Scientific Attention to Sustainability and SDGs: Meta-Analysis of Academic Papers

Abstract

Scientific research plays an important role in the achievement of a sustainable society. However, grasping the trends in sustainability research is difficult because studies are not devised and conducted in a top-down manner with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To understand the bottom-up research activities, we analyzed over 300,000 publications concerned with sustainability by using citation network analysis and natural language processing. The results suggest that sustainability science’s diverse and dynamic changes have been occurring over the last few years; several new topics, such as nanocellulose and global health, have begun to attract widespread scientific attention. We further examined the relationship between sustainability research subjects and SDGs and found significant correspondence between the two. Moreover, we extracted SDG topics that were discussed following a convergent approach in academic studies, such as “inclusive society” and “early childhood development”, by observing the convergence of terms in the citation network. These results are valuable for government officials, private companies, and academic researchers, empowering them to understand current academic progress along with research attention devoted to SDGs.

Recent Advances in Technology, Strategy and Application of Sustainable Energy Systems

“…As an example, the development of a new sustainable energy paradigm is mainly based on the new developments performed by scientific research. To understand the bottom-up research activities, Asatani et al [153] developed a citation network analysis and natural language processing methodology. More than 300,000 publications related to sustainability were involved.…”

Tools for Measuring Energy Sustainability: A Comparative Review

“…Some do not work with indexes or intermediate indicators because they use only primary and aggregate data to compose the final index, while others use all the steps of the information pyramid because they need a large amount of primary data to obtain the indicators, which are subsequently aggregated to obtain the final index [89]. The measurability of the sustainability is the key to implementing sustainable development [92].…”

“…Energy sustainability indicators capture the complexity of energy systems and offer new insights about what can be communicated to the general public [96][97][98][99][100]. The measurability of the sustainability is the key to implementing sustainable development [92]. Indicators and indices gain great importance and recognition as tools to formulate public policies and provide information of performance in areas such as economy, environment, society, and technology [93].…”

5335 Days of Implementation Science: Using Natural Language Processing to Examine Publication Trends and Topics

“…A more robust and re ned clustering approach can assist the dissemination of scienti c ndings. Additionally, NLP methods can be applied to examine correspondence between research literature and societal goals, 13 implications of particular research terms, 16 along with a host of other issues bearing signi cance in our communities. [33][34] Limitations Similar to systematic and scoping reviews, the study sample is subjected to publication bias (which is especially true for a high-quality journal like Implementation Science).…”

“…7,12 They can inform the breadth of impact of a search tool (e.g., Web of Science 7 ), or shed light on trends within a speci c research eld. [12][13] NLP has been used across a variety of disciplines and consumer applications to understand scholarly publication trends, [13][14][15][16] but has not yet ltered into the methodological mainstream in the social services.…”