The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has supported developing and publishing consensus statements on various sports medicine topics through its medical and scientific commission. The reach and impact of the IOC statements in peer-reviewed publications have not been evaluated... until now.
Background
Research evidence is commonly compiled into expert-agreed consensus statements or guidelines, with an increasing trend towards their publication in peer-reviewed journals. Prominent among these has been the publication of several International Olympic Committee (IOC) tatements to help inform sport and exercise medicine (SEM) practice. This study aimed to assess the citation impact and reach of the IOC statements published between 2003 and 2020.
Methods
This bibliometric analysis focused on identifying core publications (original statement and linked publications) and quantifying their academic citations (number and Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI)) in journal articles up to February 2022. The analysis includes descriptive data on the country of IOC statement authorship affiliations, where they were published and by whom. The extent to which the IOC statements have been cited in the peer-reviewed literature is presented, together with information about the country of authorship of the citing papers as a measure of international academic reach.
Results
Between 2003 and 2020, 29 IOC statements were published, comprising 61 core publications. The IOC statements have had 9535 citations from 7863 citing publications. Individual FWCI ranged from 1.2 to 24.3 for core publications. This shows that publishing the IOC statements as peer-reviewed open-access publications increased citation numbers among academic audiences.
However, a limited group of authors within well-resourced academic circles exist. The IOC statements were coauthored by multiple authors, mostly affiliated with countries with well-resourced SEM Authors of citing publications reflected the same geographical regions (i.e., the USA, Canada, Australia, UK and western Europe.) There was a noticeable lack of IOC statement authors and citing authors from large parts of the world, including Asia, Africa (excluding South Africa), the Middle East and Oceania.
Conclusions
Disseminating the IOC statements as open-access papers in peer-reviewed journals has resulted in a strong citation impact. However, this impact is centred on well-resourced academic circles that may not represent the diversity of SEM. Also, consideration should be given to how a broader representation of authors can be included in the authorship and wider promotion of key findings. Further research is required to identify if, and to what extent, the IOC statements have impacted SEM practice worldwide.
The full paper can be found here (Open Access)
Fortington LV, Handcock RN, Derman W, et al. Citation impact and reach of the IOC sport and exercise medicine consensus statements. BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine2023;9:e001460. doi:10.1136/ bmjsem-2022-001460