The formation of a field: sustainability science and its leading journals

Abstract

This study investigates the scholarly field of sustainability science between 2001 and 2021 from the perspective of 18 frequently cited journals. For this purpose, the article employs the concept of the “scientific field” developed by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu and the associated methodology of Geometric Data Analysis (GDA). Thus, two GDA approaches, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and the Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA), as well as analyses of co-citation and co-authorship relations, were used to identify the positions of these journals in the field. One key finding is the historical shift from an earlier dominance of chemistry-related journals to publications more broadly concerned with sustainability research. The MCA analyses show that the selection of research topics is in line with a “weak” rather than “strong” interpretation of the concept “sustainability.” Networks based on co-authorship relations reveal an overall increment in this type of collaboration, both at the level of organizations and countries. Since 2008, Chinese universities have notably increased their presence in the output of the journals examined in the study. Three strategies in shaping the field through its journals are discernable: publications strongly characterized by a systems theory perspective, notably Sustainability Science; generalist journals committed to sustainability research in a broader meaning; and publications that address sustainability issues mainly within a specific discipline.