Analyzing the Global Trends and Publication Patterns in Sports Education Technology: A Bibliometric Review

Abstract

The use of technology in sport has significantly changed the way players are supported in their learning to perform at their best. A bibliometric analysis was performed to examine global publication trends and patterns connected to the use of technology in sports. All articles from the Scopus database from 1999–2023, totaling 135 articles related to this theme, were taken and then analysed using the help of mapping engineering analysis software, namely VOSviewer. The research findings show that there have been fluctuations in the number of publications, but 2017 marked the beginning of the trend for publications to increase by double digits. Of the 135 documents, the document types "article" and conference paper" were the largest among the other types, with 69 and 58 documents, respectively. The well-known journal "Teoriya I Propertia Fizicheskoy Kultury," which originates from Russia, is the scientific source that has published the most articles with eight documents. Other findings revealed that the "Computer Science" area, with 55 documents, was the one most studied by scholars to carry out their research. China is the country with the highest number of publications, namely 67 documents, and one of its universities, namely Jiujiang University, is the top affiliate with three published documents. The use of the keywords "physical education" (21 occurrences), "sports education" (11 occurrences), and "multimedia technology" (5 occurrences) is the most popular compared to other phrases for this topic. This bibliometric analysis provides a comprehensive overview of the use of technology in sports education and can be used as a guide in developing athletes to obtain optimal performance.