Loso Judijanto

Mapping Research Themes on Sustainable Finance: A Scientometric Review from Scopus Database

Introduction

Mapping research themes on sustainable finance: a scientometric review from scopus database. A scientometric review maps sustainable finance research themes (2000-2025) from Scopus. Explore trends in green finance, ESG, climate change, and digital finance, offering insights for future research.

Abstract

This study presents a scientometric analysis of the global research landscape on sustainable finance using data retrieved from the Scopus database. By employing VOSviewer for bibliometric mapping, the study identifies major themes, influential authors, collaborative networks, and temporal trends within the literature published between 2000 and 2025. The analysis reveals that sustainable finance is anchored around core topics such as green finance, climate change, ESG performance, and responsible investment, while new themes like financial inclusion, digital finance, and greenwashing are gaining prominence. Keyword co-occurrence and overlay visualizations highlight the dynamic evolution of research interests, shifting from environmental and policy-centered discussions toward technologically driven and socially responsive financial practices. The study also maps institutional and country-level collaborations, identifying dominant players as well as regions with emerging contributions. This comprehensive overview provides valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and financial practitioners seeking to understand the intellectual structure of sustainable finance and to identify strategic directions for future inquiry and action.

Review

This study promises a timely and comprehensive scientometric review of the sustainable finance research landscape, utilizing the Scopus database and VOSviewer for rigorous bibliometric mapping. The chosen methodology is well-suited for systematically identifying and visualizing the intellectual structure of a rapidly evolving field. Covering an extensive period from 2000 to 2025, the research aims to delineate major themes, influential authors, collaborative networks, and temporal trends, thereby offering a holistic overview that is highly relevant given the increasing global focus on sustainability in finance. The ambition to capture not only past but also very recent and potentially emerging trends up to 2025 is particularly noteworthy. The abstract highlights several key contributions, including the identification of core research themes such as green finance, climate change, ESG performance, and responsible investment, which form the bedrock of sustainable finance discourse. Crucially, the study also identifies new and emerging themes like financial inclusion, digital finance, and greenwashing, reflecting the dynamic expansion of the field. The use of keyword co-occurrence and overlay visualizations effectively illustrates a significant shift in research interests from predominantly environmental and policy-centric discussions towards more technologically driven and socially responsive financial practices. Furthermore, the mapping of institutional and country-level collaborations provides invaluable insights into the global research ecosystem, pinpointing dominant players and regions with burgeoning contributions. Overall, this scientometric review is poised to be a significant contribution to the literature on sustainable finance. Its systematic approach, broad scope, and detailed analysis of thematic evolution and collaborative networks offer valuable insights for a diverse audience, including researchers seeking future inquiry directions, policymakers developing regulatory frameworks, and financial practitioners designing sustainable products. By comprehensively mapping the intellectual landscape, the study effectively clarifies the current state of knowledge and illuminates strategic pathways for advancing both research and practical applications in sustainable finance.

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