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Literature Trend Identification of Sustainable Technology Innovation: A Bibliometric Study Based on Co-Citation and Main Path Analysis

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  • Ben Zhang

    (School of Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
    Centre for Innovation and Development, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China)

  • Lei Ma

    (Centre for Innovation and Development, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China)

  • Zheng Liu

    (Centre for Innovation and Development, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China
    Business School, University of South Wales, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK)

Abstract

In the past 20 years, there have been increasingly more studies on sustainable technology innovation (STI), possessing a significance for sustainable development. This paper aims to provide a research landscape, since the systematic understanding of STI is still inadequate. Through bibliometric analysis, it explores the literature distribution characteristics and the literature citation network. Based on the relevant literature data in the Web of Science (WOS), the study visually analyzes the development trend, topic distribution, burst literature, and co-citation network of the research literature, and extracts the evolution path of literature citation by using the main path analysis method. Through the analysis of co-citation and main path, 13 clusters in the co-citation network are found, which are further extracted as the main path network containing 82 nodes. Furthermore, this paper summarized the bibliometric landscape and discussed the frontier STI research topics. The comprehensive framework contributes to the understanding of STI themes and identifying future research agenda.

Suggested Citation

  • Ben Zhang & Lei Ma & Zheng Liu, 2020. "Literature Trend Identification of Sustainable Technology Innovation: A Bibliometric Study Based on Co-Citation and Main Path Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-20, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:20:p:8664-:d:431250
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