The Impact of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals on Citation Performance: A Citation Analysis of Architecture Journals Indexed in Scopus

Purpose: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a global roadmap for addressing pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges. Since their introduction in 2015, the SDGs have increasingly influenced academic discourse, guiding research agendas across a wide range of disciplines. Architecture, as a multidisciplinary field that intersects with technical, environmental, social, and cultural domains, is uniquely positioned to contribute to the achievement of these goals. However, despite its potential, architecture-related journals have not been extensively examined in terms of how they engage with SDG-related content and whether such engagement translates into greater scientific impact. This study aims to fill this gap by investigating the relationship between SDG-related articles and the citation performance of architecture journals indexed in Scopus. Specifically, it evaluates the extent to which SDG-oriented publications contribute to journal visibility and identifies the factors that influence citation performance in this context.
Methodology: This research employs a citation analysis method using data extracted from SciVal. A purposive sample of 115 architecture-related journals was selected from three relevant Scopus categories—Architecture, Construction & Building Technology, and Urban Studies—covering the publication period of 2021 to 2023. From these journals, a total of 98,393 documents were retrieved, of which 43,433 were labeled as SDG-related according to SciVal’s automated tagging system based on machine learning and content analysis.
To determine the most prevalent SDGs in architecture journals, fractional counts of articles associated with each goal were calculated. The citation performance of SDG-related and non-SDG-related articles was compared using automatic linear regression modeling, with average SJR values as the dependent variable. Furthermore, generalized estimating equations (GEE) were applied to analyze repeated measures and identify the impact of various visibility factors—including number of authors, organizational affiliations, countries, title length, and open access status—on the citation count of SDG-tagged articles. SDG 16 (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions) was used as the reference level for interpreting the impact of other goals.
Findings: A year-by-year analysis revealed a clear upward trend in the number of SDG-related publications within architecture journals, representing a 24.67% growth from 2021 to 2022, followed by a 12.54% growth from 2022 to 2023. The results showed a strong concentration of SDG-related research around five goals, including SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production). Together, these five goals accounted for over 80% of all SDG-tagged articles in the selected journals. This distribution aligns closely with the thematic core of architectural research and practice, particularly concerning urban sustainability, energy efficiency, and environmental resilience.
The automatic linear regression analysis revealed that SDG-related articles were associated with significantly higher citation performance at the journal level compared to non-SDG articles. Only the average citation count of SDG-related articles emerged as a statistically significant predictor of journal SJR, while the citation count of non-SDG articles did not.
In the GEE model, among the various article-level visibility factors, only the number of organizational affiliations had a statistically significant positive effect on citations of SDG-related papers. Other commonly considered predictors—including open access, number of authors, countries, and title length—did not show a significant influence. Notably, certain SDGs (e.g., SDG 11, SDG 9, and SDG 7) were strongly and positively associated with citation counts, while others (e.g., SDG 2 and SDG 5) had a negative or negligible impact. These disparities suggest thematic differences in citation potential across goals, possibly reflecting their global relevance and accessibility to mainstream scientific discourse.
Conclusion: The findings underscore the growing role of the SDGs in shaping the research landscape of architecture. Articles addressing sustainable cities, climate change, energy, infrastructure, and consumption are not only thematically central to architectural scholarship but also exhibit higher citation impact. Interestingly, this citation advantage cannot be fully attributed to formal visibility factors such as collaboration scope or publication format. Rather, it appears to stem from the intrinsic value and urgency of the topics themselves, which are closely aligned with global challenges and attract widespread academic attention.
At the same time, the study reveals significant variation in the citation impact of different SDGs, probably due to either a more localized or socially sensitive scope (e.g., poverty, hunger, or gender equality) or a less intrinsic relevance to technical fields like architecture. This highlights the need for more context-sensitive and localized research approaches to ensure balanced attention across all SDGs.
In addition to contributing to the growing body of literature on SDG-related scientometrics, this study offers practical insights for journal editors, policymakers, and researchers. It encourages a more strategic focus on globally resonant sustainability topics while also advocating for the inclusion of underrepresented goals in research agendas. Moreover, it calls for future studies to investigate disciplinary disparities, geographic gaps, and the non-academic impact of SDG research, particularly in architecture and related fields.