Although the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer an ongoing global emergency, its impact on teacher education systems worldwide has led to long-term structural and pedagogical transformations. In the post-pandemic era, teacher education research has shifted from emergency remote teaching toward sustainable digital transformation, resilience, and innovation in pedagogical practices. Therefore, analyzing the evolution of research trends during and after the pandemic period provides valuable insights into how global teacher education systems adapt to educational disruptions and long-term digital change.

The study identifies key publication trends, highly cited works, prolific authors, influential institutions, and collaborative networks. We utilized the Bibliometrix package in RStudio and Biblioshiny web applications to analyze 2,185 peer-reviewed studies. The analysis covered publication and citation patterns, top-cited documents, authorship productivity, country-wise contributions, institutional influence, and journal impact. Collaborative networks among countries and co-citations were also visualized using Three-Fields plots and Trend Topics analysis. The findings identified Sustainability and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health as the most influential publication sources. The University of California and Monash University emerged as leading research institutions. Daniel (2020) was the most cited paper with 868 citations, while Yang X and Liu H were the most productive authors. The USA, China, and Spain led in research output. This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of the evolving landscape of teacher education research in the post-pandemic era. The insights gained offer valuable implications for policymakers, educators, and researchers, guiding future advancements in teacher education.