Fake News in Educational Communication: A Systematic Review

Background/purpose. The authors of this research present a study on Fake News and the communication processes that are generated in different educational and professional contexts through a systematic review.

Materials/methods. This is descriptive research that analyses 139 results present in Web of Science and SCOPUS, using the criteria established by the PRISMA protocol. It gives special relevance to the following categories: country of origin, date of publication, main objectives, methodological design, variables analyzed and considered, size and details of the samples, and their respective scientific contributions in relation to their area of research.

Results. The results show that this is a new field of study due to the lack of in-depth studies on the subject. Despite this, this analysis provides three major areas of action regarding fake news: its definition, diagnostic tools, and students' perspectives. These phases can be considered and included in current educational policies to curb misinformation and promote adequate media literacy.

Conclusion. The value of this research lies on offering a critical view based on an in-depth analysis of the existing scientific production between Fake News and communication in education.

Keywords: ICT, Fake News, education, digital competence

References

Abram, A. (2019). ‘Education for Truth’ in a Climate of Fake News. Conversation with Thomas Aquinas, Bernard Williams, Wolfgang Künne and Pope Francis. Louvain Studies, 42, 3-25. https://doi.org/10.2143/LS.42.1.3286077

Aksnes, D. and Sivertsen, G. (2019). A criteria-based assessment of the coverage of Scopus and Web of Science. Journal of Data and Information Science, Vol. 4(1), 1—21. https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2019-0001

Aksnes, D., & Sivertsen, G. (2019). A criteria-based assessment of the coverage of Scopus and Web of Science. Journal of Data and Information Science, 4(1), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.2478/jdis-2019-0001

Alba, B. (2021). Use of ICT and attention to diversity in times of COVID. Texto Livre – Linguagem e Tecnologia, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.35699/1983-3652.2021.33578

Anafo, C., & Ngula, R. (2020). On the gramar of scam: transitivity, manipulation and deception in scam emails. WORD – Journal of the International Linguistic Association, 66(1), 16-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/00437956.2019.1708557

Antunes, F., & Nina, N.S. (2020). Información falsa en la red: la perspectiva de un grupo de estudiantes universitarios de comunicación en Portugal. Prisma Social: revista de ciencias sociales, 29, 172-194. https://bit.ly/3Iu8WYU

Antunes, M.L., Lopes, C., & Sanches, T. (2021). “Com es combaten les notícies falses mitjançant l’alfabetizació informacional?: reptes i estratègies de formació en l’ensenyament superior. BID: textos universitarios de biblioteconomia i documentación, 46. https://doi.org/10.1344/BiD2020.46.14

Auberry, K. (2018). Increasing students’ ability to identify fake news through information literacy education and content management Systems. The Reference Librarian. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2018.1489935

Bhaskaran, H., Mishra, H., & Nair, P. (2019). Journalism Education in Post-Truth Era: Pedagogical Approaches base don Indian Journalism Students’ Percepction of Fake News. Journalism & Mass Communication Educator, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077695819830034

Bringula, R., Catacutan, A., Garcia, M.B., Gonzalez, J.P.S., & Mae, A. (2021). “Who is gullible to political disinformation?: predicting susceptibility of university students to fake news. Journal of Information Technology & Politics. https://doi.org/10.1080/19331681.2021.1945988

Buckingham, D. (2019). Teaching media in a ‘post-truth’ age: fake news, media bias and the challenge for media/digital literacy education [La enseñanza mediática en la era de la posverdad: fake news, sesgo mediático y el reto para la educación en materia de alfabetización mediática y digital]. Cultura y educación. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2019.1603814

De Carvalho, S., & de Sousa, E. (2020). Whtasapp E Fake News No Ensino De Língua Inglesa Em Uma Escola Pública Do Interior Do Estado Do Ceará. Textolivre. Linguagem e Tecnología, 13(2), 182-200. https://doi.org/10.35699/1983-3652.2020.24889

Dias, M.A., & Walmsley, A.D. (2019). Fake news and dental education. British Dental Journal, 226(6). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-019-0079-z

Eger, L., Egerová, D., Micik, M., Varga, E., Czegledi, C., Tomczyk, L., & Sládkayová, M. (2020). Trust Building and Fake News on Social Media from the perspective of University Students from four visegrad countries. Communication Today, 11(1), 70-88. https://bit.ly/3EMKSOw

El Rayess, M., Chebl, C., Mhanna, J., & Hage, R.M. (2017). Fake news judgement. The case of undergraduate students at Notre Dame University-Louaize. Reference Services Review, 46(1), 146-159. https://doi.org/10.1108/RSR-07-2017-0027

Figueira, J., & Santos, S. (2019). Percepción de las noticias falsas en universitarios de Portugal: análisis de su consumo y actitudes. El profesional de la información, 28(3). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2019.may.15

Fontanin, M. (2018). Con il pretesto delle false notizie: insegnare il pensiero critico nella scuola italiana a partire da Carol C. Kuhlthau. AIB study: Rivista di biblioteconomia e scienze dell’informazione, 58(2), 267-283. https://doi.org/10.2426/aibstudi-11825

Goncalves, V., & Vaz, C. (2021). (Cyber)Bullying: systematic literatura review. Revista Educaonline, 15(1), 192-214. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3015669

Gordon, M. (2018). Lying in Politics: Fake News, Alternative Facts, And The Challenges For Deliberative Civics Education. Educational Theory, 68(1). https://doi.org/10.1111/edth.12288

Haynes, C., Ward, L., & Patton, L. (2021). Truth-telling, Black Women and the pedagogy of fake news in higher education. Pedagogy, Culture & Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1955405

Horn, S., & Veermans, K. (2019). Critical thinking efficacy and transfer skills defend against ‘fake news’ at an international school in Finland. Journal of Research in International Education, 18(1), 23-41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1475240919830003

Hu, B., Mao, Z., & Zhang, Y. (2025). An overview of fake news detection: from a new perspective. Fundamental Research, 5(1), 332-346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fmre.2024.01.017

Johnston, N. (2020). Living in the Wold of Fake News: High School Students’ Evaluation of Information form Social Media Sites. Journal of the Autralian Library and Information Association. https://doi.org/10.1080/24750158.2020.1821146

Jurado, P., Moreno, A.J., Marín, J.A., & Soler, R. (2020). The term equity in education: a literature review with scientific mapping in Web of Science. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17, 1.17. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17103526

Kaufman, C. (2020). Civic Education in a Fake News Era: Lessons for the Methods Classroom. Journal of Political Science Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2020.1764366

Lagomarsino, M., Veliz, A., Pavié, A., & Nass, J.L. (2019). Educación y Democracia. Una alianza necesaria para la sociedad abierta contra la demagogia, conducida por la Fake News. Utopía y praxis latinoamericana: revista Internacional de Filosofía iberoamericana y Teoría Social, 24, 137-146. https://bit.ly/3GpbRQR

Lee, N. (2018). Fake news, phising, and fraud: a call for research on digital media literacy education beyond the classroom. Communication Education, 67(4), 460-466. https://doi.org/10.1080/03634523.2018.1503313

Li, B. (2021). Ready for online? Exploring EFL Teachers’ ICT acceptance and ICT literacy during COVID-19 in Mainland China. Journal of Educational Computing Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/07356331211028934

Loos, E., Ivan, L., & Leu, D. (2018). “Save the Pacific Northwest tree octopus”: a hoax revisited. Or: How vulnerable are school children to fake news? Information and Learning Science, 119(9/10), 514-528. https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-04-2018-0031

López, J., Moreno, A.J., López, J., & Pozo, S. (2019). Analysis of the productive, structural, and dynamic development of Augmented Reality in Higher Education research on the Web of Science. Applied Science, 9, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/app9245306

López, M., & Planillo, S. (2021). El alumnado de educación secundaria frente a las noticias falsas: resultados de una intervención didáctica. RELATEC. Revista Latinoamericana de Tecnología Educativa, 20(1). https://doi.org/10.17398/1695-288X.20.1.39

Masanet, M., Pires, F., & Gómez, L. (2021). The risks of the gender digital divide among teenagers. Profesional de la Información, 30(1). https://doi.org/10.3145/epi.2021.ene.12

Mauri, M; Lafarga, P; del Barrio, L; Soler, R. (2023). Mobile Learning and communication: educational change?; a systematic review. 2023. Education + Training, 65(2), 193-209. https://doi.org/10.1108/ET-03-2022-0110

McDougall, J., Brites, M.J., Couto, M.J., & Lucas, C. (2019). Digital literacy, fake news and education [Alfabetización digital, fake news y educación]. Cultura y Educación. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2019.1603632

Medina, L., Manzuoli, H., Duque, L. & Malfasi, S. (2020). Cyberbullying: tackling the silent enemy. International Journal Of Inclusive Education, 24(9), 936-947. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2018.1500648

Mendiguren, T., Pérez, J., & Meso, K. (2020). Actitud ante las Fake News: Estudio del caso de los estudiantes de la Universidad del País Vasco. Revista de Comunicación, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.26441/RC19.1-2020-A10

Mesquita, W.A., Fernandez, M.C., & Cebreiro, B. (2022). Alfabetización mediática crítica para mejorar la competencia del alumnado. Revista Comunicar, 70, 45-57. https://doi.org/10.3916/C70-2022-04

Mignamissi, D., & Djijo, T.A.J. (2021). Digital divide and financial development in Africa. TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY, 45(9). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2021.102199

Moher, D., Liberati, A., Tetzlaff, J., & Altman, D.G. (2009). Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis: The PRISMA statement. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 62(10), 1006-1012. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.b2535

Mostafa, M., Almogren, A., Al-qurishi, M., & Alrubaian, M. (2025). Fake News Detection on Social Networks: A Systematic Literature Review. ACM Computing Surveys, 57(3). https://doi.org/10.1145/3700748

Nygren, T., Guath, M., Werner-Axelsson, C.A., & Frau-Meigs, D. (2021). Combatting Visual Fake News with a Professional Fact-Checking Tool in Education in France, Romania, Spain and Sweden. Information, 12, 201. https://doi.org/10.3390/info12050201

Onursoy, S., Alper, E., Yesilyurt, S.; Kübra, F. (2020). Attitudes and Behaviors About Fake News: A Case Study in Three Universities. Türk Kütüphaneciliği, 34(3), 485-508. https://doi.org/10.24146/tk.759014

Paglinawan, W. (2020). University Students Engagement With And Disengagement From Fake News. Media Literacy and Academy Research, 3(2). https://bit.ly/3y7f4lh

Rajam, V., Reddy, A., & Banerjee, S. (2021). Explaining caste-based digital divide in India. TELEMATICS AND INFORMATICS, 65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2021.101719

Ricoy, M.C., Sánchez, C., & Feliz, T. (2019). Credibility versus fake news in digital newspapers on tablets in primary education [Credibilidad versus falsedad de las noticias de periódicos digitales sobre la tableta en la Educación Primaria]. Cultura y educación, 31(2), 296-325. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2019.1603891

Rodríguez, A., Moreno, A., & Kópez, J. (2020). Nomophobia: an individual’s growing fear of being without a Smartphone – a systematic literatura review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17020580

Rodríguez, A.M., López, J., Agreda, M., & Moreno, A. (2019). Productive, structural, and dynamic study of the concept of sustainability in the Educational field. Sustainability, 11, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11205613

Rogers, J. (2019). Education for “Not Being Duped” in an Era of Fake News. The Wiley Handbook of Paulo Freire. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119236788.ch15

Romero, J., Rodríguez, C., Navas, M., Marin, J., & Gómez, G. (2020). Use of Instagram by Pre-Service Teacher Education: Smartphone Habits and Dependency Factors. International Journal of Envirnomental Research and Public Health, 17(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17114097

Shapalova, E. (2020). Improving Media Education as a Way to Combat Fake News. Slovak Republic Media Education (Mediaobrazovanie), 60(4), 730-735. https://doi.org/10.13187/me.2020.4.730

Shin, S., Kim, D., & Chun, S. (2021). Digital divide in advanced Smart City innovations. Sustainability, 13(7), https://doi.org/10.3390/su13074076

Siepmann, C., & Kowalczuk, P. (2021). Understanding continued smartwatch usage: the role of emotional as well as health and fitness factors. Electronic Markets. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-021-00458-3

Soler, R., Lafarga, P., Mauri, M., & Moreno, A.J. (2021). Netiquette: ethic, education, and behavior on Internet – A systematic literatura review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(3). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18031212

Soler, R., Mauri, M.; Lafarga, P., & Moreno, A.J. (2020). How to teach pre-service teachers to make a didactic program? The collaborative learning associated with mobile devices. Sustainability, 12, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093755

Soler, R; Cáceres, Mª.P; Lafarga, P. (2024). A systematic review on communication in educative gamificaction: new research approaches. International Journal of Educational Research and Innovation, 21, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.46661/ijeri.8878

Stoddard, J., Tunstall, J., Wlaker, L., & Wight, E. (2021). Teaching beyond verifying sources and “fake news”: Critical media education to challenge media injustices. Journal of Media Literacy Education, 13(2), 55-70. https://doi.org/10.23860/JMLE-2021-13-2-5

Suelves, D., Monzonis, N., & Mendez, V. (2021). Digital Competence for citizen: analysis of trends in education. RIED – Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 24(2), 329-349. https://doi.org/10.5944/ried.24.2.30006

Syam, H., & Nurrahmi, F. (2020). “I Don’t Know If It Is Fake or Real News”. How Little Indonesian University Students Understand Social Media Literacy. Malaysian Journal of Communication, 36(2), 92-105. https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2020-3602-06

Thakar, H., & Bhatt, B. (2024). Fake news detection: recent trends and challenges. Social Network Analysis and Mining, 14 (1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-024-01344-4

Tibbs, C. (2024). The epistemology of Fake News. Teaching Philosophy, 47(4), 624-627. https://doi.org/10.5840/teachphil2024474232

Torres, M., Ponce, F., & Gallegos, J. (2021). ICT as generators of social exclusion in university educational practices. Contextos Educativos – Revista de Educación, 27, 205-221. https://doi.org/10.18172/con.4566

Ushkin, S. (2024). Social media, Fake News and Deliberative Democrazy. Sociologiceskoe Obozrenie, 23(2), 379-391. https://doi.org/10.17323/1728-192x-2024-2-379-391

van Helvoort, J., & Hermans, M. (2020). Effectiveness Of Educational Approaches To Elementary School Pupils (11 Or 12 Years Old) To Combat Fake News. Media Literacy and Academic Research, 3(2), 38-47. https://bit.ly/3y5aWSE

Vaterlaus, J., Aylward, A., Tarabochia, D., & Martin, J. (2021). “A Smartphone made my life easier”: An exploratory study on age of adolescent Smartphone acquisition and well-being. Computers in Human Behavior, 114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106563

Weiss, A.P., Alwan, A., Garcia, E.P., & Garcia, J. (2020). Surveying fake news: Assessing university faculty’s fragmented definition of fake news and its impact on teaching critical thinking. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-019-0049-x

Ye, L., Xia, X., Jiang, P., Jiang, T., & Liu, Y. (2021). Los fetos del uso de Internet por niños: Un estudio longitudinal en China. Revista Comunicar, 68, 97-105. https://doi.org/10.3916/C68-2021-0

Zaheer, H., & Bashir, M. (2024). Detecting fake news for COVID-19 using deep learning: a review. Multimedia Tools and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-024-18564-7

Announcement

EDUPIJ Citation Metrics

EDUPIJ News!

ANNOUNCEMENT

Message from the Editor-in-Chief,

We would like to inform our authors, reviewers, and stakeholders that EDUPIJ has entered Scopus’s re-evaluation process, as officially communicated (dated 2025-12-09). This assessment is a standard quality assurance practice applied to indexed journals and aims to ensure sustained editorial quality, ethical integrity, and alignment with Scopus’s evolving evaluation framework.

EDUPIJ welcomes this process and views it as an opportunity to further consolidate its editorial governance, strengthen publication ethics, and enhance peer-review rigor.

Strengthening Editorial and Ethical Standards

To ensure full compliance with international best practices and to proactively address Scopus evaluation criteria, the following measures have been formally implemented:

1. Selective Acceptance Policy for 2026 and Beyond

In response to increased submission volume in 2025 (see Journal Metrics: https://edupij.com/index/sayfa/18/journal-metrics), EDUPIJ will adopt a more selective acceptance policy starting in 2026 and continuing in the years ahead. In doing so, the geographic distribution of authors will also be taken into account to ensure that editorial decisions are informed by transparent, year-to-year submission and authorship patterns. Acceptance rates will be carefully aligned with editorial capacity to ensure a rigorous double-blind peer review process supported by active reviewer engagement and uncompromised editorial oversight. This policy reflects our commitment to quality-driven growth rather than volume-based expansion, and it directly addresses observations that the geographic spread of authors has changed significantly during the same period by ensuring that any such shifts are systematically monitored and considered within our quality assurance framework.

In line with this approach, we have adopted a Publication Volume Policy, enacted on 2025-12-07, which establishes clear upper limits on annual publication volume and defines a framework for maintaining EDUPIJ’s output at sustainable, long-term levels, comparable to pre-2025 volumes under normal conditions. This policy is also publicly available at https://edupij.com/index/sayfa/41/publication-volume-journal-metrics-policy.

From 2026 onwards, our objective is to maintain a moderate and stable annual volume, prioritising quality and selectivity rather than growth.

2. Enhanced Author and Manuscript Integrity Screening

All submissions now undergo mandatory integrity checks, including automated screening for retraction history and potential ethical risks prior to peer review. These procedures are designed to safeguard originality, research integrity, and transparency at every stage of the editorial process.

3. Establishment of a Publication Ethics Review Committee

A dedicated Publication Ethics Review Committee has been constituted to evaluate high-risk submissions, oversee ethical investigations when necessary, and ensure consistent adherence to COPE guidelines and internationally recognized publishing standards. All ethical decisions are documented and managed through a structured, transparent process.

Ongoing Commitment:

EDUPIJ remains firmly committed to rigorous double-blind peer review, transparent editorial policies, responsible scholarly communication, and the advancement of high-quality educational research at an international level.

Our journal continues to demonstrate steady progress in terms of international visibility, indexing coverage, and citation performance. We are confident that the Scopus re-evaluation process will further support the journal’s long-term sustainability and academic impact.

We sincerely thank our authors, reviewers, and the broader scholarly community for their continued trust and contribution to EDUPIJ.

Sincerely,
Prof. Turgut Karaköse, Editor-in-Chief

Posted: 2025-12-09