A bibliometric analysis of the 100 most-cited articles on soccer injuries revealed that most studies were observational, focused on epidemiology and prevention, and primarily involved male elite players.
This bibliometric analysis highlights that the most influential research on soccer injuries predominantly consists of observational studies focused on epidemiology and prevention in male professional players, underscoring a need for more experimental trials and research on female athletes.
Bibliometric analysis is increasingly utilized to assess specific research fields and identify emerging areas of interest. While it is commonly employed in sports medicine research to assess injuries, few studies have concentrated on soccer. The aim of this study was to identify the top 100 most-cited publications related to soccer injuries and conduct a comprehensive bibliometric mapping analysis to understand research trends. The bibliographic search was performed on November 16, 2022, using the Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Database, and the 100 most-cited articles related to soccer injuries were identified and reviewed. TheBibliometrix R-package software ( https://www.bibliometrix.org/) was used for data analysis. The 100 most-cited articles were published between 1990 and 2017. The majority of articles were published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (32 articles) and the American Journal of Sports Medicine (31 articles). Most corresponding authors (26%) originated from Sweden. Approximately half of the articles were observational studies using level 2 evidence. The primary research topics included epidemiology (25 articles) and prevention (24 articles). Most articles focused on male (53%), adult (57%), and elite soccer players (51%), while the majority of articles about female players (76.9%) ranked in the top 50 cited articles. This study underscores the necessity for more comprehensive research on soccer injuries, with a particular focus on female players, to bridge existing knowledge gaps and enhance injury prevention strategies.
Chaabeni et al. (Sun,) conducted a other in Soccer injuries (n=100). A bibliometric analysis of the 100 most-cited articles on soccer injuries revealed that most studies were observational, focused on epidemiology and prevention, and primarily involved male elite players.