Global performance and development on sustainable city based on natural science and social science research: A bibliometric analysis Ming-Huang Wang a , Yuh-Shan Ho a , Hui-Zhen Fu b, ⁎ a Trend Research Centre, Asia University, No. 500, Lioufeng Road, Wufeng, Taichung 41354, Taiwan b Information Resources Management, School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310058, China HIGHLIGHTS • A bibliometric analysis was conducted to investigate sustainable city research in SCI and SSCI. • Sustainable city research in natural science and social science were well- matched in quantity. • China ranked first in SCI-EXPANDED, while the USA took the lead in SSCI. • More interdisciplinary integration was undergoing in both SCI and SSCI. • Climate change, China, and resilience in sustainable city research were reviewed and discussed. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT Mapping the evolution among categories of SCI-EXPANDED and SSCI publications during 1992–2016. abstract article info Article history: Received 10 November 2018 Received in revised form 13 January 2019 Accepted 9 February 2019 Available online 11 February 2019 Editor: Deyi Hou Sustainable city has been a global concern in recent years, involving natural science and social science research. However, few studies have attempted to map the global research of sustainable city. This study aimed to reveal the global performance and development of sustainable city research during 1992 to 2016, using a bibliometric analysis based on Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) on Web of Science. Research performance, research emphases and trends were illustrated by bibliometric indicators and newly developed visualization tools, like Science of Science (Sci2), Gephi, and alluvial diagram. Sustainable city research in natural science and social science were well-matched in quantity, and had similar and different characteristics in terms of different investigated aspects. China ranked first in natural science research, while the USA was the leading country in social science research. More categories and clusters were involved in sustainable city field, indicating more interdisciplinary integration was undergoing. Energy and fuels in natural science field, and interdisciplinary applications mathematics in social science field started to attract more attention. Statistical analysis of words in title, author keywords, and KeyWords Plus has been investigated to monitor the development of sustainable city research. Finally, three critical issues in sustainable city research based on the clues by the anal- ysis of these keywords were reviewed and discussed. © 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. Keywords: Bibliometrics Visualization Topic detection Sponge city Low carbon city Science of the Total Environment 666 (2019) 1245–1254 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: fuhuizhen@zju.edu.cn (H.-Z. Fu). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.02.139 0048-9697/© 2019 Published by Elsevier B.V. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Science of the Total Environment journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/scitotenv