A Review of Triathlon Research: A Scientometrics Perspective

Abstract

The popularity of triathlon is increasing in China. There is no scientometrical study of the development trend and evolution of triathlon research, despite the significant contribution of triathlon studies to the growth of sports science research. We performed a comprehensive scientometric analysis of 892 research publications between 1996 and 2021, with 12,285 references from 252 journals within the Social Science Citation Index related to sports science. Numerous countries, researchers, universities, and institutes with abundant triathlon studies publications were identified. In addition, we found a mixed multitude of connected research trends that have shaped the nature and development of triathlon research worldwide. Specifically, a document co-citation analysis identified several major research clusters, key topics, connections, and bursts (sudden citation surges)a. For example, the foci of clusters #0 through #5 were found to be perceptual learning, regressive eye movement (s), attributive adjective (s), stereotypical gender, discourse processing, and bilingual adult (s). As an in-depth study, the content of all the key clusters was extensively analyzed and synthesized. Finally, we examined how the observed patterns led to new trends by grounding the results in a data-driven theory of scientific revolution. The current study presents implications for future research as the first scientometric assessment of triathlon studies in sport sciences.