years, blockchain technology has attracted growing attention in the field of education, driven by an expanding body of scientific literature, recommendations from international organizations, and various pilot initiatives focused, mainly, on digital certification, micro-credentials, and learner identity management. Although most applications remain in exploratory phases, both academic and policy literature reveal a clear interest in decentralized approaches that seek to enhance trust, transparency, and portability of learning records. This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of the scientific literature on blockchain in education. In addition, a qualitative thematic review of the most relevant contributions is carried out to understand how the application of blockchain technology is being conceptualized, discussed, and illustrated through publicly documented initiatives and pilot projects. The study examines publications indexed in the Scopus database between 2018 and 2025, identifying a notable increase in academic output from 2020 onwards, a period marked by renewed international emphasis on the digital transformation of education. Through keyword co-occurrence analysis, co-authorship networks, and source analysis using the VOSviewer tool, the study highlights key trends, influential authors, active institutions, and thematic clusters in the field. The results indicate a significant rise in publications aligned with major international digital education initiatives, with central clusters including digital credentials, decentralized learning validation, and trusted educational records. Following the bibliometric stage, a qualitative thematic analysis is conducted on selected high-impact academic contributions, complemented by the review of policy reports and initiatives such as the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI). These examples illustrate how blockchain applications are being designed and explored through pilot projects and institutional experiences. Overall, the findings suggest that although blockchain in education is still an emerging research area, it is evolving rapidly and gaining policy relevance. This study contributes to a more consolidated understanding of how decentralized technologies are being explored within education and offers a structured knowledge map to support future research, institutional strategies, and policy development. In addition to mapping the current state of research, this study identifies gaps and underexplored areas, providing meaningful opportunities for future investigations on blockchain in education.

Keywords:

Blockchain, Education, Web 3.0, Decentralized Systems, Digital Transformation, Bibliometric Analysis, Research Trends.