A decade of sustainable finance scholarly research: performance analysis, science mapping and future pathways

Purpose This study aims to provide an exhaustive review and analysis of scholarly research on sustainable finance (SF). Design/methodology/approach The study combines bibliometric and content analysis techniques to analyze 342 peer-reviewed research articles on SF by 676 academic scholars from 33 countries from 2011 to 2021 retrieved from the Scopus database. It quantifies the annual scientific production, examines the main publication venues, visualizes collaboration and various bibliometric networks, identifies thematic research categories and provides a roadmap for future research directions. Findings The results indicate that the SF is gaining increasing recognition, evidenced by an increased number of annual publications, scholars and countries involved. Likewise, the scholarly research on SF reflects a “small world network” where few scholars and institutions have substantial influence and play central roles in knowledge dissemination. Besides, the networks among authors reflect the “Matthew Effect,” wherein a few authors have substantially more networks than the majority. Above and beyond, a “homophily impact” exists among the productive authors, meaning they share a disciplinary or thematic similarity in their research interests. Furthermore, the results indicate a limited collaboration among countries, with institutional collaboration described as “locally concentrated and globally limited.” The study also identifies the conceptual structure and thematic clusters of the scholarly research in SF. Building on the findings, the authors develop a roadmap agenda for future research. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to evaluate scholarly research on SF thoroughly. The findings are helpful for scholars to gain insights, understand research trends within this field and pave the way for future research endeavors.