Approaching the Social Impact of Research Through a Literature Review

Abstract

The article carries out a systematic literature review on the social impact of research in all fields of study. To this end, this study has compiled the publications on the subject using the Web of Science database, and the most relevant terms have been mapped using the VOSviewer tool. The aim of the article is to advance and provide knowledge on the key aspects to be taken into account for research to generate social benefits and to analyse the main methods and instruments used to assess the social impact of research. At the same time, this article serves as a point of reflection to raise awareness, on a recent topic, of the limitations that arise in evaluation and research gaps that can be addressed in future research. This line of research has been in existence for just over 10 years. International programmes, such as Horizon Europe, highlight the impact channels and, in the field of social sciences, specific methodologies such as communicative communication are being developed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to analyse the subject from a global point of view, without specifying the field of study, providing a conceptual map of the subject.