Research on e-learning in the workplace 2000–2012: A bibliometric analysis of the literature

•Identifies six research themes in the field of e-learning in the workplace.•Discovers e-learning in healthcare as one of the most prolific e-learning initiatives.•Offers a holistic view of the state of art with suggestions for future studies.

Research on e-learning in the workplace has proliferated over the past decade. Various topics on e-learning in workplace settings have emerged, showing the complex, dynamic and multi-disciplinary nature of the field. In this context, there is a need for an extensive, thematic overview of related studies for a better understanding of this broad domain. Using co-word analysis and text analysis methods, this study presents a bibliometric analysis of 324 articles on workplace e-learning published in academic journals and conference proceedings from 2000 to 2012. The results identify six research themes in the field, which are further categorized into four dimensions: e-learning for continuing education and professional development, e-learning in the healthcare sector (as one of the most prolific e-learning initiatives), use of social media for e-learning, and the integration of knowledge management with e-learning. By incorporating the analysis results with relevant reviews, this study offers a comprehensive picture and a holistic view of the workplace e-learning domain, and suggests directions for further work.