Purpose: This literature systematically reviews articles published in "core" international journals on the topic of Indigenous education leadership over the period from 2000 to 2018 in four English-speaking countries, covering Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand, in which all of them have long colonial history and Indigenous population. These reviews provide insights into the nature of this emergent literature and generate many implications that required for further research in Indigenous education leadership. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, a vote counting method was employed and a clearly delimited body of research on Indigenous education leadership was also identified. The vote counting method can enlarge the perspectives on the noticeable heterogeneity of Indigenous education leadership within the four English-speaking countries. This is the basic constitutive element for the development of a comparative literature in Indigenous education leadership. Moreover, this method can clearly calculate the annual number of articles about Indigenous education leadership, and the various methods used in the publications of Indigenous education leadership can be figured out as well, which helps to find out the different patterns of changes on Indigenous education leadership. Findings: This study identifies the patterns of Indigenous educational leadership research across four English-speaking countries, which will contribute to the development of research in this regard. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies about Indigenous educational leadership in the world. It will not only contribute to education practice but also leadership theory development.