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The phenomenal rise of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) as a research issue: A bibliometric analysis

  • Richard Gregory
  • , Sachini Senadheeraa
  • , Jörg Rinklebec
  • , Muhammad Farrukhd
  • , Jay Rheee
  • , Yong Sik Oka

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

<b>ABSTRACT</b><br>Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing is a crucial approach that significantly affects and influences the financial aspects of a company and drives sustainability. Bibliometric analysis is a tool to visualize the past and current trends of a research area that helps in identifying novelty in the research field. Such an analysis on ESG can reveal interesting insights about the onset of the concept and shows its future research directions. This study presents a systematic assessment of ESG through a bibliometric analysis. We gathered information on the most influential researchers, articles, and institutions related to ESG in order to reveal evolution trends on the ESG research. A total of 981 articles spanning over 141 journals from 2001 to 2021 were analyzed. The Scopus database and VOSviewer software were used to dissect and categorize the data into relevant groups. The term ESG first emerged in 2006, and the number of publications has almost doubled every year since 2017. The overall analysis provided insights on emerging fields within ESG, including green investing, circular economy, and RE100 that are significant in creating a sustainable business world. The study also revealed that the metrics of the Governance pillar are less well-specified compared with those of the Environmental and Social pillars.
Original languageAmerican English
JournalSustainable Environment
StatePublished - Sep 13 2022

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