Sustainable Development Goals in Psychology: A Century of Progress in Publications

TL;DR

This study analyzes over 230,000 psychology publications from 1894 to 2022 to assess their focus on Sustainable Development Goals, revealing shifts in research priorities, geographic differences, gender disparities, and the impact of SDGs on scholarly influence.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive, data-driven overview of how psychology research has engaged with SDGs over a century, establishing a baseline for future assessments.

Findings

Health, education, work, inequality, and gender dominate SDG-related psychology research.

Post-2015 SDG publications receive more citations, indicating increased scholarly impact.

Women are underrepresented in STEM-oriented SDG research.

Abstract

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) offer a lens for tracking societal change, yet contributions from the social and behavioral sciences have rarely been integrated into policy agendas. To take stock and create a baseline and benchmark for the future, we assemble 233,061 psychology publications (1894 -- 2022) and tag them to the 17 SDGs using a query-based classifier. Health, education, work, inequality, and gender dominate the study of SDGs in psychology, shifting from an early focus on work to education and inequality, and since the 1960s, health. United States-based research leads across most goals. Other countries set distinct priorities (e.g., China: education and work; Australia: health). Women comprise about one-third of authors, concentrated in social and health goals, but have been underrepresented in STEM-oriented goals. The 2015 launch of the SDGs marked a turning point: SDG-tagged publications have been receiving more citations than comparable non-SDG work, reversing a pre-2015 deficit. Tracking the SDGs through psychology clarifies long-run engagement with social priorities, identifies evidence gaps, and guides priorities to accelerate the field's contribution to the SDG agenda.