Quality Education – Sustainable Development Goal 4: A Bibliometric Analysis through a Management and Policy Lens

Introduction. Sustainable Development Goal 4 aims to ensure inclusive, equitable, and quality education for all. Systematic understanding of its research landscape from a management and policy perspective remains limited. Given education’s central role in advancing sustainability and evidence-based governance, this study systematically analyses the global Sustainable Development Goal 4 research landscape to identify dominant themes, collaboration patterns, and underexplored areas relevant to management and policy discourse. Materials and Methods. The analysis is based on 2,164 peer-reviewed journal articles indexed in the Scopus database. Performance analysis and science mapping techniques were conducted using Biblioshiny and VOSviewer. Analysis of annual publication trends, top authors and institutions, co-authorship patterns, keyword co-occurrence, and thematic clustering. Results. Three research clusters emerged: teachers’ attitudes and challenges in inclusive education, professional development and institutional support; cross-cultural perspectives on self-efficacy and teaching quality, reflecting cultural influences on pedagogical practices; e-education and lifelong learning. Analysis shows dominant contributions from the USA, the UK, and Australia, with increasing participation from Asia and Africa as well as strong interdisciplinary links between business, policy, and sustainability. The findings further indicate a strong concentration of research around teacher-related issues and inclusion, alongside a rapid expansion of digital and lifelong learning themes in recent years. Interdisciplinary linkages across education, business, policy, and sustainability domains are also evident. Discussion and Conclusion. This study maps the evolving research landscape of Sustainable Development Goal 4 and identifies gaps, especially in underrepresented regions. The results offer valuable insights for researchers, educators, and policymakers focused on advancing inclusive and sustainable education worldwide. This study advances Sustainable Development Goal 4 scholarship by exposing systematic thematic and regional imbalances and identifying neglected areas of critical policy relevance. These insights help recalibrate research priorities and support more effective, evidence-informed policy interventions to advance inclusive and sustainable education.