The growing trend of scientific interest in sports science research

There is a firm perception that the international scientific community is focusing more than ever on basic and applied research in sports science. Recognizing its inherent limitations (see Eston, 2005), the impact factor is still a valuable tool for evaluating scientific journals, and it is increasingly used also to assess trends in basic and clinical research worldwide (Garfield, 1999). After retrieving data of journals included in the “Sports Sciences” subject category of the ISI database from the year 2003 through 2006 (Thomson Scientific, 2007), it is noteworthy that the aggregate and median 2006 impact factors of these journals have increased by 20% and 32% respectively from those of 2003, and by 5% and 15% respectively from those of 2005 (see Table I).

Table I. Trends in impact factor for journals included in the “Sports Sciences” subject category of the ISI database, 2003 – 2006.

Year	Journals (n)	Articles (n)	Total cites	Median impact factor	Aggregate impact factor	Aggregate cited half-life
2003	71	4934	102 040	0.835	1.371	8.2
2004	71	5067	110 966	0.861	1.373	8.2
2005	70	5243	124 262	0.955	1.559	8.1
2006	73	5536	135 671	1.099	1.640	8.1

Although the aggregate and median impact factors of sports sciences journals still remain equal to or lower than those of other frequently accessed scientific categories, the rise over the past 4 years has been extraordinary, a trend that reflects a growing interest in this area and it is unlikely to be reversed in the years to come. The crucial question is why growing attention is being paid to sports science. The more critical contemporary issues for scientists do not appear to be the breadth of knowledge, but rather how to search for it much more efficiently with search engines and knowledge databases (McCrory, 2007). However, the ability of sport and exercise medicine specialists to interface with innovative informatics tools has improved substantially over recent years, contributing to expand their medical knowledge. This has helped to make sport and exercise medicine specialists more skilled in devising and performing research with a better understanding of increasingly complex scientific processes. Recent advances in technology have also changed the perception, prevention, and management of sports injuries, and it is expected that an innovative approach will soon become widely available, enhancing the potential of basic and applied research in this field. Also, there is a mounting awareness that much of what happens in the sports arena can be transferred to other areas of clinical medicine. This is an essential process to better understand and prevent serious pathologies such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, to improve health, fitness and even rehabilitation from chronic disorders.

The message is clear and unequivocal: physical inactivity is a risk factor for a variety of serious disorders and its prevalence is an important public health issue. Sport is increasingly integrated in the daily lifestyle – a favourable trend in the data from 1990 to 2004 in the United States, based on the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, indicates that over time fewer men and women are reporting no leisure-time physical activity (Haskell et al., 2007). Accordingly, the new guidelines issued by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and American Heart Association (AHA) emphasize that physical activity above the recommended minimum amount provides additional health benefits and results in higher physical fitness (Haskell et al., 2007). Also, the number of older athletes is increasing, in line with ageing populations across the developed world, with calls for clinical and sociological research in this under-explored area. On this perspective, the definition of sports science as “the study and application of scientific principles and techniques with the aim of improving sporting performance” should be reassessed to a new, previously unexpected and quasi-privileged level, where sports and exercise medicine specialists could play a reaffirmed and crucial public health role. This would also create the ground for basic research articles, strong translational research contents, clinical studies and interactions or links to other biomedical topics, including oncology, cardiovascular medicine, endocrinology, and molecular biology, which are indeed promising topics for future research. Recent advances in proteomics and their application towards interpreting the physiological adaptations to exercise in humans provide an emerging area of research (Hittel, Hathout, & Hoffman, 2007). The growing trend of scientific interest in sports science journals clearly attests that sports science is facing a new paradigm shift, moving towards a new system based on a real scientific background, solid professional competences, and expanded horizons.

The impressive trend in the developing interest in sports science journals is mirrored in the development of the Journal of Sports Sciences' impact factor, as seen in Figure 1. With the increasing awareness of the important role that physical activity plays in the prevention of serious age-related chronic health disorders (with its attendant public health burden), the Journal of Sports Sciences has recently created a new “Physical Activity for Health” Section with Professor Colin Boreham as the Section Editor. It is clear from the trends described above that the creation of this new Section is extremely timely. Authors who are interested in disseminating their work in this rapidly developing area are encouraged to submit their research to be considered for publication.

Figure 1. The impact factor of the Journal of Sports Sciences, 2002 – 2006.