Hotspots and trends of environmental, social and governance (ESG) research: a bibliometric analysis

This study examines paper-level metrics in the literature on topics related to environmental, social and governance (ESG) to provide a research agenda for hotspots and trends. Based on 755 papers on ESG in the Web of Science Core Collection database from 2004 to 2021, we use VOSviewer and CiteSpace to present a bibliometric review of publications, citation structure, authors, universities, countries, journals, and keywords on the topic. Additionally, the philosophy of the ESG system, factors affecting ESG, the financial outcomes of ESG, the association between ESG and corporate social responsibility (CSR), and ESG investing are presented as research hotspots. Furthermore, three research trends are identified: research on the influencing factors and economic consequences of ESG in the context of emerging markets, mechanism analysis of ESG’s impact on the capital market, and further research on ESG information disclosure and ESG ratings. Our study enriches ESG theory and provides new paths for researchers and practitioners.