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

Environment, Development and Sustainability · 11 authors, 12 centres

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This bibliometric analysis of 12,176 publications from 2015–2022 on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) reveals a rapidly growing research field, with over 51% of articles published in the last two years of the study period. The United States, China, and the United Kingdom lead in research output, while developing countries remain underrepresented despite facing the greatest sustainability challenges. The study identifies climate change, health, and poverty as core research themes, but highlights persistent gaps in integrated, cross-sectoral SDG assessments needed to achieve the 2030 Agenda.

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**Background:** The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations in 2015, comprise 17 goals and 169 targets aimed at achieving global sustainability by 2030. Despite growing research interest, there has been limited holistic bibliometric analysis covering the entire SDG domain. This study aims to fill that gap by examining the progress, challenges, and opportunities in SDG-related research from 2015 to 2022.

**Methods:** The authors conducted a bibliometric analysis using the Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection citation database. The search query used was: TS = (“sustainable development goals” OR “SDGS” OR “millennium development goals”), refined to document types ARTICLE or REVIEW, excluding 2023, for the timespan 2015–2022. This retrieved 12,176 publications. Data were analyzed using multiple bibliometric tools: Biblioshiny (R package) for performance analysis, VOSviewer for keyword co-occurrence networks, CiteSpace for burst detection, and SciMAT for strategic diagrams and thematic evolution maps. The study period was divided into two intervals (2015–2018 and 2019–2022) for thematic analysis.

**Key Results:** The 12,176 articles were published in 1,956 journals by 45,345 authors, with an average of 15.06 citations per article and a collaboration index of 4.05. Annual publication output grew from 298 articles in 2015 to 3,249 in 2022, with approximately 51% of all articles published in the last two years (2021–2022). The top three most productive journals were Sustainability (Switzerland) with 1,730 articles (12%), Journal of Cleaner Production (UK) with 371 articles (2.9%), and Science of the Total Environment (Netherlands) with 191 articles (1.5%). The United States led in total publications (1,313 articles, 10.7%) and total citations (34,013), followed by China (1,310 articles, 13,808 citations) and the United Kingdom (1,171 articles, 25,988 citations). The University of Oxford was the most productive institution (307 articles). Keyword analysis identified core research areas including sustainable development goals, climate change, Agenda 2030, circular economy, Africa, poverty, global health, governance, food security, and universal health coverage. Burst detection revealed that 'millennium development goal' had the strongest burst strength (53.01), followed by 'care' (24.26) and 'mortality' (23.75). Thematic evolution showed that in 2015–2018, motor themes were Climate-Change and Millennium-Development-Goals, while in 2019–2022, the motor themes shifted to Sustainable-Development-Goals and CO2-Emissions. The most cited paper was Liu et al. (2016) in The Lancet (1,549 citations) on under-5 mortality.

**Clinical Implications:** While this is not a clinical study, the findings have relevance for global health research. Health-related SDGs (particularly SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being) were prominent, with major research themes including maternal mortality, child mortality, universal health coverage, and mental health. The study reveals that health research is concentrated in developed-world institutions, yet most health challenges are in low- and middle-income countries. The authors highlight the need for greater international collaboration, particularly with researchers from developing countries, to ensure that health-related SDG targets are informed by evidence from the populations most affected.

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narrative_review

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public_health

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88% · B

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10164369

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

Environment, Development and Sustainability

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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

CITATION EXPORT

Manoranjan Mishra, Sudarsan Desul, Celso Augusto Guimarães Santos et al.. A bibliometric analysis of sustainable development goals (SDGs): a review of progress, challenges, and opportunities. Environment, Development and Sustainability. (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-03225-w

AUTHORS

11 · 12 CENTRES

Manoranjan Mishra, Sudarsan Desul, Celso Augusto Guimarães Santos, Shailendra Kumar Mishra, Abu Hena Mustafa Kamal, Shreerup Goswami, Ahmed Mukalazi Kalumba, Ramakrishna Biswal, Richarde Marques da Silva, Carlos Antonio Costa dos Santos, Kabita Baral

1grid.444315.30000 0000 9013 5080Department of Geography, Fakir Mohan University, Vyasa Vihar, Nuapadhi, Balasore, Odisha 756089 India
2grid.411670.50000 0001 0411 9920Department of Library and Information Science, Berhampur University, Berhampur, Odisha 760007 India
3grid.411216.10000 0004 0397 5145Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, 58051-900 Brazil
4grid.411343.00000 0001 0213 924XDepartment of Anthropology, University of Allahabad, Allahabad, 211002 India
5grid.412255.50000 0000 9284 9319Faculty of Fisheries and Food Science, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia
6grid.412779.e0000 0001 2334 6133Department of Geology, Utkal University, Vani Vihar, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751004 India
7grid.413110.60000 0001 2152 8048Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science and Agriculture, University of Fort Hare, Alice, 5700 South Africa
8Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, NIT Rourkela, Rourkela, 769008 India
9grid.411216.10000 0004 0397 5145Department of Geosciences, Federal University of Paraíba, João Pessoa, 58051-900 Brazil
10grid.411182.f0000 0001 0169 5930Graduate Program in Meteorology, Federal University of Campina Grande, Campina Grande, 58109-970 Brazil
11grid.411670.50000 0001 0411 9920Department of Environment Studies, Berhampur University, Berhampur, Odisha 760007 India
12grid.444729.80000 0000 8668 6322Department of Library and Information Science, Tripura University, Agartala, 799022 India