Two decades of sustainable development studies in higher education management: a bibliometric analysis

Purpose This study aims to identify the growth pattern of research literature, most influential authors, most impactful documents and most relevant topics on sustainable development (SD) in higher education management (HEM) from 2000 to 2023. Design/methodology/approach The research approach used descriptive quantitative and bibliometric analysis. Scopus was used to retrieve data from 811 selected documents from 2000 to 2023. Data analysis used VOSviewer and R Biblioshiny. Findings The results showed intense development of sustainable development research in higher education management, especially in 2013–2023. Core literature was identified based on the volume of publications or citations from the perspective of authors, documents and keywords. Global research topics on SD in HEM focus on curriculum development and sustainable learning, sustainable higher education management and enhancing research and development of SD in HEM. The results of this research reveal the emerging intellectual structure in the field of educational management and provide reference points for academics who wish to study this discipline. Originality/value This study offers a valuable knowledge map for future research on sustainable development in higher education management. As a map, researchers can find core documents and current topics and identify potential research issues in this study.