---
title: "MSCI ESG / KLD: research papers using this data"
description: "From Nov 2023 to Oct 2026, 119 archived papers mentioned MSCI ESG / KLD in their title, abstract or keywords (the search of earlier months' full texts is still under way), most of them in Jan 2025 (7)."
url: https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/msci-esg-kld
markdown_url: https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/msci-esg-kld.md
license: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)
share_text: "From Nov 2023 to Oct 2026, 119 archived papers mentioned MSCI ESG / KLD in their title, abstract or keywords (the search of earlier months' full texts is still under way), most of them in Jan 2025 (7). (as of 2026-11-05)"
data_url: https://scholar4ai.com/data/rankings.json
updated: 2026-11-05T06:02:37+09:00
window: 2026-10-07 to 2026-11-05
source: OpenAlex (CC0)
---

# MSCI ESG / KLD

[Browse dataset profiles](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/directory/page/4.md)

Environmental, social and governance scores, controversies and carbon data of companies.

- data category: ESG and sustainability ratings
- 0 papers in the last 7 days
- Names searched for: MSCI ESG, MSCI KLD, KLD STATS, KLD Research, KLD database, KLD ratings

Most-used data: https://scholar4ai.com/rankings/datasets.md · All ESG and sustainability ratings datasets: https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/esg-and-sustainability-ratings.md



## Key findings

- From Nov 2023 to Oct 2026, 119 archived papers mentioned MSCI ESG / KLD in their title, abstract or keywords (the search of earlier months' full texts is still under way), most of them in Jan 2025 (7).
- No paper of the tracked journals mentioned MSCI ESG / KLD in the last 30 days (2026-10-07 to 2026-11-05).
- From 2017 to 2026 (so far), MSCI ESG / KLD was mentioned in 125 papers in the tracked journals, most of them in finance (69), management (26) and accounting (16).
- 41 of them were published in 2025, against 0 in 2017.
- Since 2023, the institutions with the most of these papers were Durham University (6), Bocconi University (4) and Technical University of Munich (4).
- The journals publishing most of them were Journal of Business Ethics (10), International Review of Financial Analysis (10) and Research in International Business and Finance (9).
- The most-cited of them is “Do high-ability managers choose ESG projects that create shareholder value? Evidence from employee opinions” (Review of Accounting Studies, 2022), with 196 citations.
- Papers use MSCI ESG / KLD most often with Compustat (46), Refinitiv ESG (ASSET4) (36) and S&P 500 (31); it has 57 partners in the code and data network, in the group around S&P 500, Economic Policy…, Compustat.

## Mentions over 36 months

*Papers mentioning it by publication month, Nov 2023 to Oct 2026 (titles, abstracts and keywords; the full texts of earlier months are still being searched)*

| Trend | Nov 23–Oct 24 | Nov 24–Oct 25 | Nov 25–Oct 26 | 36 months |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|
|  | 42 | 42 | 35 | 119 |

## Papers per year

*Papers per publication year and category*

| Category | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 (so far) |
|---|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|---:|
| [Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/finance.md) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 27 | 22 | 14 |
| [Management](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/management.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| [Accounting](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/accounting.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | 4 |
| [Economics](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/economics.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| [Operations Research](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/operations-research.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| [Tourism and Hospitality](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/tourism-and-hospitality.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| [AI](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/ai.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| [Information Systems](https://scholar4ai.com/categories/information-systems.md) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| All categories | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 42 | 41 | 28 |

## Where the papers come from

*Journals with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Journal | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [Journal of Business Ethics](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-business-ethics.md) | 10 |
| 2 | [International Review of Financial Analysis](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/international-review-of-financial-analysis.md) | 10 |
| 3 | [Research in International Business and Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/research-in-international-business-and-finance.md) | 9 |
| 4 | [International Review of Economics & Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/international-review-of-economics-finance.md) | 7 |
| 5 | [Review of Accounting Studies](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/review-of-accounting-studies.md) | 7 |
| 6 | [Journal of Banking & Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-banking-finance.md) | 5 |
| 7 | [Journal of Asset Management](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-asset-management.md) | 5 |
| 8 | [Borsa Istanbul Review](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/borsa-istanbul-review.md) | 5 |
| 9 | [Journal of Business Research](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-business-research.md) | 4 |
| 10 | [Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/review-of-quantitative-finance-and-accounting.md) | 4 |

*Institutions with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Institution | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [Durham University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/durham-university.md) | 6 |
| 2 | [Bocconi University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/bocconi-university.md) | 4 |
| 3 | [Technical University of Munich](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/technical-university-of-munich.md) | 4 |
| 4 | [University of Leeds](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/university-of-leeds.md) | 4 |
| 5 | University of Ljubljana | 4 |
| 6 | Aston University | 3 |
| 7 | [Hong Kong Baptist University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/hong-kong-baptist-university.md) | 3 |
| 8 | [Hong Kong Polytechnic University](https://scholar4ai.com/institutions/hong-kong-polytechnic-university.md) | 3 |
| 9 | ICMA Centre | 3 |
| 10 | Massey University | 3 |

*Countries with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Country | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | United Kingdom | 41 |
| 2 | Italy | 17 |
| 3 | United States | 17 |
| 4 | China | 14 |
| 5 | Germany | 14 |
| 6 | Australia | 9 |
| 7 | Hong Kong | 8 |
| 8 | France | 7 |
| 9 | Spain | 6 |
| 10 | New Zealand | 6 |

*Keywords with the most papers, since 2023*

| # | Keyword | Papers |
|---:|---|---:|
| 1 | [ESG ratings](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/esg-ratings.md) | 23 |
| 2 | [corporate social responsibility](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/corporate-social-responsibility.md) | 20 |
| 3 | [corporate governance](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/corporate-governance.md) | 16 |
| 4 | [ESG performance](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/esg-performance.md) | 12 |
| 5 | [environmental performance](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/environmental-performance.md) | 11 |
| 6 | ESG investing | 9 |
| 7 | [corporate sustainability](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/corporate-sustainability.md) | 8 |
| 8 | ESG | 7 |
| 9 | [stock returns](https://scholar4ai.com/keywords/stock-returns.md) | 7 |
| 10 | MSCI ESG ratings | 6 |

## Most-cited papers

*Most-cited papers since 2017*

| # | Citations | Per month | Title | Journal | Published | Authors |
|---:|---:|---:|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 196 | 3.8 | [Do high-ability managers choose ESG projects that create shareholder value? Evidence from employee opinions](https://doi.org/10.1007/s11142-022-09701-4) | [Review of Accounting Studies](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/review-of-accounting-studies.md) | 2022-07-02 | Kyle Welch, Aaron S. Yoon |
| 2 | 119 | 3.2 | [ESG and crowdfunding platforms](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2023.106362) | [Journal of Business Venturing](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-business-venturing.md) | 2023-10-06 | Douglas J. Cumming, Michele Meoli, Alice Rossi et al. |
| 3 | 103 | 3.1 | [ESG-driven innovation strategy and firm performance](https://doi.org/10.1007/s40821-024-00254-x) | [Eurasian economic review :](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/eurasian-economic-review.md) | 2024-02-12 | Goretti Cabaleiro, Pedro Mendi |
| 4 | 67 | 1.5 | [Understanding resource deployment efficiency for ESG and financial performance: A DEA approach](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ribaf.2023.101941) | [Research in International Business and Finance](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/research-in-international-business-and-finance.md) | 2023-03-30 | Louis T. W. Cheng, Shu-Kam Lee, Sung Ko Li et al. |
| 5 | 63 | 1.8 | [Consumer engagement through corporate social responsibility communication on social media: Evidence from Facebook and Instagram Bank Accounts](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114433) | [Journal of Business Research](https://scholar4ai.com/journals/journal-of-business-research.md) | 2023-12-18 | Luca Simone Macca, Jacopo Ballerini, Gabriele Santoro et al. |

## Used together with

Papers use MSCI ESG / KLD most often with Compustat (46), Refinitiv ESG (ASSET4) (36) and S&P 500 (31); it has 57 partners in the code and data network, in the group around S&P 500, Economic Policy…, Compustat.

*What papers use MSCI ESG / KLD together with (at least 3 papers; lift 1 = chance)*

| Used with | Type | Papers using both | Lift |
|---|---|---:|---:|
| [Compustat](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/compustat.md) | Dataset | 46 | 27.9 |
| [Refinitiv ESG (ASSET4)](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/refinitiv-esg-asset4.md) | Dataset | 36 | 68.2 |
| [S&P 500](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/s-p-500.md) | Dataset | 31 | 5.2 |
| [CRSP](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/crsp.md) | Dataset | 27 | 24.3 |
| [Sustainalytics](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/sustainalytics.md) | Dataset | 22 | 101.4 |
| [Refinitiv Eikon / LSEG Workspace](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/refinitiv-eikon-lseg-workspace.md) | Dataset | 17 | 17.2 |
| [Marketization index (Fan Gang)](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/marketization-index-fan-gang.md) | Dataset | 16 | 9.1 |
| [MSCI indices](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/msci-indices.md) | Dataset | 15 | 31.7 |
| [I/B/E/S](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/i-b-e-s.md) | Dataset | 14 | 21.3 |
| [Morningstar](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/morningstar.md) | Dataset | 14 | 37.5 |
| [RepRisk](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/reprisk.md) | Dataset | 14 | 119.1 |
| [10-K filings](https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/10-k-filings.md) | Dataset | 13 | 17.6 |

The whole network: https://scholar4ai.com/code/network.md

## Cite this page

Scholar4AI. (2026). MSCI ESG / KLD. Journal and Conference Research Rankings. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/msci-esg-kld

```bibtex
@misc{scholar4ai-datasets-msci-esg-kld,
  author = {{Scholar4AI}},
  title = {MSCI ESG / KLD},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {\url{https://scholar4ai.com/datasets/msci-esg-kld}},
  urldate = {2026-11-05},
  note = {Journal and Conference Research Rankings; data from OpenAlex (CC0); licensed CC BY-NC 4.0}
}
```

License: CC BY-NC 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).