Abstract
Development must balance social, economic, and environmental sustainability; it is for this reason that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are integrated, in fact, action in one of them will affect outcomes in others. In consequence, research on the SDGs is broad, complex, and fragmented due to the great diversity of disciplines and approaches involved, making it difficult to obtain valuable and unbiased information for future studies. As a result, a comprehensive review of contributions could provide a comprehensive critical perspective. This article applies SciMAT software to analyze the evolution of this field of research through a systematic literature review of bibliographic records on the SDGs and a review based on bibliometric analysis of 10,272 selected records. Additionally, hidden themes and their development in this field from 1990 to 2020 have been identified to produce strategic diagrams, graphs of thematic evolution and performance indicators of the research field in different periods. The results obtained show a constantly evolving scientific field, from its initial focus on the millennium goals to the gradual inclusion of the current SDGs. They provide field experts with a comprehensive overview of the status quo and predict the dynamic directions of future research, serving as a basis for the development of new strategies for the implementation of the SDGs.
Highlights
A double analysis was performed to achieve the objectives of this study (Figure 1). This double analysis consisted of the following phases: (i) an systematic review of the literature (SRL) of bibliographic records on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as well as (ii) a bibliometric analysis of the identified documents
The following research questions (RQ) were determined based on the objectives of this work: Regarding thewere selection of databases, in this have studymany the Web of Science (WoS) and
The literature review shows that discourses around sustainable development have evolved with the transition from the MDGs to the SDGs
Summary
In 1987, in the Brundtland Report, the United Nations (UN) defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [1]. It emphasizes that the three interrelated concepts of sustainable development are social sustainability, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability; this means that each action or decision must consider natural, human, and economic capital to achieve responsible and sustainable development [2,3]. Sustainable development is part of almost all political agendas in which a variety of goals and targets have been set to make the world a more sustainable and resilient place for all
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