Sustainable Development Goals – SDGs Subject Classification

The SDGs subject classification is created using the Elsevier 2025 SDG mappings and based on the UN agenda for people, planet and prosperity through 2030. The 17 goals and 169 targets aim to stimulate action in areas of critical importance to humanity and the environment. The Elsevier 2025 SDG mappings are the most recent version of the classification and are used for the 2025 THE Impact Rankings.

For 2025, the SDGs use the exact same search query and ML algorithm as the Elsevier 2023 SDG mappings (https://elsevier.digitalcommonsdata.com/datasets/y2zyy9vwzy/1), with only minor modifications coming from changes to the search engine handling the SDG queries. Because of this, while the vast majority of publications retain their original mapping, the number of publications in each SDG has slightly changed.

All these changes were implemented to streamline how SDG queries are handled. Users should note that running these in Scopus should be done for reference purposes only, as the Scopus search engine behaves slightly differently than the classifier used to formerly tag SDGs to publications.

The SDGs subject classification is used by the global community to build a world where no one is left behind.

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