References, authors, journals and scientific disciplines underlying the sustainable development literature: a citation analysis

摘要

This paper identifies the main references, authors and journals influencing thesustainable development literature. The task is accomplished by means of a citationanalysis based on the records of ISI Web of Science. We found that the core of sustainabilitythinking is framed by a pattern of landmark studies published around every 5 years.Only 380 publications have been cited at least ten times. References with the highestinfluence are those with a global dimension and large diffusion, such as BrundtlandCommission’s ‘‘Our common future’’ (1987) and classics such as Meadows’ et al. ‘‘Limitsto growth’’ (1972). The list of the most influential references over the period 1960–2005 isdominated by contributions from economics (particularly ecological economics) andenvironmental science, but includes many other disciplines such as urban planning,political sciences and sociology. References are also made to policy documents such as‘‘Agenda 21’’, one of the main outcomes of the Rio Summit in 1992. In analyzing citationtrends, we found that ‘classics’, because of their high rates of citations per year, seem tohave a more enduring and stable influence.