Mapping the Nexus of Sustainability, Innovation, and Renewable Energy: A Bibliometric Analysis of Green Technology Research

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines the intellectual, thematic, and geographical evolution of green technology in the nexus of sustainability, innovation, and renewable energy (2004 – 2025Q1), clarifying the field’s transition from technology-centric enquiry to systemic-transition science. Methodology: A bibliometric review of 498 Scopus-indexed articles was conducted in Biblioshiny. Performance indicators (publication and citation trends) were paired with science mapping techniques: coauthor and affiliation networks, citation  matrices, keyword co-occurrence , and strategic diagram  analysis. Centrality, density, and clustering metrics were used to identify leading actors, methods, and knowledge domains. Findings: Research output and impact are strongly skewed toward China (25 % of papers; 3 516 citations), yet Chinese work is embedded in dense multi country collaborations. Environmental Science & Pollution Research and Sustainability (Switzerland) constitute the journal’s core, while Ahmad and Pesaran M. Anchor authorship and methodological influence. Pesaran’s (2006) common correlated effects estimator and Westerlund’s (2007) panel cointegration tests underpin the econometric principle. Themes centered on innovation, sustainability, alternative energy, sustainable development, and renewable energies serve as basic integrators; machine learning–smart grid forms a high-density niche; and biomass performance is declining. Originality: By integrating multi-layer evidence, sources, authors, geography, methods, and thematic dynamics, this study reveals how econometric refinement, policy discourse, and South South collaboration co evolve. Strategic diagram analysis exposes latent trajectories in which niche topics migrate toward the motor quadrant, a pattern overlooked by earlier, more siloed reviews. Implications: Policymakers should pair technology deployment with green economy instruments to convert innovation into measurable decarbonization. Researchers are encouraged to complement panel econometrics with system dynamics and machine learning  models, and to foreground social equity and finance dimensions that remain under examined. Strengthening South South–North knowledge corridors can accelerate context-specific  transitions and diffuse best practices globally.