Page 65 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

60 4. Life cycle sustainability assessment: An ongoing journey

Frequency of publication in the field
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Journal of Cleaner Production International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Sustainability Journal of Industrial Ecology Environmental Science & Technology Applied Energy Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy Resources Conservation and Recycling Sustainable Production and Consumption Procedia CIRP Business Strategy and the Environment Energy Procedia Energy Science of the Total E

FIG. 4.2 Papers published in the field by journal.

of the year. The mounting attention dedicated to the topic by the research community is tes-
tified by the remarkable number of journals proposing related papers. This element is also
marked by the distribution of the publications among them (Fig. 4.2).
A total of 109 different journals and conference proceedings have so far accomplished the
publication of at least one paper on LCSA. Considering the overall publication frequency, the
first seven journals, in terms of frequency of publications, have taken care of the publication of
about 50% of the total body of papers available.
As presented in the following chart (Fig. 4.3), the Journal of Cleaner Production and Inter-
national Journal of Life Cycle Assessment developed the main research conversation, with
15% and 14% of the papers published in the field, respectively. While the former has actively
contributed in the last years in particular, e.g., with three of nine overall publications in 2019,
the latter seems to have moved forward in the research conversation and its contribution was
mainly exploited in 2013 (10 papers). The following years have been characterized by an al-
most constant, yet limited, number of papers.
The present chapter aims to accompany the reader in the ongoing journey towards a com-
prehensive and standardized Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment. As a starting point, a brief
excursus on the rudimentary experiences published in the field will be offered, together with
the progressive refinement of LCSA framework definition, to proceed, then, with an overview
of the standardization pathway. With the growing pool of applications and the increasing
consistency of literature, a concise anthology of case studies has been collected. As a final
note, an overlook of prompts for future development is shared with the reader, offering a per-
spective over opportunities and space for valuable contribution to the field of research.