Abstract

This paper presents the study of the information obtained in the bibliometric and content analysis regarding scientific work on teacher motivation published from 1970 to 2012 in the international arena. One hundred and ninety-four articles were selected and the analysis was focused on the number of articles published per year, as well as journal production, authors’ ratings, and content of the articles. The results show that the number of publications is higher between the years 2000 and 2012. The journal with the highest number of publications on this subject is the “Journal of Educational Psychology.” Most of the articles are signed by a single author and the most common contents correspond to empirical studies relating to teacher motivation. These include motivation assessment, job satisfaction, burnout, diversity measures, leadership, physical education, and student motivation, the majority of which rely on a self-determination theory.