Innovation Management and Sustainability: A Bibliometric Analysis of Global Research Trends

Abstract

Innovation management and sustainability have become intertwined pillars to the realization of long-term competitiveness of an organization and social-economic growth. This study analysed global research trends in innovation management and sustainability through bibliometric analysis and visualization, and maps the intellectual structure, thematic development, and collaboration patterns in the field. This study employed bibliometric analysis and science mapping techniques using Biblioshiny in RStudio and VOSviewer. Through an extensive collection of thousands of research papers located in Scopus database consisting of various fields of study covering publications from 1982 to 2026 of academic work. The methods used are bibliometric, such as the performance analysis and science mapping, to discuss the work of prominent authors, powerful journals, prolific institutions, nations, and predominant research topics. These results indicated that, there has been a linear increase in publications and the key themes include sustainable innovation, green innovation, digital transformation, circular economy, and competitive 
advantage. The thematic clustering determines the new research fronts in which innovation management is becoming more aligned with environmental and social objectives of sustainability. This study gives a systematic review of the body of knowledge in the area and gives possible ways of conducting future research especially in combining digital technologies, policy models and sustainability-based business models. On the whole, this bibliometric review can be of importance to other researchers, practitioners, and policymakers who want to learn about the development of 
innovation-based sustainability research and its perspectives.