Bibliometric analysis reveals a flattened hill-shaped trendline in sports medicine clinical publications, highlighting a recent decline in clinical research activity.
Key Points
Analyze publication trendlines of clinical research articles published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise between 2009–10 and 2023–24.
Reviewed clinical articles published in the journal across a 15-year span with two independent reviewers (interrater reliability coefficient of 90%).
Evaluated yearly article counts using five regression models to identify the highest R² fit, followed by linear regression modeling for ascending and descending phases.
A total of 631 clinical research articles were identified (mean = 42.07 articles per year).
Overall publication trajectory followed a quadratic polynomial model (Y = -25.55 + 5.67X - 0.35X², R² = 0.47, F(2, 12) = 5.37, p = 0.02), forming a flattened hill shape.
Yearly publications increased by 2.69 articles per year from 2009–10 to 2016–17 (R² = 0.69, p = 0.01) and decreased by 2.63 articles per year from 2016–17 to 2023–24 (R² = 0.44, p = 0.07).