In the current context of higher education, it is necessary to address the interconnection between academic learning and social engagement in order to move towards a sustainable future. One of the most important ways in which universities can help society to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is to harness their educational potential to train the people who will implement these goals. However, conventional educational approaches often fall short in preparing students to address emerging global challenges. On the contrary, service-learning (SL) is an active teaching methodology that has the advantage of being very effective in enhancing skills and knowledge related to sustainability.

The aim of this study is to carry out a bibliometric review of the scientific literature related to the integration of the SDGs in higher education through an active methodology such as SL. There are literature reviews on SDGs in higher education, but none focused exclusively on the SL as a teaching tool in this field. Therefore, the main contribution of this study is to fill this gap in the specialized literature. For this purpose, a bibliometric analysis has been carried out using the database Web of Science (WoS).

The results show that despite being a very recent topic in the scientific literature, the number of published papers has increased over time. The diversity of areas to which the publications belong, which enriches the type of contributions and approaches in this field of study, should be highlighted. In addition, the role played by Spain in this type of scientific production is noteworthy, since Spanish universities have participated in the publication of most of the most cited articles in this field. In conclusion, future research is needed to deepen the potential of SL in the knowledge of the SDGs in higher education, as the available production is still limited, and this will facilitate the fulfillment of the requirements of the 2030 Agenda.

Keywords: Higher education, sustainable development goals, service-learning, Web of Science, Bibliometric analysis.