School Location Management in Educational Planning: Global Trends and Emerging Themes
Keywords:
school location management, educational planning, spatial analysis, geospatial data, accessibility, educational equityAbstract
This study examines global research trends and emerging themes in school location management within educational planning. The study responds to the growing importance of spatially informed educational decision-making, particularly in relation to accessibility, equity, school mapping, geospatial analysis, and sustainable public service provision. Bibliographic data were retrieved from the Scopus database using the search query TITLE-ABS-KEY ( school AND location OR spatial ). The initial search identified 45,948 publications. After applying inclusion criteria covering publication years 2015–2025, English-language documents, journal articles, and the Social Sciences subject area, 349 articles were retained as the final dataset. The study employed performance analysis and science mapping procedures to examine publication trends, source distribution, country and institutional contributions, keyword co-occurrence, and emerging thematic structures. The findings indicate that research on school location management has developed as an interdisciplinary field connecting educational planning, spatial analysis, geographic information systems, accessibility, equity, land suitability, and decision-support methods. The keyword structure shows that the field is moving beyond technical school placement toward broader concerns with spatial justice, equitable access, environmental risk, and evidence-based planning. This study contributes by consolidating a fragmented body of literature and by identifying future directions for integrating school location planning with geospatial data, community needs, sustainability, and inclusive educational policy
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Copyright (c) 2026 Chen Hao, Johar Permana, Taufani Chusnul Kurniatun, Suryadi (Author)
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