Abstract
Because of the extensive attention of global scholars on the sustainable development in China, much research has been published over the past 30 years. Based on the 12,635 journal papers from the Web of Science database, we explore the trends in the evolution of China’s sustainable development research by a knowledge graph. The result indicates that the attention of China’s sustainable development research increased exponentially during 1991–2021, and it continues to shift from a macroperspective to the exploration of specific methods and implementation paths. During 2001–2005, China’s sustainable development research developed rapidly and formed a complete cluster structure. In addition, China’s sustainable development research has experienced three stages and two topic drifts. Staged development and topic drifts lead to a wide range of disciplinary drifts. In general, the trends in the evolution of China’s sustainable development research mainly focus on three aspects: research methods, research scope, and theoretical innovation. China’s sustainable development provides a case or a path for other developing countries. Economic incentives and policy promotion remain important measures to promote sustainable development.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets used in the study are available from the corresponding author upon request.
References
Bai XM, Chen J, Shi PJ (2012) Landscape urbanization and economic growth in China: positive feedbacks and sustainability dilemmas. Environ Sci Technol 46(1):132–139
Bloch H, Rafiq S, Salim R (2015) Economic growth with coal, oil and renewable energy consumption in China: prospects for fuel substitution. Econ Model 44:104–115
Cervero R, Day J (2008) Suburbanization and transit-oriented development in China. Transp Policy 15(5):315–323. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2008.12.011
Chen C (2004) Searching for intellectual turning points: progressive knowledge domain visualization. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:5303–5310
Chen C (2006) CiteSpace II: detecting and visualizing emerging trends and transient patterns in scientific literature. J Assoc Inform Sci Technol 57(3):359–377
Chen C (2017) Science mapping: a systematic review of the literature. J Data Inform Sci 2(2):1–40. https://sciendo.com/es/article/10.1515/jdis-2017-0006
Chen C, Leydesdorff L (2014) Patterns of connections and movements in dual-map overlays: a new method of publication portfolio analysis. J Assoc Inform Sci Technol 65(2):334–351
Chen C, Song M (2019) Visualizing a field of research: a methodology of systematic scientometric reviews. PLoS ONE 14(10):e0223994
Cherry C, Cervero R (2007) Use characteristics and mode choice behavior of electric bike users in China. Transp Policy 14(3):247–257
D’Orazio P, Valente M (2019) The role of finance in environmental innovation diffusion: an evolutionary modeling approach. J Econ Behav Organ 162:417–439
Geissdoerfer M, Savaget P, Bocken NMP, Hultink EJ (2017) The circular economy a new sustainability paradigm? J Clean Prod 143:757–768
Geng Y, Fu J, Sarkis J, Xue B (2012) Towards a national circular economy indicator system in China: an evaluation and critical analysis. J Clean Prod 23(1):216–224
Gong W, Yan XY, Wang JY, Hu TX, Gong YB (2009) Long-term manuring and fertilization effects on soil organic carbon pools under a wheat-maize cropping system in North China Plain. Plant Soil 314(1–2):67–76
Guan XL, Wei HK, Lu SS, Dai Q, Su HJ (2018) Assessment on the urbanization strategy in China: achievements, challenges and reflections. Habitat Int 71:97–109
Hershkovitz L (1993) Political ecology and environmental management in the Loess Plateau, China. Human Ecol 21(4):327–353
Hu YA, Cheng HF, Tao S (2017) Environmental and human health challenges of industrial livestock and poultry farming in China and their mitigation. Environ Int 107:111–130
IPCC (2013) Climate change 2013: the physical science basis. Contrib Work 43(22):866–871. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar5/wg1/
IPCC (2021) Climate change 2021: the physical science basis. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-working-group-i/
Jia XX, Shao MA, Zhu YJ, Luo Y (2017) Soil moisture decline due to afforestation across the Loess Plateau, China. J Hydrol 546:113–122
Jim CY, Chen WY (2008) Assessing the ecosystem service of air pollutant removal by urban trees in Guangzhou (China). J Environ Manage 88(4):665–676
Kajikawa Y, Saito O, Takeuchi K (2017) Academic landscape of 10 years of sustainability science. Sustain Sci 12(6):869–873
Kleinberg J (2003) Bursty and hierarchical structure in streams. Data Min Knowl Disc 7(4):373–397
Leong C (2021) Narratives and water: a bibliometric review. Glob Environ Chang 68:102267
Li DY, Huang M, Ren SG, Chen XH, Ning LT (2018) Environmental legitimacy, green innovation, and corporate carbon disclosure: evidence from CDP China 100. J Bus Ethics 150(4):1089–1104
Li DY, Zheng M, Cao CC, Chen XH, Ren SG, Huang M (2017) The impact of legitimacy pressure and corporate profitability on green innovation: evidence from China top 100. J Clean Prod 141:41–49
Li Z (1992) Comprehensive development of agriculture in the Loess Plateau area. Chin Geogra Sci 2(1):56–63
Lin BQ, Ouyang XL (2014) Energy demand in China: comparison of characteristics between the US and China in rapid urbanization stage. Energy Convers Manage 79:128–139
Liu XB, Zhang XY, Wang YX, Sui YY, Zhang SL, Herbert SJ, Ding G (2010) Soil degradation: a problem threatening the sustainable development of agriculture in northeast China. Plant Soil Environ 56(2):87–97
Liu YS (2018) Introduction to land use and rural sustainability in China. Land Use Policy 74:1–4
Liu ZL, Wang X, Li S, Bai ZH, Ma L (2022) Advanced composting technologies promotes environmental benefits and eco-efficiency: a life cycle assessment. Biores Technol 346:10
Lu YH, Fu BJ, Feng XM, Zeng Y, Liu Y, Chang RY, . . ., Wu BF (2012) A policy-driven large scale ecological restoration: quantifying ecosystem services changes in the Loess Plateau of China. Plos One 7(2):10
Mathews JA, Tan H (2011) Progress toward a circular economy in China the drivers (and inhibitors) of eco-industrial initiative. J Ind Ecol 15(3):435–457
Merli R, Preziosi M, Acampora A (2018) How do scholars approach the circular economy? A systematic literature review. J Clean Prod 178:703–722
Murray A, Horvath A, Nelson KL (2008) Hybrid life-cycle environmental and cost inventory of sewage sludge treatment and end-use scenarios: a case study from China. Environ Sci Technol 42(9):3163–3169
Murray A, Skene K, Haynes K (2017) The Circular Economy: An interdisciplinary exploration of the concept and application in a global context. J Bus Ethics 140(3):369–380
Sarkodie SA, Strezov V (2018) Empirical study of the environmental Kuznets curve and environmental sustainability curve hypothesis for Australia, China, Ghana and USA. J Clean Prod 201:98–110
Sueyoshi T, Yuan Y (2015) China’s regional sustainability and diversified resource allocation: DEA environmental assessment on economic development and air pollution. Energy Economics 49:239–256
Sun L, Wang Y, Gong Y (2022) Life cycle assessment of rice bran oil production: a case study in China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29(26):39847–39859
Teng YG, Wu J, Lu SJ, Wang YY, Jiao XD, Song LT (2014) Soil and soil environmental quality monitoring in China: a review. Environ Int 69:177–199
Umar M, Ji XF, Kirikkaleli D, Xu QH (2020) COP21 Roadmap: do innovation, financial development, and transportation infrastructure matter for environmental sustainability in China? J Environ Manage 271:10
Wang M, Liu J, Chan H-L, Choi T-M, Yue X (2016) Effects of carbon tariffs trading policy on duopoly market entry decisions and price competition: insights from textile firms of developing countries. Int J Prod Econ 181:470–484
Wu J, Bai ZK (2022) Spatial and temporal changes of the ecological footprint of China’s resource-based cities in the process of urbanization. Resour Policy 75:12
Wu JG, Xiang WN, Zhao JZ (2014) Urban ecology in China: historical developments and future directions. Landsc Urban Plan 125:222–233
Xiaer XH, Tang LY, Yuan JF, Zuo J, Li QM (2022) Exploring social impacts of urban rail transit PPP projects: towards dynamic social change from the stakeholder perspective. Environ Impact Assess Rev 93. 11.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eiar.2021.106700
Yin JH, Shi SQ (2019) Analysis of the mediating role of social network embeddedness on low-carbon household behaviour: evidence from China. J Clean Prod 234:858–866
Zhang B, Bi J, Fan ZY, Yuan ZW, Ge JJ (2008) Eco-efficiency analysis of industrial system in China: a data envelopment analysis approach. Ecol Econ 68(1–2):306–316
Zhang LB, Du Q, Zhou DQ, Zhou P (2022) How does the photovoltaic industry contribute to China’s carbon neutrality goal? Analysis of a system dynamics simulation. Sci Total Environ 808:13
Zhang LH, Zhang J, Duan ZY, Bryde D (2015) Sustainable bike-sharing systems: characteristics and commonalities across cases in urban China. J Clean Prod 97:124–133
Zhang W, Jack M (1992) Recent developments in the market for rural land use in China. Land Econ 68(2):139–162
Zhang XL, Platten A, Shen LY (2011) Green property development practice in China: costs and barriers. Build Environ 46(11):2153–2160
Zhang Y, Pan CL, Liao HT (2021) Carbon neutrality policies and technologies: a scientometric analysis of social science disciplines. Front Environ Sci 9:24
Zhou B-B, Wu J, Anderies JM (2019) Sustainable landscapes and landscape sustainability: a tale of two concepts. Landsc Urban Plan 189:274–284
Funding
This research was supported by National Science Foundation of China (NSFC 72074046 and 71874029), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2022M712017), and Shanghai Post-doctoral Excellence Program (2021152).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Shaoqing Shi was responsible for the data analysis and writing. Jianhua Yin was responsible for the design and writing. All authors read and approved the final submitted manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Shi, S., Yin, J. Trends in the evolution of sustainable development research in China: a scientometric review. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 57898–57914 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26515-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-26515-2