RESEARCH IN ESG AND SUSTAINABILITY: BIBLIOMETRIC MAPPING OF THE DOMAIN

Abstract

The integration of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) into sustainability has become a popular topic in research and business, yet collaborative research on this topic remains relatively new and understudied. To gain a deeper understanding of the ESG landscape in business research and its impact on sustainability, this article aims to analyze the current literature, present the current state of knowledge, key trends, and future prospects for this topic, and provide an in-depth synthesis of all published research papers. This will provide valuable insights for researchers, the business community, and regulatory bodies, and open up alternative research paths for aspiring researchers. Using the Scopus database for the period (2014-2025), we found that 1,888 final articles were published in English. After analyzing bibliometric performance indicators, such as the annual trend in the number of articles produced, countries, journals, authors, and research institutions, we arrived at the following set of results: a steady and noticeable increase in the number of published articles, especially since 2020, i.e., after the COVID-19 crisis. China is a leader in this field, and Sustainability Switzerland is the journal with the highest number of research contributions. Regarding research institutions, Sapienza Università di Roma from Italy is the best contributor. Regarding authors, Buallay Amina Mohammed from Bahrain is the most published author. After mapping, using the co-occurrence network of key keywords, four main clusters related to this topic were identified: CSR and Sustainability, Risk Management, Financial Performance, and Sustainable Development, Environmental, and Innovation. This review concludes by presenting a roadmap that includes emerging research paths that can be explored in depth in future studies to promote better and more comprehensive integration to achieve sustainability and maximize corporate value.