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Abstract
In this paper, we carry out a bibliometric study of sports economics research indexed in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) database from 1956 to 2009. Quantitative evidence provided by some standard bibliometric indicators supports the idea that sports economics can be considered as a successful and fast-growing area. The statistical analysis of publications' counts allows us to identify the authors, journals, and countries that have contributed in a decisive way to the progress of sports economics research. Furthermore, most recent authorship and citation concentration trends also reveal an advanced process of consolidation of this research field. In addition to journals specializing in sports-which, mainly in recent years, have become significant channels for publishing sports economics research-articles published in general journals maintain a significant relative weight within the total output. This reveals that the interest of research on sports economics goes beyond this specific field.
Keywords: bibliometrics, sports economics, published research
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Introduction
The sports industry has grown and become the focus of substantial research by professional economists. As a result, sports economics is becoming widely recognized as a sub-discipline of economics with an active research agenda. Behind the relatively recent research boom, there is the fact that sports, and particularly professional team sports, are especially suitable for economic analysis (Downward & Dawson, 2000), providing unusual opportunities for both theoretical and empirical research (Fizel et al., 1999). Indeed, sports economics encompasses a wide range of specific research topics,1 and economics can provide powerful new insights into many important issues faced by the sports business (Humphreys & Howard, 2008). The relationship between economics and sports has worked in both directions: Research on sports economics contributes to a better understanding of economics through the data generated by sports and sports through the tools of economics.
The main purpose of this paper is to contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of sports economics as a distinct research field within the broader discipline of economics. In particular, we attempt to capture its current situation and the recent developments that sports economics has actively pursued and reinforced. We consider this to be a relevant issue, mainly for two reasons. First, there is not enough previously detailed research that specifically focuses on the rapidly growing...