Melyani Sari Sitepu, Lantip Diat Prasojo, Hermanto, Achmad Salido, Lukman Nurhakim, Eko Setyorini, Hermina Disnawati, Bayu Wiratsongko
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed higher education, creating both opportunities and challenges in cultivating students’ critical thinking skills. This study integrates quantitative bibliometric analysis and qualitative systematic literature review (SLR) to map global research trends and identify how critical thinking is conceptualized, constructed, and developed in the AI era. Scopus served as the primary data source, limited to publications from 2022 to 2024, retrieved on February 8, 2025. Bibliometric analysis using Biblioshiny R and VOSviewer followed five stages—design, data collection, analysis, visualization, and interpretation—while the SLR employed a deductive thematic approach consistent with PRISMA guidelines. A total of 322 documents were analyzed bibliometrically, and 34 were included in the qualitative synthesis. Results show that Education Sciences and Cogent Education are the most productive journals, whereas Education and Information Technologies have the highest citation impact. Several influential documents and authors have shaped global discussions on AI adoption in higher education and its relationship to critical thinking. Thematic mapping identified five major research clusters: pedagogical integration, ethical and evaluative practices, technical and application-oriented AI models, institutional accountability, and socio-technical systems thinking. Conceptually, critical thinking is understood as a reflective, evaluative, and metacognitive reasoning process grounded in intellectual autonomy and ethical judgment. Across the reviewed literature, strategies for fostering critical thinking converge into three integrated approaches: ethical curriculum integration, pedagogical and assessment redesign, and reflective human–AI collaboration. Collectively, these strategies ensure that AI strengthens rather than replaces human reasoning in higher education. © 2026 The Author(s).
Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Utara, Indonesia; Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia
