Sustainable economic development in higher education institutions: A global analysis within the SDGs framework

Universities must focus their efforts on being economically competitive without harming the chances of being sustainable. The study of sustainable economic development (SED) of higher education institutions (HEIs) has experienced growth in last years. The objective of this study is to explore the global evolution of scientific production and research trends related to SED in HEIs in 1990e2018 period. For this purpose, a theoretical and conceptual framework was carried out, together with a bibliometric analysis of a sample of 1689 articles. Results of the scientific productivity of the journals, authors, research in-stitutions, and countries that contribute to this topic have been obtained. Most of the articles have been divulged by Journal of Industrial Ecology and Journal of Cleaner Production, whereas the countries with the most articles produced are the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. The main lines of research developed during this period have been detected: sustainable development, environmental impact, economy, education and recycling. The future lines of research are in establishing indicators that allow managers of academic institutions a protocol to assess the economic dimension of sustainability. This study offers different analysis and evaluation perspectives for HEIs according to the SED, so that the actions are applied and valued positively in the economic, social, and environmental dimensions in the context of the SDGs. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.