RENEWABLE ENERGY TRANSITION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT: A COMPREHENSIVE BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS FOR BUSINESS, MANAGEMENT, AND POLICY RESEARCH TRENDS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/bh82yf48Keywords:
Renewable energy, Sustainable development, Bibliometric analysis, Energy transition, Energy policy, Business and managementAbstract
The transition to renewable energy cannot be ignored in the pursuit of sustainable development, since energy is recognised as a driver of economic development, industrialisation, and social change. The rapidly growing body of literature is dispersed across various fields, requiring an overview of specific trends in the business, management, and policy domains. The current study is a thorough bibliometric analysis of the academic literature on renewable energy and its role in sustainable development, with a particular focus on business, management, and policy perspectives. Based on the PRISMA 2020 protocol, 3,491 peer-reviewed journal articles published in 1996-2025 were observed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The trends in publications, journals with impact, authors, country-specific contributions, collaboration networks, and the evolution of thematic focus were examined using Bibliometric analysis procedures implemented in Biblioshiny (R). The results indicate a rapid increase in research output after 2015, attributable to global climate commitments and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). China, India, and the United States are becoming leading contributors and the dominating countries in the field through interdisciplinary journals. Thematic analysis suggests a shift from technological research to research on policy instruments, governance frameworks, business models, and adoption dynamics. However, the problem of energy justice and equity has not been investigated extensively. It was determined that there are five major thematic areas: adoption drivers, policy incentives, technological innovation, SDG linkages, and inclusivity. The present research clarifies the field's intellectual framework and outlines future research directions to support integrated, inclusive, context-specific renewable energy transitions.
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