Bullshit in the Sustainability and Transitions Literature:a ProvocationJulian Kirchherr1AbstractResearch on sustainability and transitions is bu...

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Bullshit in the Sustainability and Transitions Literature:a ProvocationJulian Kirchherr1AbstractResearch on sustainability and transitions is bu...
Bullshit in the Sustainability and Transitions Literature:
a Provocation

Julian Kirchherr1
Abstract
Research on sustainability and transitions is burgeoning. Some of this research is helping
to solve humankind’s most pressing problems. However, as this provocation argues, up to
50% of the articles that are now being published in many interdisciplinary sustainability
and transitions journals may be categorized as “scholarly bullshit.” These are articles that
typically engage with the latest sustainability and transitions buzzword (e.g., circular economy), while contributing little to none to the scholarly body of knowledge on the topic.
A typology of “scholarly bullshit” is proposed which includes the following archetypes:
boring question scholarship, literature review of literature reviews, recycled research, master thesis madness, and activist rants. Since “scholarly bullshit” articles engage with the
latest academic buzzwords, they also tend to accumulate signifcant citations and are thus
welcomed by many journal editors. Citations matter most in the metric-driven logic of the
academic system, and this type of scholarship, sadly, is thus unlikely to decrease in the
coming years.
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s43615-022-00175-9.pdf

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