Publication Activity of Public Higher Education Institutions in Poland Corresponding to the Idea of Sustainable Energy Development – Results of a Cluster Analysis

Objective The aim of the article is to present the involvement of public Higher Education Institutions in Poland in popularizing the idea of sustainable development within the framework of their publishing activities. Methodology In this study, agglomerative clustering approach, which is a representative of the hierarchical method, was used. The distance between selected public Higher Education Institutions in Poland was determined based on the Squared Euclidean Distance. In turn, to estimate the distance between clusters, the Ward method was used. The study used three parameters, constructed from data taken from SciVal: (1) total number of publications, (2) citation count, and (3) field-weighted citation impact. Findings Three groups of Polish public HEIs were distinguished as a result of the cluster analysis that was performed (based on: the total number of publications, the citation count, and the field-weighted citation impact). The most publication-productive were seven technical universities, i.e., Warsaw University of Technology, Gdansk University of Technology, Silesian University of Technology, AGH University of Science and Technology, Lodz University of Technology, Poznan University of Technology, and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology. The publications prepared by the employees of the universities of technology were also characterized by the highest number of citations. Value Added This article is one of the first to present (in quantitative terms) the involvement of universities in popularizing sustainable energy development concept. The methodology used in it can be applied to the other Sustainable Development Goals. Recommendations Given the increasing importance of the concept of sustainability in the functioning of universities, it seems necessary to create tools to measure the degree of their involvement in popularizing this idea. Among other things, universities are obliged to share their knowledge in this area. Bibliometric data provided by the SciVal system may be helpful in this regard. It is necessary to conduct research taking into account both domestic and foreign universities.