Abstract
The emergence of blockchain technology has brought about disruptive challenges in multiple fields. Blockchain research has come into the global spotlight, particularly in the field of environmental management. The decentralized mechanism of blockchain conflicts with the centralized structure of environmental management; however, there is a need to review the literature on blockchain and its potential in environmental management. In this paper, we performed a bibliometric analysis to investigate publications on environmental management based on blockchain (EMBB) in the Web of Science (WOS). The distribution by journal, author, organization and keywords were measured by R Package in a descriptive analysis. The network analysis of research themes was visualized in VOS Viewer. The results show that research on EMBB is still in its infancy and lacks case studies. In terms of research trends, we conclude by suggesting future directions in EMBB. In summary, we propose a blockchain-based environmental management framework to provide a reference for regulators. The governance framework will inform policy by unravelling the challenges and opportunities presented by technological change for decision makers in environmental governance.
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This work has been funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (92046022, 71974081); the MOE (Ministry of Education in China) Project of Humanities and Social Sciences (17YJAZH035); the Six Talent Peaks Project in Jiangsu Province (JNHB-018) and the Major Project of Philosophy and Social Science Research in Colleges and Universities of Jiangsu Province (2020SJZDA063).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by He Chang and Shuai Jin. The first draft of the manuscript was written by He Chang and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Jin, S., Chang, H. The trends of blockchain in environmental management research: a bibliometric analysis. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 81707–81724 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19856-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19856-x