A systematic literature review on the role played by sustainability matters in the educational environment

Given the recent developments in sustainability reporting frameworks, this paper aims to systematically review the research on sustainability matters concerning its implementation in the educational area within the accounting-related courses or higher education institutions overall from a more comprehensive scope of analysis. For this purpose, a systematic literature review combined with a bibliometric analysis was applied, using the Scopus database to collect the papers published in this century (since 2000 onwards). The final sample is comprised of 56 papers, covering different clusters of analysis. The findings indicate an increase in sustainability publications, which aligns with the growing relevance of such issues worldwide. In recent years, studies with practical applications and a more diverse set of methodologies have increased instead of the initial focus on theoretical essays and analyses. Nevertheless, there are still some gaps that can serve as avenues for future research, regarding, for instance, the papers' geographical scope, thematic area and methodologies proposed. This study expands to further topics not found in the literature such as what the classical social science theories have been proposed for evaluation, and the main results/conclusions the studies have reached. Finally, it suggests avenues for future research from the identified gaps and then contributes to the literature.