What Kinesiology Research is Most Visible to the Academic World?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Multidisciplinary electronic databases are increasingly relied upon to compile evidence for original research and systematic reviews; however, little is known about how these services influence the visibility of kinesiology research. Citation metrics, index coverage, and subject categories of 100 kinesiology-related journals were examined using the 2020 Journal Citation Reports™ service of Clarivate Web of Science™ (WoS). Most of the journals were assigned subject categories emphasizing biomedical and multidisciplinary sciences, rather than humanities and behavioral/social sciences by WoS. WoS journal citation data were substantially skewed and there was incomplete indexing of articles in these journals, with journal issues typically unindexed for 5–11 years and more. There were substantial differences in median citation rates across the subdisciplines and subject categories of these journals. There is bias in the WoS coverage, indexing, subject categories, and citations to research published in kinesiology journals. Multiple databases should be carefully searched to ensure scholars find and utilize the breadth and depth of evidence and knowledge published in kinesiology journals.