Anti-Corruption Advocacy in Building Inclusive and Accountable Institutions (SDG 16): A Global Bibliometric Analysis

Romi Ali Yuliansyah, Balqis Azkia Rachman

Abstract


Corruption continues to pose a major challenge in achieving inclusive
and accountable governance as outlined in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)
16. Although numerous anti-corruption initiatives have been implemented
globally, systematic and comprehensive analyses of academic research on
advocacy efforts to strengthen transparent and responsible institutions remain
limited. This study aims to examine global publication trends, patterns of
scholarly collaboration, and thematic developments in anti-corruption advocacy
research. Employing a quantitative descriptive approach through bibliometric
analysis, data were collected from the Scopus database for the 2020–2025
period. The metadata were processed and visualized using VOSviewer software
to identify publication patterns, key authors, contributing countries, institutions,
and keyword relationships. The results reveal a significant rise in global
publications on anti-corruption advocacy, dominated by contributions from
China, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Institutional analysis indicates
that universities with strong research capacity—particularly in East Asia—play a
central role in advancing this field, while developing nations remain
underrepresented. Thematic mapping identifies three main areas of focus:
institutional transparency and accountability, civil society advocacy and
participation, and digital governance and integrity. These findings suggest a
paradigmatic transition from punitive legal approaches toward preventive,
participatory, and technology-based strategies in addressing corruption. The
study emphasizes that strengthening anti-corruption advocacy requires global
academic collaboration, inclusive research partnerships, and the application of
innovative, data-driven governance models to effectively advance the objectives
of SDG 16.


Full Text:

PDF

References


Alamro, H. (2024). the Effect of Corruption on Public Debt Sustainability: Evidence From the

European Union’S Countries. Journal of Governance and Regulation, 13(1 Special Issue),

–340. https://doi.org/10.22495/jgrv13i1siart7

Amagnya, M. A. (2025). Corruption Quantum Comparison and Suspicion-Based Corruption:

New Corruption Neutralization and Justification Techniques? International Criminal

Justice Review, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1177/10575677251361870

Ambituuni, A. (2025). Infrastructure transparency initiative and anticorruption in public infrastructure projects: a principal–agent perspective to the antecedents that enable (or

hinder) the effectiveness of transparency. Engineering, Construction and Architectural

Management. https://doi.org/10.1108/ECAM-02-2025-0273

Ansell, C., & Gash, A. (2008). Collaborative governance in theory and practice. Journal of Public

Administration Research and Theory, 18(4), 543–571.

https://doi.org/10.1093/jopart/mum032

Baas, J., Schotten, M., Plume, A., Côté, G., & Karimi, R. (2020). Scopus as a curated, high-quality

bibliometric data source for academic research in quantitative science studies.

Quantitative Science Studies, 1(1), 377–386. https://doi.org/10.1162/qss_a_00019

Boța-Avram, C. (2024). Examining the white and dark sides of digitalisation effects on

corruption: unveiling research patterns and insights for future research. Journal of Risk

Finance, 25(2), 181–223. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRF-10-2023-0256

Celik, A., & Kostekci, A. (2025). Empirical Exploration of the Drivers of Human Development in

Central and West Asian Countries: How Effective Are Control of Corruption, Political

Stability and the Rule of Law? Sustainable Development, 33(3), 4652–4675.

https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.3365

Chasokela, D., & Ncube, C. M. (2024). Leveraging Technology for Organizational Efficiency and

Effectiveness in Higher Education. In Building Organizational Capacity and Strategic

Management in Academia (pp. 381–410). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/979-8-3693-

-8.ch014

Chen, X., Guo, K., Li, J., & Huang, B. (2025). Strengthening Government Trust by Cracking Down

on Corruption. Journal of Public Affairs, 25(3). https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.70072

Fox, J. A. (2015). Social Accountability: What Does the Evidence Really Say? World

Development, 72, 346–361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2015.03.011

Han, G. F., & Xia, F. (2025). Sentiment analysis and topic modeling in the context of scientific

integrity: implications for teaching and research in higher education. Discover Applied

Sciences, 7(8). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-025-07441-z

Heywood, P. M. (2018). Combating corruption in the twenty-first century: New approaches.

Daedalus, 147(3), 83–97. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_a_00504

Hope, K. R. (2020a). Corruption Reduction as a Target of the Sustainable Development Goals:

Applying Indicators and Policy Frameworks. The Emerald Handbook of Crime, Justice and

Sustainable Development, 105–130. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78769-355-

Hope, K. R. (2020b). Peace, justice and inclusive institutions: overcoming challenges to the

implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 16. Global Change, Peace and Security,

(1), 57–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/14781158.2019.1667320

Ishikawa, Y. (2025). NGOS, ADVOCACY, AND ANTI- CORRUPTION. In The Routledge Handbook

of Anti- Corruption Research and Practice (pp. 398–411). Taylor and Francis.

https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003303275-28

Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A., & Mastruzzi, M. (2007). Measuring Corruption : Myths and Realities.

Measuring Corruption : Myths and Realities, January 2007. https://doi.org/10.1596/9576

Kotukov, O., Karamyshev, D., Kotukova, T., Chernoivanenko, A., & Serenok, A. (2025). CAN

DIGITAL TRANSPARENCY TOOLS SYSTEMATICALLY REDUCE CORRUPTION IN

GOVERNMENT? EVIDENCE FROM ESTONIA, UKRAINE AND BRAZIL. Journal of Theoretical

and Applied Information Technology, 103(10), 4256–4257.

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-

&partnerID=40&md5=b5b1c6f8c50cab180066f20826b56fc7

Lyeonov, S., Bozhenko, V., & Mynenko, S. (2023). Promoting Public Integrity and Combating

Financial Crime: Challenges on the Pathway to Sustainable Development. In Promoting

Public Integrity and Combating Financial Crime: Challenges on the Pathway to Sustainable

Development. Fundacja Centrum Badan Socjologicznych. https://doi.org/10.14254/978-

-968258-6-5/2023

Manna, R., & Palumbo, R. (2019). How to fight public corruption? Capturing evidence from a

fixed effects model for Western European countries. International Journal of Organization

Theory and Behavior, 22(4), 313–330. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOTB-11-2018-0123

Mauro, P. (1995). CORRUPTION AND GROWTH. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(3),

–712.

Milton, S. (2021). Higher education and sustainable development goal 16 in fragile and conflictaffected

contexts. Higher Education, 81(1), 89–108. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-

-z

Monsivais-Carrillo, A. (2019). Institutional innovation for accountability: The National Anti-

Corruption System in Mexico. Iconos, 65, 51–69.

https://doi.org/10.17141/iconos.65.2019.3793

Montero Caro, M. D. (2024). El gobierno abierto desde una perspectiva internacional y su

encaje en la Ley 19/2014 de Cataluña. Revista Catalana de Dret Públic, 69, 104–120.

https://doi.org/10.58992/rcdp.i69.2024.4319

Montes, G. C., & Paschoal, P. C. (2016). Corruption: what are the effects on government

effectiveness? Empirical evidence considering developed and developing countries.

Applied Economics Letters, 23(2), 146–150.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13504851.2015.1058900

Olasolo, H., Palermo, P. G., & Blaise MacLean, R. J. (2025). The Case for Considering Corruption

as a Central Element of Governance: Institutional and Organizational Corruption and

Complex Corruption Networks. International Criminal Law Review, 25(2–3), 217–246.

https://doi.org/10.1163/15718123-bja10230

Passas, I. (2024). Bibliometric Analysis: The Main Steps. Encyclopedia, 4(2), 0.

https://doi.org/10.3390/encyclopedia4020065

Persson, A., Rothstein, B., & Teorell, J. (2019). Getting the basic nature of systemic corruption

right: A reply to Marquette and Peiffer. Governance, 32(4), 799–810.

https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12403

Qazi, A. (2025). Risk forecasting for shortfalls in achieving sustainable development goals: A

corruption perspective. Journal of Safety Science and Resilience, 6(2), 237–249.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnlssr.2024.10.003

Refakar, M., & Cárdenas, G. C. (2023). Corruption and Transactional Crime: Building up Effective

Accountable Inclusive and Transparent Institutions as Ground for Sustainable Finance. In

Sustainable Finance: Vol. Part F4255. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-28752-7_9

Shih, T., & Forsberg, E. (2023). Origins, motives, and challenges in Western–Chinese research

collaborations amid recent geopolitical tensions: findings from Swedish–Chinese research

collaborations. Higher Education, 85(3), 651–667. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-022-

-z

Wang, C. Y., Chengzhe, & Chen, C. (2017). The effect of co-authorship network on research

performance of scholars: A correlation analysis. ACM International Conference Proceeding

Series, Part F131840. https://doi.org/10.1145/3144789.3144824

Yamane, T., & Kaneko, S. (2021). Is the younger generation a driving force toward achieving the

sustainable development goals? Survey experiments. Journal of Cleaner Production, 292,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.125932




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.37905/ppj.v6i3.3020

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Editorial Office of Public Policy Journal; Program Administrasi Publik Pascasarjana Universitas Negeri Gorontalo. Jendral Sudirman Street, Number 6, Gorontalo City, Gorontalo Province 96128, Indonesia. Telp. +628114390095; +6281340097196 (Call/SMS/WA) E-mail: public_policy_journal@ung.ac.id

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

INDEXING: