A bibliometric analysis of sustainable development goals (SDGs): a review of progress, challenges, and opportunities

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a global appeal to protect the environment, combat climate change, eradicate poverty, and ensure access to a high quality of life and prosperity for all. The next decade is crucial for determining the planet’s direction in ensuring that populations can adapt to climate change. This study aims to investigate the progress, challenges, opportunities, trends, and prospects of the SDGs through a bibliometric analysis from 2015 to 2022, providing insight into the evolution and maturity of scientific research in the field. The Web of Science core collection citation database was used for the bibliometric analysis, which was conducted using VOSviewer and RStudio. We analyzed 12,176 articles written in English to evaluate the present state of progress, as well as the challenges and opportunities surrounding the SDGs. This study utilized a variety of methods to identify research hotspots, including analysis of keywords, productive researchers, and journals. In addition, we conducted a comprehensive literature review by utilizing the Web of Science database. The results show that 31% of SDG-related research productivity originates from the USA, China, and the UK, with an average citation per article of 15.06. A total of 45,345 authors around the world have contributed to the field of SDGs, and collaboration among authors is also quite high. The core research topics include SDGs, climate change, Agenda 2030, the circular economy, poverty, global health, governance, food security, sub-Saharan Africa, the Millennium Development Goals, universal health coverage, indicators, gender, and inequality. The insights gained from this analysis will be valuable for young researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and public officials as they seek to identify patterns and high-quality articles related to SDGs. By advancing our understanding of the subject, this research has the potential to inform and guide future efforts to promote sustainable development. The findings indicate a concentration of research and development on SDGs in developed countries rather than in developing and underdeveloped countries. Graphical abstract

Computational Mapping of the Literature on Self-Directed Learning: Evolution, Trends and Research Hotspots

“…Data were collected from the Scopus and Web of Science database. The Scopus and web of science core collection are the most commonly used database by most researches to do the bibliometric analyses (Sudarsana & Sai Baba, 2019;Mishra et al, 2020Mishra et al, , 2021Mishra et al, , 2023. Both databases are considered to have a well-organized bibliographic data for the bibliometric analyses, this validates the use of the above databases.…”

Unveiling Research Trends on the Sustainable Development Goals: A Systematic Bibliometric Review

“…The countries shaded in grey have not published any articles and authors from India have published a total of 171 articles, the 2 nd highest in Asia after China. The analysis showed that developed countries have relatively more concentration on SDGs-related research than developing and underdeveloped countries [2]. However, the study by Indiana and Pahlevi [12] revealed that the number of studies on the Sustainable Development Goals in wealthy and developing countries is roughly equal.…”

“…Under the banner of "Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda," 193 nations accepted the notion of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on September 25, 2015, and came into effect on January 1, 2016 [1]. The SDGs seek to address climate change, safeguard the environment, end extreme poverty, and promote global peace and prosperity by 2030 [2]. Agenda 2030, the global action plan, had 17 SDGs with 231 indicators and 169 specific targets [3].…”

“…The findings confirm that several SDGs remain untouched for extensive research and review thus the research on SDGs cannot yet be regarded as a consolidated field of research. The findings of Yamaguchi et al [11] and Mishra et al [2] revealed that the field of SDGs is growing rapidly, and there is a discernible development toward investigating a wider array of research vicinity. Analogous bibliometric studies focused on similar findings in the field of SDGs research [12][13][14][15].…”

“…An examination of the SDGs using bibliometric analysis can make a major contribution to our knowledge of the development and unification of sustainable development research. Bibliometric analysis offers a comprehensive overview of SDGs' progress by mapping scientific production, identifying trends and gaps, and revealing connections between researchers, institutions, and nations [2]. In this way, the bibliometric analysis can provide future relevance and usage to optimize efforts to achieve SDGs.…”