This study aims to explore the development of higher education research in South Korea based on historical and scientometric perspectives. After the evolution of the country's higher education research community is presented, articles focusing on higher education from 1995 to 2012 are analysed. In total, 145 articles in international journals and 1,385 articles in national journals are collected and the publication patterns are compared in terms of research themes, methods and level of analysis between national and international journals. The results show that higher education research in South Korea still tends to focus on a limited set of research topics and research approaches despite the recent growth in research volumes and interests. In addition, there is still a lack of engagement in the international academic community. This study suggests that higher education research in the country needs to be more diversified with regard to research themes and methodologies, and it also needs to have an outward perspective with active engagement in the international academic community.