Bibliometric analysis of scientific production in environmental education from 1971 to 2025

Abstract

Environmental education emerged as a response to growing concerns about the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the environment. This study presents a bibliometric review of scientific production in the field, based on the Web of Science online platform. The research followed the bibliometric methodology, allowing for the analysis of quantitative indicators of academic literature. The search was conducted on March 30, 2025, using the terms “Environmental education” AND “Sustainability Education” OR “Environmental Literacy,” resulting in 837 publications from 1971 to 2025. Aspects such as year of publication, document type, most cited authors, countries of publication, number of citations, keywords, and journals were analyzed. The data were organized into tables and charts using Google Sheets, and the network analysis was carried out with the VOSviewer software. The results indicate a significant increase in publications starting in 2009, with a peak in 2024, reflecting the growing relevance of the topic in the global academic landscape. The United States leads in the number of publications, followed by Australia and China, while Brazil shows a smaller contribution, ranking twentieth. The keyword analysis revealed the centrality of the terms “environmental education” and “environmental literacy,” demonstrating the interconnection between education and sustainability, along with other related terms. It is concluded that research in environmental education has been consolidating both nationally and internationally.