Emre Gürkan KURT, Aynur OTAĞ
Sağlık Hizmetleri Araştırma Dergisi - 2026;4(1):42-52
Muscle strength determines performance, movement quality, and musculoskeletal injuries in athletes at all levels. This study presents the first comprehensive bibliometric analysis of global research trends, influential authors, institutional contributions, collaborations, and thematic development in muscle strength and sports injuries from 1980 to 2023. We retrieved 739 scientific articles from the Scopus database using standard keyword combinations related to muscle strength and sports injuries. We filtered articles by language, document type, and publication year. We analyzed the data using VOSviewer with Biblioshiny (R -bibliometrix). Analyses included descriptive indicators, author productivity, sources, institutional and country -level outputs, keywords, thematic mapping, and collaborations. The annual number of scientific publications increased significantly after 2010. The USA is considered the most productive and collaborative country. Nosaka K. emerged as the most prolific author, while Hewett et al. (1999) was the most cited article with 1,191 citations, emphasizing the long -term importance of neuromuscular training in injury prevention. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research ranked first in the number of publications. Norwegian School of Sport Sciences is the leading institution. Keyword analyses shifted from early focus areas such as muscle damage and creatine kinase to topics like neuromuscular control, training load, rehabilitation, and decision -making for return to sport. To our knowledge, this study presents one of the first comprehensive bibliometric mappings in the last forty years that specifically focuses on the intersection of muscle strength and sports injury research. This bibliometric mapping can provide an evidence -based overview of the field, identifying major contributors, research priorities, and emerging themes. These findings provide a robust scientific basis for future research in sports medicine, physiotherapy, and performance sciences, guiding the development of targeted, strength -based injury prevention and rehabilitation strategies.
