A systematic review of school governance literature between 2000 and 2023

School governance is a contested concept due to ongoing disagreements over its meaning and application, particularly in education sub-fields like leadership, management, and administration (ELMA). Aware of global efforts to differentiate ELMA’s knowledge base, this paper critically reviews school governance literature from 2000 to 2023. Using PRISMA guidelines, 361 journal articles were identified from Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Employing both statistical and qualitative methods, we explore the volume, geographic distribution and publication outlets of said literature, as well as map the conceptual structures constituting the school governance field. Statistical results point to interesting findings, revealing a consistent upward trend in volume, together with an internationalisation of the ELMA field beyond the Global North, being published more widely in generic education journals including the Global South. A critical narrative synthesis of the 361 publications enabled us to construct a conceptual framework based on five main themes: school participation politics; autonomy and control; policy reform trends; global education confluences and influences; and digital governance. These findings yield important insight for future research relevant to theory, policy, and practice while simultaneously identifying blind spots and gaps in the field, thus laying the groundwork for future knowledge production.