SCHOLARLY FRAGMENTATION IN WOMEN’S SPORT LEADERSHIP RESEARCH: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS (1989-2025)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55197/qjssh.v7i2.1131Keywords:
gender equity, sport governance, science mapping, geographic concentration, thematic fragmentationAbstract
Women remain significantly underrepresented in sport leadership positions globally. Previous narrative reviews identified the dominance of Western perspectives, but no study has empirically mapped the intellectual structure and geographic distribution of this research domain. This study employed bibliometric methods to quantify publication trends and geographic concentration, map intellectual structure through bibliographic coupling and keyword co-occurrence analyses, and diagnose patterns of scholarly fragmentation. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, 180 Scopus-indexed articles published between 1989 and 2025 were analysed using VOSviewer. The analysis revealed significant geographic concentration: four countries (United States, Australia, Canada, United Kingdom) produced 75.5% of publications. Keyword co-occurrence identified four thematic clusters with limited integration. Bibliographic coupling confirmed Burton multilevel review as the intellectual anchor. Notable gaps include minimal Southeast Asian representation, methodological concentration in qualitative approaches, and limited empirical testing of psychological mechanisms. This analysis provides the first bibliometric diagnosis of scholarly fragmentation in women's sport leadership research. A research agenda prioritising cross-regional collaboration, methodological diversification, and integration of governance and psychological perspectives is proposed.
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