Are we really progressing sustainable tourism research? A bibliometric analysis
Date
2020
Authors
Moyle, B.
Moyle, C.L.
Ruhanen, L.
Weaver, D.
Hadinejad, A.
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Journal article
Citation
Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2020; 29(1):106-122
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Abstract
Periodic assessment of the ‘state of play’ in research outputs is an essential process for gauging academic progress and latent trends within a field of study. Bibliometric analysis of 839 sustainable tourism-related papers over a thirty-year period (1987–2017), extracted from a selection of the top ranked tourism journals confirmed a lack of reticulation and integration among individual contributions, in part due to an exponential increase in output, but parallel evidence of subdomain maturation. This includes reduced emphasis on definitional issues and increased focus on empirical applications as well as a broader ‘pragmatic turn’ indicated by the dominance of ‘stakeholder’ contributions related to industry and community. These moreover are qualified by recognition of the need to adopt and develop higher standards of methodological and theoretical engagement. We innovate by analysing engagement with the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and reveal these to constitute a major latent theme, albeit to widely variable extents. It is recommended that these be mobilised as a pragmatic and universally embraced framework for engaging with sustainable tourism and salient external threats such as climate change.
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Link to a related website: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09669582.2020.1817048?needAccess=true, Open Access via Unpaywall
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Copyright 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor and Francis