Sport and exercise psychology research and Olympic success: An analytical and correlational investigation

Abstract

The aim of the current inquiry was to identify the national origin of scholars who lead the work in the area of Sport and Exercise Psychology, and to examine whether their research output is connected to the Olympic success of their national athletes. Consequently, the two specialised journals with the highest impact factors in this field were examined for the origin of publications throughout 11 years for authors' national affiliations. Subsequently, the link between national research output and Olympic medals was examined. The results revealed that over 50% of the publications originate from Canada, the UK and the USA. National research output in Sport and Exercise Psychology was correlated with the number of Olympic medals; the proportion of shared variance was 42% and 57%, respectively, in the two journals. Nevertheless, it is posited that the observed link is primarily due to other factors that ought to be examined in future research.

Keywords:

• Authorship
• international
• Olympic medals
• publication
• scholastic work