Global Research Output on Sleep Research in Athletes from 1966 to 2019: A Bibliometric Analysis

This study examined sleep research in athletes published between 1966 and 2019, through a bibliometric analysis of research output in the Scopus database. Following a robust assessment of titles, the bibliometric indicators of productivity for studies included in the final analysis were: Distributio...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Michele Lastella, Aamir Raoof Memon, Grace E. Vincent
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-03-01
Series:Clocks & Sleep
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2624-5175/2/2/10
Description
Summary:This study examined sleep research in athletes published between 1966 and 2019, through a bibliometric analysis of research output in the Scopus database. Following a robust assessment of titles, the bibliometric indicators of productivity for studies included in the final analysis were: Distribution of publications and citations (excluding self-citations), top ten active journals, countries, institutions and authors, single- and multi-country collaboration, and 25 top-cited papers. Out of the 1015 papers, 313 were included in the final analysis. The majority of the papers were research articles (<i>n</i> = 259; 82.8%) and published in English (<i>n</i> = 295; 94.3%). From 2011, there was a dramatic increase in papers published (<i>n</i> = 257; 82.1%) and citations (<i>n</i> = 3538; 91.0%). The number of collaborations increased after 2001, with papers published through international (<i>n</i> = 81; 25.9%) and national (<i>n</i> = 192; 61.3%) collaboration. Australia was the most prolific country in terms of number of publications (<i>n</i> = 97; 31.0%), and citations (<i>n</i> = 1529; 15.8%). In conclusion, after the beginning of the twenty-first century, the scientific production on sleep research in athletes has seen significant growth in publication and citation output. Future research should focus on interventions to improve sleep in athletes.
ISSN:2624-5175