Title: Detecting trends in sustainability publications: research development and dynamics in "Green and sustainable science and technology" category

Authors: Andrés Pandiella-Dominique; Núria Bautista-Puig; Daniela De Filippo

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

Abstract: Although the sustainability movement began to take shape in the early nineteen seventies, it was not until 1987 with the publication of the Brundtland Report that it acquired institutional recognition. The academic community's engagement with the movement came a few years later in the form of sustainability science, which developed and consolidated in keeping with the dynamics of any new scientific discipline. This review analyses its development based on the papers listed in the web of science (WoS) category 'Green and sustainable science and technology'. The bibliometric methodology used included social network and multivariate analysis focusing on journal, discipline and subject inter-relationships to map and analyse developments in this new field. The main findings identified four clusters of journals with different patterns of development: sustainability, renewable energies, green chemistry and green ecology. Mainstream and emerging subjects were determined on the grounds of co-word analysis.

Keywords: green and sustainable science and technology; science mapping; sustainability science; emerging trends; scientometrics; bibliometric analysis; publication trends.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISD.2021.118375

International Journal of Innovation and Sustainable Development, 2021 Vol.15 No.4, pp.382 - 396

Received: 07 Mar 2019
Accepted: 27 Feb 2020
Published online: 25 Oct 2021 *

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