Publicación:

Future research opportunities on sustainable smart cities: bibliometric analysis and network visualization

Resumen

Sustainable smart cities are a topic of growing relevance in a world that is increasingly urbanized and concerned about sustainability. This field of study analyzes how emerging technologies and innovative practices transform cities into more efficient, habitable, and ecologically responsible environments. The main objective of this article is to review the state of the art on sustainable smart cities to measure the impact factor, the scientific production of the topic, and identify possible research gaps. The methodology followed four stages: preliminary bibliometric analysis in the Scopus database, bibliometric analysis on sustainable smart cities, network visualization using VOSviewer, and systematic content analysis of the 20 most cited articles. After filtering and cleaning the database, we worked with 2758 articles. The results show an increase in publications from 2020 onwards, with 552 articles published in 2022. Following this growing trend, more publications are expected in 2023, highlighting the knowledge gaps yet to be closed. The journal Sustainability has published the most articles (317). Yigitcanlar is the most cited author (24 citations), followed closely by Bibri (22 citations). China (368) and India (313) have the most publications on the research topic. The qualitative study concludes that the programs, actions, and developments form an innovation ecosystem for the conformation of sustainable smart cities. Regarding research opportunities, there is a pending agenda for researchers in the economic and social approach to smart cities, which are crucial for understanding the broader impacts of these technologies. As a limitation, we worked with the Scopus database, which may exclude some key articles available in other databases like the Web of Science. Future studies could incorporate these databases for a more comprehensive analysis. © The Author(s) 2025.