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Art is long, life is short: An SDG Classification System for DESA Publications

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  • Marcelo T. LaFleur

Abstract

Between the many resolutions, speeches, reports and other documents that are produced each year, the United Nations is awash in text. It is an ongoing challenge to create a coherent and useful picture of this corpus. In particular, there is an interest in measuring how the work of the United Nations system aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). There is a need for a scalable, objective, and consistent way to measure how similar any given publication is to each of the 17 SDGs. This paper explains a proof-of-concept process for building such a system using machine learning algorithms. By creating a model of the 17 SDGs it is possible to measure how similar the contents of individual publications are to each of the goals — their SDG Score. This paper also shows how this system can be used in practice by computing the SDG Scores for a limited selection of DESA publications and providing some analytics.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcelo T. LaFleur, 2019. "Art is long, life is short: An SDG Classification System for DESA Publications," Working Papers 159, United Nations, Department of Economics and Social Affairs.
    • Handle: RePEc:une:wpaper:159
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    File URL: http://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2019/wp159_2019.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Heikkilä, Jussi, 2020. "Classifying Economics for the Common Good: Connecting Sustainable Development Goals to JEL Codes," MPRA Paper 99559, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Gabriela Olmos Antillón & Håkan Tunón & Daiana de Oliveira & Michael Jones & Anna Wallenbeck & Janice Swanson & Harry Blokhuis & Linda Keeling, 2021. "Animal Welfare and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals—Broadening Students’ Perspectives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-16, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    SDG; publications; classification; topic models; machine learning; LDA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O0 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - General
    • O20 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Development Planning and Policy - - - General
    • C88 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Other Computer Software

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