Biomechanics of martial arts: the analysis of the scientific resources of Scopus

Abstract

Background and purpose. The aim of this study is to assess the development of scientific production and to define the thematic scope of research in martial arts biomechanics. The research process focuses on the following research questions: how has research productivity developed in the field of martial arts biomechanics research, who are the main participants (countries, authors) in the accumulation of research product in the field, what are the leading thematic areas that attract the most academic attention.
 Material and Methods. In the process of selecting the research sample, the Scopus database was used as a source of bibliometric data. The research sample consisted of publications containing the phrases 'biomechanics martial arts in their titles or keywords. A general profiling of publications was carried out to assess trends in scientific production and recognition of leading contributors in the field of research. MS Excel software was used to support the analysis process and visualise the results.
 Results. The study shows that martial arts biomechanics is a field of research with a relatively short history. The first reports date back to the 1990s. The greatest interest in this subject is among authors from the United States, which is the undisputed leader here just ahead of Brazil and Poland. Most scientific articles of this type appear mainly in the medical and health sciences.
 Conclusions. It can be seen from the review that the number of articles on martial arts biomechanics is increasing, but fluctuating. This may be due to access to specialised apparatus, without which a precise analysis of the kinetics of human movement and thus of martial arts athletes is not possible. An analysis of the literature on the subject shows that in the collection analysed, kinetic description is not one of the issues represented too often. It has been noted that in the Scopus database on 1991 to 2020, more than 3900 articles on martial arts can be found, with only 187 concerning the biomechanics of martial arts, which constitutes 5 percentage of the entire collection.