Research Trends in Environmental Sociology: A Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Publications from 1976 to 2024

This comprehensive bibliometric study offers a panoramic view of the evolution of environmental sociology research from 1976 to 2024. By analyzing a robust corpus of 474 articles from 189 journals, authored by a diverse group of 664 scholars from around the world, the study paints a picture of a field that has grown in both prominence and complexity over the past half-century. The United States, the United Kingdom, and Sweden have emerged as the leading centers of environmental sociology research, with major contributions from top universities and influential journals. The field's intellectual landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation, from early concerns about environmental awareness, ecological inequality, and globalization to more recent explorations of climate change, environmental justice, and the Anthropocene.

However, even as environmental sociology has made remarkable strides, it faces a host of challenges and opportunities in the years ahead. The inherent complexity and interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues necessitate a more holistic and collaborative approach, one that brings together scholars from various disciplines and engages key stakeholders. Looking forward, the field must also grapple with a range of pressing questions, from the social dimensions of climate change mitigation and adaptation to the implications of environmental crises for inequality and social justice. To address these challenges, environmental sociologists will need to develop more robust theories and methodologies that can capture the intricate interplay between social and ecological systems. By building on the solid foundation established over the past five decades and confronting these challenges head-on, environmental sociology is poised to make vital contributions to the quest for sustainability and to deepen our understanding of the complex interactions between human societies and the natural world in the age of the Anthropocene.

Finally, as a note for future research, there are several limitations that need to be acknowledged in this article. Specifically, the literature search was conducted only on the Scopus database, which means that articles published in journals not indexed by Scopus were not evaluated. Although Scopus is a comprehensive database for bibliometric analysis, this limitation still needs to be considered. Furthermore, the bibliometric analysis presented in this study primarily focuses on quantitative aspects, such as the number of publications, citations, and collaborations, while qualitative aspects, such as the content and substantive contributions of the publications, are not explored in depth. Future research could incorporate additional databases and qualitative approaches to deepen the understanding of the development and trends in environmental sociology research and their implications for theory, policy, and practice in addressing sustainability challenges.