Audit in ESG research: a bibliometric analysis (2015–2025)

Abstract

The credibility of environmental, social and governance (ESG) information is increasingly regarded as the cornerstone of sustainable financial and corporate environmental accountability. However, the academic picture of linking the audit mechanism with ESG research is still fragmented and lacks systematic integration. Based on 369 documents retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC), PubMed, and Scopus spanning 2015 to 2025, this study uses CiteSpace for knowledge mapping and visualization analysis, and conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of the intersection of audit and ESG, addressing a gap that existing reviews have not yet systematically filled. The results show that this field has changed from the marginal exploration stage (2015–2019) to the rapid expansion stage (2020-present). The main drivers include the increasing regulatory pressure on ESG information disclosure and the growing demand of investors for reliable environmental reports. The cooperation network presents a model of “micro-closed and macro-open”: cooperation at the author and institutional levels is still highly dispersed, while China has become a major contributor in a relatively integrated international network. Thematic analysis identified 11 research clusters, among which ESG information disclosure has become the most prominent core topic, and two competing research paths have been formed around it: one focuses on the economic consequences of disclosure on capital market pricing, and the other focuses on the inherent credibility challenges of ESG reports themselves. The key finding is that audit does not constitute an independent sub-domain in this field; on the contrary, it penetrates into multiple ESG research clusters through three mechanisms: information credit enhancement, governance substitution and risk transmission. These findings systematically reveal how audit, as a key governance tool, ensures the quality of environmental and sustainable development information that investors, regulators and policymakers rely on.