Title: Analysis of social, environmental and economic sustainability core: a bibliometric overview

Authors: Núria Bautista-Puig; Elba Mauleón; Elías Sanz Casado

Addresses: Research Institute for Higher Education and Science (INAECU), University Carlos III of Madrid, Getafe, Madrid, 28903, Spain; LEMI (Laboratory on Metric Information Studies), Department of Library and Information Sciences, University Carlos III of Madrid, Getafe, Madrid, 28903, Spain ' Research Institute for Higher Education and Science (INAECU), University Carlos III of Madrid, Getafe, Madrid, 28903, Spain ' Research Institute for Higher Education and Science (INAECU), University Carlos III of Madrid, Getafe, Madrid, 28903, Spain; LEMI (Laboratory on Metric Information Studies), Department of Library and Information Sciences, University Carlos III of Madrid, Getafe, Madrid, 28903, Spain

Abstract: Sustainability has become a global concern in the 21st century. However, sustainability is an ambivalent concept that can be interpreted in many ways. In the beginning, it was environmentally-related. Later, however, it was linked to social or economic sustainability, which was known as the 'triple bottom-line' or the 'three-pillar model' (social/economic and environmental sustainability). Later, additional dimensions were incorporated, such as institutional, cultural, or even spatial. As a result of the growth and importance of sustainability, this study provides a comprehensive overview of the core of sustainability. With that aim in mind, we will analyse the following aspects of scientific production: volume of scientific output, primary agents involved (countries, institutions), web of science (WoS) categories, collaborations, acknowledgement patterns, and thematic analysis. The findings in this paper suggest an increasing growth in scientific output in all areas of sustainability, albeit with different patterns (e.g., collaboration, specialisation) among the three pillars.

Keywords: environmental sustainability; social sustainability; economic sustainability; sustainability core; bibliometric indicators; sustainability research; research for sustainable development; scientometrics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2021.118374

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2021 Vol.15 No.4, pp.356 - 381

Received: 21 Feb 2019
Accepted: 16 Oct 2019
Published online: 25 Oct 2021 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article