Abstract

Social life cycle assessment is considered a useful method where the social impact of a product or service is assessed. Not only environmental and economic, but also social impact and sustainability are mentioned more and more often. Therefore, the increasing popularity of the social life cycle encourages the study of the existing situation in the scientific literature. Not only environmental and economic, but also social impact and sustainability are mentioned more and more often. Therefore, the increasing popularity of the social life cycle encourages the study of the existing situation in the scientific literature. The aim of this research is to conduct a bibliometric analysis to assess the status and trends, conduct a literature review and advantage and disadvantages analysis and to define criteria for choosing the appropriate social life cycle method. The method used is bibliometric analysis to assess quantitatively and literature analysis to assess qualitative methods. Social life cycle analysis popularity is increasing, and main increase in number of publications was in 2020-2021. In the literature review and advantage and disadvantages analysis were analysed the United Nations Environment Programme guidelines and the Social Hotspots Database and Product Social Impact Life Cycle Assessment databases and as main advantages was a wide range of indicators, but the biggest disadvantage is that the databases require a program and licenses. Quantitative and qualitative assessment of social life cycle is the result, and criteria that help to choose the most suitable method are one of the results. Social impact assessment is gaining popularity as importance of considering all three dimensions of sustainability - environmental, economic, and social.