Contribution by income group to global publishing on 56 research topics related to the Sustainable Development Goals, 2011–2019 (%)
Click on the name of a region in the key to add or remove it from the figure.
Place your cursor over a value to read the precise share of global publishing accounted for by the income group you have selected. (For the number of global publications per topic, see the statistical annex Tables F1 to F8 or download the SDG bibliometric dataset.)
High-income economies are ceding ground to other income groups for most of the 56 topics under study, with the decline in global share of output being most noticeable for battery efficiency and carbon capture and storage. High-income economies still dominate scientific publishing by volume, though.
Sustainability topics form far greater shares of national output by small and developing science systems. These countries also tend to be on the frontlines of climate change and heavily reliant on natural resources. Although sustainability research may form large shares of the output of these countries, the number of publications often remains small.
Low-income countries are least visible for topics related to SDGs 7 (affordable and clean energy), 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure) and 14 (life below water). This income group is publishing more than previously on biofuels and biomass, solar and wind energy, in particular, but publications on each topic still amount to less than 1% of global output.
Their contribution to global output is growing. For example, the share of scientific publications on photovoltaics emanating from lower-income countries has surged from 7.6% to 21.6% and on biofuels and biomass from 6.2% to 21.2% since 2011. Low-income countries raised their own global share of publications on photovoltaics from 0.2% to 1.4% over the same period.
Among lower middle-income countries, progress has been most spectacular on problem-solving for development. For instance, their share of publications on the sustainable management of marine tourism has surged from 3% to 19% since 2011. They now account for one-quarter of global publications on minimizing poaching and trafficking of protected species and one-fifth of global output on eco- industrial waste management, photovoltaics, biofuels and biomass.
Not shown in this data graphic is the fact that these topics form a small share of scientific publishing, overall. With the clock ticking to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, countries must invest strategically in scientific research and harness science for sustainability.
These findings are drawn from a global study of scientific publishing on priority topics related to the Sustainable Development Goals. For more, see chapter 2 in the UNESCO Science Report: the Race Against Time for Smarter Development (2021).
Note: See Annex 1 of the UNESCO Science Report (2021) for a list of countries by income group. These values reflect the participation of authors from countries in the selected groups. Owing to co-authorship, the sum of the shares may exceed 100%, with larger cumulative totals indicating greater collaboration among income groups.
Source: UNESCO Science Report: the Race Against Time for Smarter Development (2021); data sourced from Scopus (Elsevier) by Science-Metrix and animated by Values Associates
