摘要：The following descriptive bibliometric study shows trends in research on problem-based learning (PBL) between 1974 and 2009. It uses the ERIC database and works with a sample of 1007 documents. Records are analyzed on the base of four variables: the year of publication, degree, field of knowledge and research tipology. With regard to scientific output, it may be seen three phases: the first one, from 1974 to 1989, marks the beginning of the publications and shows little statistical significance, the second, of growth, during the 90s of the past century and the last one, of maturing, from 2000 until 2009. The distribution of records by fields of knowledge highlights Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Polytechnic Education. The degrees in wich PBL has proliferated over are Medical Education, Economics, Business Education, Pedagogy, Teacher Training and the set of engineering
关键词：Problem-based learning (PBL); descriptive bibliometrics; ERIC database
