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

Kimitaka Asatani, Haruo Takeda, Hiroko Yamano and Ichiro Sakata
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Kimitaka Asatani: Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan
Haruo Takeda: Hitachi, Ltd., Tokyo 100-8280, Japan
Hiroko Yamano: Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan
Ichiro Sakata: Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8654, Japan

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 4, 1-21

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.

Keywords: bibliometrics; network analysis; SDGs; natural language processing; information retrieval; scientific foresight (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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