{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T05:05:34Z","timestamp":1789707934064,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":48,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789689600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Res. Metr. Anal."],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study maps the intellectual, conceptual, and social structure of the research literature connecting environmental awareness to ecological behavior through a systematic bibliometric analysis. Bibliographic records were retrieved from Web of Science (WoS) Core Collection and Scopus using a comprehensive dual-database search strategy, yielding 934 unique publications after duplicate removal. A database complementarity analysis revealed that 222 records (23.8%) were exclusive to Scopus, with Scopus-only records exhibiting a lower mean citation count (20.3 vs. 40.5) and earlier mean publication year (2017 vs. 2019) compared to WoS records, confirming the necessity of dual-database indexing. All analyses were conducted in R using the bibliometrix package. Findings document a substantial acceleration in annual production, particularly after 2016, with a peak of 132 publications in 2025. Bradford's Law analysis identified 39 core journals (33.2% of publications), with a zone multiplier of 1:4.4:7.9\u2014deviating from the classical geometrical prediction\u2014consistent with a disciplinarily heterogeneous field. Lotka's Law analysis revealed that 88.94% of authors contributed only one publication, significantly exceeding the theoretical expectation of 65.47% (residual = +0.2347), signaling an active but structurally fragmented contributory base. Keyword sensitivity analysis confirmed that the thematic structure\u2014anchored on pro-environmental behavior, attitudes, environmental attitudes, environmental concern, and sustainability\u2014remained stable across minimum co-occurrence thresholds of \u22653, \u22655, and \u22657, demonstrating high robustness. Thematic evolution analysis revealed three distinct developmental phases: an early foundation stage (pre-2010) dominated by knowledge and attitude frameworks, a consolidation stage (2011\u20132020) centered on behavioral mechanisms, and an acceleration stage (2021\u20132026) integrating sustainability, digital, and cross-cultural dimensions. Together, these findings suggest the field may be growing and theoretically shifting from antecedent-focused to mechanism- and application-oriented inquiry, with citation and keyword patterns appearing consistent with structural consolidation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/frma.2026.1906919","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T04:34:05Z","timestamp":1789706045000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["From environmental awareness to ecological behavior: a bibliometric mapping of the literature"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Fikret","family":"Kayhalak","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Recreation, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Istanbul Gelisim University","place":["Istanbul, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Suat","family":"Karak\u00fc\u00e7\u00fck","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Sports Management, Faculty of Sports Sciences, Yozgat Bozok University","place":["Yozgat, T\u00fcrkiye"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1773","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gloenvcha.2013.07.029","article-title":"Social influence approaches to encourage resource conservation: a meta-analysis","volume":"23","author":"Abrahamse","year":"2013","journal-title":"Glob. 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