Dataset: A Bibliometric Collection of Early Childhood Creativity Research (1962–2024)

This dataset contains the bibliographic records of 449 documents on early childhood creativity (ECC), retrieved from the Scopus database for the period of 1962 to January 2024. The collection represents the empirical foundation for the bibliometric analysis, "From Psychometrics to Playful Pixels: A Bibliometric Cartography of Early Childhood Creativity Research (1962–2024)." This dataset provides a structured overview of the field, allowing for detailed analysis of publication trends, collaboration networks, and the underlying intellectual structure of ECC research.

Data collection was performed on January 26, 2024, using a targeted search query in the 'Article Title' field to increase thematic relevance. The query was constructed around two main concepts. The first, 'early childhood,' included the terms "early childhood," "young child*," "early years," "preschool*," "kindergarten*," and "nursery school." The second concept, 'creativity,' used the terms "creativ*" and "divergent thinking." Terms within each conceptual group were combined with the 'OR' operator, and the two groups were linked using the 'AND' operator.

The initial search returned 455 records. These were screened for inclusion based on three criteria: a direct relevance to creativity, a focus on the early childhood period (0–6 years), and publication as a journal article or review. The search was restricted to documents in English. This screening process resulted in a final corpus of 449 documents. All bibliographic data, including author names and institutional affiliations, were subsequently reviewed for accuracy.

The dataset is available in CSV format and includes extensive bibliographic metadata, such as author names, institutional affiliations, publication years, citation counts, and author keywords. It is structured for direct use with bibliometric software, including VOSviewer and the Bibliometrix R package (via Biblioshiny), to support the replication or extension of the original study’s performance analysis and science mapping. The data present a valuable resource for scholars investigating the development of ECC research.