The Impact of Identifying Conceptual Trends in Sustainability, Performance and Governance Research Using Bibliometric Techniques

Abstract

This research paper aims to analyze the impact and existence of sustainability reporting in the context of sustainable development goals between international requirements and national accounting practices. Thus, the study involved an analysis from two perspectives: 1) a systematic literature review to identify, select and critically evaluate relevant research from the period 2015-2025 and 2) a bibliometric analysis that involved an extraction and highlighting of the most suggestive references collected from the Core Web of Science collection database, using the similarity visualization program (VOS), during the period 2015-2025. This approach involved a comprehensive search and selection of all potentially relevant articles following the use of explicit and reproducible criteria in selecting articles for the proposed analyses. International agreements such as the 2025 Paris Agreement on Climate Change and strategies such as the EU Taxonomy, as a standard governing environmental sustainability within the EU, have stimulated the development of tools for determining. Governance is proxied by the Worldwide Governance Indicators. The impact of sustainability and performance has become a focal point in entrepreneurial frameworks, influencing startups, venture capital and innovation, and the record number of publications in 2023 and 2025 underlines its transition from a niche academic interest to a global economic and political imperative, while also reflecting the intersection with fields such as economics, environmental science and public policy, which have attracted diverse contributions to research. The results of the bibliometric analysis reveal a significant increase in the number of studies, including policy decisions and increased researcher interest, in the field of accounting between 2015 and 2025. These analyses provide insights into the evolution and progress of sustainable development and identify key themes, notable authors, institutions and geographical regions that have influenced academic research. The main findings highlight that corporate social reporting and performance has matured as a research field, with increasing thematic convergence around the integration of policies, performance indicators and innovation.