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The support of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the project UIDB/04630/2020, is gratefully acknowledged.

Analysis of institutional authors

Coronado-Marin, AlfonsoAuthor

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September 18, 2025
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Article

International Trends and Practices on Sustainability Reporting in Higher Education Institutions

Publicated to:Sustainability. 14 (19): 12238- - 2022-10-01 14(19), DOI: 10.3390/su141912238

Authors: Filho, Walter Leal; Coronado-Marin, Alfonso; Lange Salvia, Amanda; Silva, Fernanda Frankenberger; Wolf, Franziska; LeVasseur, Todd; Kirrane, Maria J; Doni, Federica; Paco, Arminda; Blicharska, Malgorzata; Schmitz, Marina; Grahl, Anselm T; Moggi, Sara

Affiliations

Coll Charleston, Sustainabil Literacy Inst, Charleston, SC 29424 USA - Author
Hamburg Univ Appl Sci, European Sch Sustainabil Sci & Res, Ulmenliet 20, D-21033 Hamburg, Germany - Author
IEDC Bled Sch Management, Coca Cola Chair Sustainable Dev, Bled 4260, Slovenia - Author
Manchester Metropolitan Univ, Dept Nat Sci, Chester St, Manchester M1 5GD, Lancs, England - Author
Pontificia Univ Catolica Parana, Business Sch PUCPR, BR-80215901 Curitiba, Parana, Brazil - Author
Posit Univ, Brazil Business Sch, BR-81280330 Curitiba, Parana, Brazil - Author
Students Organizing Sustainabil Int, DK-1608 Copenhagen, Denmark - Author
Univ Beira Interior, NECE UBI Res Ctr Business Sci, Rua Marques DAvila & Bolama, P-6201001 Covilha, Portugal - Author
Univ Coll Cork, Environm Res Inst ERI, Cork T23 XE10, Ireland - Author
Univ Milano Bicocca, Dept Business & Law, I-20126 Milan, Italy - Author
Univ Nacl Educ Distancia, UNESCO Chair Environm Educ & Sustainable Dev, Madrid 28015, Spain - Author
Univ Passo Fundo, Grad Program Civil & Environm Engn, Campus 1,BR 285, BR-99052900 Passo Fundo, RS, Brazil - Author
Univ Verona, Dept Business Adm, I-37129 Verona, Italy - Author
Uppsala Univ, Dept Earth Sci, Nat Resources & Sustainable Dev, S-75236 Uppsala, Sweden - Author
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Abstract

Sustainability reports are regarded as important tools in offering information about the environmental, social, economic, and institutional performance of an institution, and in demonstrating a commitment to matters related to sustainable development. But even though sustainability reporting has been used by a variety of higher education institutions to date, it is not as widely practiced as it should be. To further investigate this topic, a twofold approach was used: a study focusing on sustainability reporting approaches deployed in a sample of 30 universities across a set of countries; and a survey with a sample of 72 universities from different global regions to assess the extent to which they are deploying sustainability reporting as part of their activities. The scientific value of the paper resides in the fact that it offers a comprehensive overview of the subject matter of sustainability reporting, and how higher education institutions handle it. It also outlines the efforts in developing these documents which may catalyse further progress in this key area.

Keywords

Higher educationMissionOrganizational-change managementPerformanceSdgsStateSustainability assessmentSustainability reportingSustainable developmentUniversitiesVision

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Sustainability due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2022, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category .

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.09. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 19.75 (source consulted: Dimensions Nov 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-11-01, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 13
  • Scopus: 19

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-11-01:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 118.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 118 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Brazil; Denmark; Germany; Italy; Portugal; Slovenia; Sweden; United Kingdom; United States of America.