Mapping geography’s engagement with the Sustainable Development Goals: Research foci, contributions, and future directions

Abstract

Although geography’s role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is widely recognised, a comprehensive quantitative synthesis of its intellectual contributions has been absent. This study fills that critical research gap through a large-scale bibliometric analysis. Drawing from 122 core geography journals (Web of Science, 2010–2024), we employed three-level search criteria (SDGs, sustainability and SDG indicators) to identify a final corpus of 70,122 relevant articles. We then combined publication trend analysis, co-citation and collaboration networks, and keyword co-occurrence mapping to systematically delineate research foci, contributions, and future directions. Our findings reveal six major thematic research clusters: (1) climate change impacts and governance; (2) agricultural landscape and environmental sustainability; (3) resilience and adaptive capability in social-ecological systems; (4) land use change and metacoupling impacts; (5) urban growth and transport accessibility; and (6) biodiversity and ecosystem services. The SDG overlap analysis highlights strong linkages among environmental SDGs, while revealing that SDG 1 (No Poverty) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) are more isolated. Overall, geography supports the SDGs across four key dimensions: (1) providing spatial data analysis for assessment; (2) conducting regional studies for localisation; (3) applying human-environment interaction research to advance synergies; and (4) strengthening science-policy interface efforts for achievement. To maximise its future impact, this study calls for the geography community to develop a dedicated methodological framework for SDG analysis, proactively contribute to shaping the post-2030 agenda, advance holistic integrated approaches, and prudently harness the power of artificial intelligence to accelerate sustainability transitions.