In 1968, OMEP established the International Journal of Early Childhood (IJEC) . In 50 years of publication, the journal has become an important platform for knowledge-sharing within the early childhood education community. Theory, policy, and practice change over time and content of the journal reflects the emergence of various topics. At the same time, the everlasting theme of ‘play’ has remained a common topic. The aim of this article is to examine the thematic trends in published topics, through a systematic analysis of the keywords used in IJEC articles, published from 1969 to 2017, in an analysis of 646 articles. Keyword network analysis can identify the relational structure between keywords, including identification of major research topics, and their relationships through the production of network images. The results showed distinct research trends in early childhood education across different periods. From an historical perspective, the findings demonstrate the changes and continuities in research topics published over time, not only as an academic analysis, but also as representing global directions of research in early childhood research, across countries with very different socio-cultural backgrounds.