| 1 | Three pillars of sustainability: in search of conceptual origins | Sustainability Science | 2018 | 1,747 |
| 2 | Key competencies in sustainability: a reference framework for academic program development | Sustainability Science | 2011 | 1,553 |
| 3 | Adaptation planning for climate change: concepts, assessment approaches, and key lessons | Sustainability Science | 2007 | 517 |
| 4 | Integration: the key to implementing the Sustainable Development Goals | Sustainability Science | 2016 | 516 |
| 5 | Key competencies in sustainability in higher education—toward an agreed-upon reference framework | Sustainability Science | 2020 | 464 |
| 6 | Initial progress in implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): a review of evidence from countries | Sustainability Science | 2018 | 401 |
| 7 | Putting vulnerability to climate change on the map: a review of approaches, benefits, and risks | Sustainability Science | 2011 | 362 |
| 8 | Reconnecting with nature for sustainability | Sustainability Science | 2018 | 351 |
| 9 | Action, research and participation: roles of researchers in sustainability transitions | Sustainability Science | 2014 | 340 |
| 10 | Towards systemic and contextual priority setting for implementing the 2030 Agenda | Sustainability Science | 2017 | 318 |
| 11 | Advancing to a Circular Economy: three essential ingredients for a comprehensive policy mix | Sustainability Science | 2017 | 277 |
| 12 | Prioritising SDG targets: assessing baselines, gaps and interlinkages | Sustainability Science | 2018 | 274 |
| 13 | Degrowth, postdevelopment, and transitions: a preliminary conversation | Sustainability Science | 2015 | 260 |
| 14 | Mapping citizen science contributions to the UN sustainable development goals | Sustainability Science | 2020 | 246 |
| 15 | The Sustainable Development Goals prioritize economic growth over sustainable resource use: a critical reflection on the SDGs from a socio-ecological perspective | Sustainability Science | 2020 | 241 |
| 16 | Structuring sustainability science | Sustainability Science | 2010 | 236 |
| 17 | Putting a circular economy into practice in China | Sustainability Science | 2007 | 231 |
| 18 | The real type and ideal type of transdisciplinary processes: part I—theoretical foundations | Sustainability Science | 2015 | 204 |
| 19 | Research core and framework of sustainability science | Sustainability Science | 2008 | 190 |
| 20 | Quality criteria for visions and visioning in sustainability science | Sustainability Science | 2013 | 185 |
| 21 | Learning for change: an educational contribution to sustainability science | Sustainability Science | 2012 | 178 |
| 22 | The costs and benefits of environmental sustainability | Sustainability Science | 2021 | 174 |
| 23 | Creating an academic landscape of sustainability science: an analysis of the citation network | Sustainability Science | 2007 | 171 |
| 24 | Unpacking factors influencing antimicrobial use in global aquaculture and their implication for management: a review from a systems perspective | Sustainability Science | 2017 | 169 |
| 25 | Higher education for sustainable development: actioning the global goals in policy, curriculum and practice | Sustainability Science | 2018 | 162 |
| 26 | Constructing sustainability science: emerging perspectives and research trajectories | Sustainability Science | 2012 | 158 |
| 27 | How interdisciplinary is sustainability research? Analyzing the structure of an emerging scientific field | Sustainability Science | 2011 | 154 |
| 28 | Mindfulness in sustainability science, practice, and teaching | Sustainability Science | 2017 | 149 |
| 29 | The contribution of small-scale food production in urban areas to the sustainable development goals: a review and case study | Sustainability Science | 2020 | 144 |
| 30 | Loving the mess: navigating diversity and conflict in social values for sustainability | Sustainability Science | 2019 | 141 |
| 31 | Towards understanding interactions between Sustainable Development Goals: the role of environment–human linkages | Sustainability Science | 2020 | 140 |
| 32 | Sustainable food systems—a health perspective | Sustainability Science | 2018 | 140 |
| 33 | Weaving Indigenous science, protocols and sustainability science | Sustainability Science | 2015 | 136 |
| 34 | Ecological distribution conflicts as forces for sustainability: an overview and conceptual framework | Sustainability Science | 2017 | 136 |
| 35 | Current practice of assessing students’ sustainability competencies: a review of tools | Sustainability Science | 2020 | 136 |
| 36 | Understanding the impact of hydropower developments in the context of upstream–downstream relations in the Mekong river basin | Sustainability Science | 2012 | 131 |
| 37 | The real type and ideal type of transdisciplinary processes: part II—what constraints and obstacles do we meet in practice? | Sustainability Science | 2015 | 126 |
| 38 | Decolonising transdisciplinary research approaches: an African perspective for enhancing knowledge integration in sustainability science | Sustainability Science | 2017 | 125 |
| 39 | How can science support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development? Four tasks to tackle the normative dimension of sustainability | Sustainability Science | 2019 | 120 |
| 40 | What has to be learnt for sustainability? A comparison of bachelor engineering education competences at three European universities | Sustainability Science | 2009 | 116 |
| 41 | Climate change, cocoa migrations and deforestation in West Africa: What does the past tell us about the future? | Sustainability Science | 2014 | 115 |
| 42 | Transdisciplinary sustainability research in real-world labs: success factors and methods for change | Sustainability Science | 2021 | 115 |
| 43 | The undisciplinary journey: early-career perspectives in sustainability science | Sustainability Science | 2017 | 114 |
| 44 | Transformative spaces in the making: key lessons from nine cases in the Global South | Sustainability Science | 2019 | 111 |
| 45 | Measuring the effectiveness of landscape approaches to conservation and development | Sustainability Science | 2016 | 110 |
| 46 | Circles, spirals, pyramids and cubes: why the circular economy cannot work | Sustainability Science | 2017 | 110 |
| 47 | Assessing national progress and priorities for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): experience from Australia | Sustainability Science | 2019 | 107 |
| 48 | Many pathways toward sustainability: not conflict but co-learning between transition narratives | Sustainability Science | 2016 | 106 |
| 49 | Soil salinity, household wealth and food insecurity in tropical deltas: evidence from south-west coast of Bangladesh | Sustainability Science | 2015 | 104 |
| 50 | An actionable understanding of societal transitions: the X-curve framework | Sustainability Science | 2022 | 103 |