EXPLORING SUSTAINABILITY AS AN EMERGING AXIS IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT: A SYSTEMATIC AND BIBLIOMETRIC REVIEW

Abstract

Sustainability has gone from an abstract aspiration to a structural obligation in key sectors, such as project management. However, its full understanding is limited by the diversity of topics and the rapid pace of knowledge expansion. This study addresses this complexity through a systematic review of international scientific literature to identify trends, categories, and transformations driven by sustainability in project management. A bibliometric-narrative methodology was applied, based on the adapted PICO model, using Scopus for searching, PRISMA for refinement, and RStudio with Biblioshiny for analysis. The study of 765 documents allowed the thematic evolution to be segmented into three stages spanning from 2000 to March 2025, evidencing the consolidation of sustainability as a central axis, with transformations associated with technologies such as BIM and the circular economy, and their integration with governance and digitization. It is concluded that sustainability has ceased to be a peripheral approach and has become a structuring dimension of project management, opening up new avenues for research and action.