Citations of sport management publications: the role of authorship demographics and prestige

Research question This study examines citations of publications in the three leading sport management journals (European Sport Management Quarterly [ESMQ]; Journal of Sport Management [JSM]; Sport Management Review [SMR]) and the order of publications within an issue. Drawing on resource dependence theory and prestige, the focus is on the role of authorship demographics (gender diversity, number of countries) and prestige (research impact).Research methods Data were collected for all publications in ESMQ, JSM, and SMR from 2006 to 2020 (n = 1,410). Citations and research impact (H-index) of co-authors were gathered from Google Scholar in January 2023.Results and Findings Log-linear regression results show a positive association between the number of countries per author-team and citations, while the share of women co-authors is only significant for JSM publications. The higher the average research impact of co-authors, the higher a publication’s number of citations and the earlier a publication appears in an issue.Implications The findings reveal the importance of authorship demographics and research impact, which might be considered an indicator of prestige and reputation for readers and individuals involved in editorial processes. Sport management scholars, editors, and publishers can learn about the (un)intended role of prestige and adjust their behavior accordingly.