Exploring the structure of relative age effects research using citation network analysis

ABSTRACT

Since the 1980s, research on relative age effects (RAEs) consistently shows that relatively older individuals are advantaged in sport and other contexts. With the recent proliferation of studies on RAEs, periodic knowledge synthesis becomes imperative. Our purpose was to conduct a cross-disciplinary citation network analysis of RAEs literature to enhance our knowledge of RAEs citation structures and the interconnectivity of RAEs studies. We analysed 484 RAEs articles found in Web of Science that were published before 2022. Descriptive results revealed a 12.6% annual growth rate for total RAEs articles published since 1980. The articles appeared in 151 journals, had 1,180 unique authors, and averaged 23.9 citations received. Three theoretical/review papers had the most substantial influence on the field. For the conceptual structure of the field, it was apparent that RAEs research focused mainly on sport performance, maturity, and competition. Regarding intellectual structure, three distinct clusters of articles were cited together, and 13 authorship clusters were detected with few between-cluster connections. The results describe a field with productivity but little interconnectivity among authors and papers. We offer insights into this trend and the role that influential authors/articles have in the field.

KEYWORDS:

• Review
• knowledge synthesis
• birthdate
• interconnectivity
• sport
• education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Across most of the United States, the relatively youngest students in K-12 are born in June and July.

² We encourage readers to view the online version of this paper for colour-based figures. Where appropriate in the text we have clarified references to figures such that those viewing offline can still interpret the findings as intended.

³ h-index refers to the number of publications that have received the equivalent number of citations. For instance, an author with 5 publications receiving 5 citations has an h-index of 5.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.