Journal of Physical Education and Sports Management

Influential Research Articles Involving Physical Education: A Bibliometric Analysis
James D. Wyant, Adam Keath, Emi Tsuda, Jun-Hyung Baek

Abstract
Physical education’s knowledge base and the research of it has seen growth over the past 30 years. With growth in research outputs, there is an incentive to dissect the knowledge base in systematic ways to gain a broader, more complete understanding. The general aim of this study was to conduct a bibliometric analysis of research studies that involved physical education. The primary bi-product of this analysis is a top 100 list of influential research articles that involved physical education which have accumulated the most citations. Analysis of the top list revealed influential articles, most active authors, prominent topics of inquiry, and common methodological approaches. A primary result was a prominence of cross-disciplinary research on the top 100 list representing over 80% of the articles. Topics such as physical activity, obesity prevention, and motivationwere well represented on the top 100 list. Physical education is an academic subject that crosses disciplinary lines. Motor learning, exercise physiology, public health, and pedagogy are just some of the fields that intersect within the physical education setting. The top 100 list is populated with research articles that have important insights into best practices, theoretical constructs, and proven methods to help advance the field forward.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jpesm.v8n1a1