A bibliometric review on justice and governance in energy transitions

Abstract

This study examines the intellectual structure, geographic distribution, and thematic evolution of scholarship on justice and governance in energy transitions. Using a PRISMA-guided bibliometric and science-mapping approach, the analysis draws on 201 Scopus-indexed publications from 2015 to 2025, combining performance analysis with co-citation, keyword co-occurrence, and thematic evolution techniques. The findings show that research leadership remains concentrated in a relatively small group of Global North countries and institutions, although the country-collaboration network is not uniformly dominated by the Global North, as at least one Global South country occupies a highly central position. The intellectual structure of the field is also more diverse than a single Western theoretical tradition would suggest, combining socio-technical and critical-urban scholarship with decolonial political ecology and capability-based justice theory. Thematic evolution further indicates that justice-oriented and policy-focused research have developed alongside each other rather than one displacing the other. This suggests that justice has not declined as the field has become more focused on governance; instead, justice concerns have been reframed within broader governance-oriented research. These findings suggest that energy justice scholarship remains critically engaged while expanding its empirical and policy focus. At the same time, the authority to define its theoretical terms remains geographically concentrated. This study contributes a systematic account of how knowledge production, theoretical perspectives, and research themes have evolved in the field, highlighting the importance of recognizing the Global South not only as a research setting but also as a source of theoretical insight.

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