Abstract:
This chapter attempts to answer a commonplace question posed by authorities and
practitioners seeking information on media and information literacy (MIL): What
is MIL research, and, consequently, where can it be found? After the Swedish
government formed a national network of MIL stakeholders in the public sector
in the country with a common vision to strengthen policy work, it has become a
crucial question how to identify and access the field of MIL research. The current
study presents the results from a systematic literature review of scientific studies
published in 2021 to identify the disciplinary structures of the research most
relevant to MIL. The findings indicated that most of the relevant extant research
was qualitative, conducted by women, written in English to an international
audience, and focused on educational sciences, library and information science,
and media and communication sciences. Student theses tended to adopt the
policy-initiated concept of MIL more likely than original research papers. While
the article probes whether the term MIL translates appropriately into scholarly
literature, it also highlights the significance of establishing structures to further
monitor related research projects and identify changes in research.