The ISO 26000 standard aims for organisations to contribute to sustainable development, promote ethical practices and increase social welfare by complying with legal regulations. In this study, 350 academic studies in the Scopus database were analysed using the keyword ‘ISO 26000’. Non-Negative Matrix Factorisation (NMF) algorithm was used in the analysis based on title, abstract and author keywords. NMF is an effective technique for revealing hidden themes and patterns in large data sets. It reduces the size of the data and separates it into more meaningful and interpretable components. In this study, in addition to the identification of hidden themes obtained by the NMF algorithm, bibliometric analysis methods were also used. Through these methods, the distribution of publications in the literature, collaboration networks and citation trends were evaluated in detail. As a result of the analysis, five main themes were identified in the literature and frequently used words under each theme were visualised. By calculating the weight scores of each of these themes, future research trends and areas of focus were predicted. The findings highlight the evolution of ISO 26000 research, collaboration dynamics, and citation patterns, offering valuable insights into the current state and future directions of this field.