Thesaurus for Sustainable Development Goals

This paper addresses the important question of how national research
systems can support the implementation of the United Nations' 17
sustainable development goals (SDGs) set out in the 2030 agenda. Much
attention on this topic has so far coalesced around understanding and
measuring possible synergies and trade-offs that emerge in the SDGs. We
contribute to this discussion by arguing that it is necessary to move from
a focus on system interaction towards system transformation. A conceptual
approach is presented based on the notion that research that “builds
bridges” between science and technology and the social and environmental
pillars of sustainable development can more fully support simultaneous
achievement of the SDGs and thus be transformational. This proposition is
put to the test empirically through a study of the Mexican research system
using methods from bibliometrics and social network analysis. Our results
can help to provide a diagnostic of how research systems are approaching
SDGs and where potential exists for transformative research.