Bibliometric Analysis of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Research in Higher Education: Intellectual Foundations, Thematic Structure, and Emerging Educational Priorities
Abstract
Higher education institutions advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through teaching, research, social engagement, institutional leadership, and campus operations. This quantitative bibliometric study examined the intellectual foundations and thematic structure of SDG research in higher education using Scopus metadata and VOSviewer. The search retrieved N= 6,370 source documents; after removing N=3,491 duplicates and excluding N=1,244 ineligible or irrelevant records, N=1,635 documents comprised the final corpus. Co-citation analysis evaluated 84,156 cited references, of which 57 met the minimum threshold of 15 citations and formed three clusters concerning institutional implementation and transformation, international policy and implementation frameworks, and future-oriented sustainability competencies. Co-word analysis evaluated 4,346 keywords, of which 58 met the minimum threshold of 12 occurrences and formed four thematic clusters. The most frequent terms were sustainable development goals (608 occurrences), higher education (596), sustainability (401), and sustainable development (192). Higher education had the greatest total link strength (643), indicating its role as a bridging concept. The thematic structure shows a shift from advocacy toward curriculum integration, education for sustainable development, competency-based learning, institutional social responsibility, educational innovation, environmental education, digital transformation, inclusion, and experiential learning. SDG research in higher education is becoming more interdisciplinary and implementation-oriented. Nevertheless, the field remains constrained by inconsistent metadata and keyword normalization, reliance on a single bibliographic database, and limited empirical evidence of educational and institutional outcomes. The findings provide a structured evidence base for curriculum developers, institutional planners, sustainability educators, and researchers seeking to align higher education with the 2030 Agenda.