Mapping the Thematic Landscape of Digitalisation and Regional Sustainable Development: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

Digitalisation has become an increasingly prominent topic in research on regional sustainable development. As academic attention to its relationship with Sustainable Development Goals expands, the thematic configuration and structural evolution of this research domain remain fragmented. This study maps the thematic landscape of digitalisation and regional sustainable development through a bibliometric analysis of 451 Web of Science records. Using a complementary dual-tool approach in Bibliometrix (R) and pyBibX (Python), we examine publication dynamics, co-occurrence networks, co-citation structures, collaboration patterns, and thematic evolution within this interdisciplinary field. The results identify dominant research clusters centred on digital economy, innovation, efficiency, energy and regional economic growth, alongside a marked geographical concentration of scientific output. In contrast, sustainability-related dimensions linked to management, planning, research and artificial intelligence networks appear comparatively peripheral within the mapped thematic landscape. By structuring research trajectories and identifying thematic imbalances, the study provides a comprehensive bibliometric mapping of how the academic community conceptualises the digitalisation–regional sustainability nexus and highlights directions for further scholarly inquiry.