Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to quantitatively document and synthesize the knowledge base on leading school change and improvement (LSCI). Design/methodology/approach – The authors employed bibliometric analysis to evaluate 1,613 SCOPUS-indexed documents on LSCI published between 1960 and the end of 2017. In addition to descriptive analysis of basic features of the knowledge base, the review also employed citation and co-citation analyses of authors, journals and documents. Author co-citation analysis (ACA) was used reveal the intellectual structure of the LSCI literature. Findings – The growth trajectory of LSCI research began with low levels of publication during the 1960s and 1970s, followed by steady and then accelerating growth in subsequent decades. Citation analyses highlighted key journals, authors and documents in this field, while ACA identified four research streams or Schools of Thought that comprise the LSCI knowledge base: transformational leadership for school improvement, instructional leadership for school improvement, shared leadership for change and school improvement, school improvement. Originality/value – The review offers empirical documentation of the changing intellectual structure of the one of the key lines of inquiry that emerged in the field of educational administration over the past six decades. More broadly, the review illustrates the benefits of bibliometric analysis as a tool capable of illuminating critical features that bear upon knowledge accumulation in a line of inquiry, or a broader discipline