Holistic Analysis of Recreation and Leisure Science in Sports

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyse scientific publications between 1980-2020 and to make a holistic analysis on recreation and leisure science in sports. Using the data obtained within the scope of the study, information graphics and explanatory bibliometric networks that reveal bibliometric networks were created. According to the results obtained from the study, the most used keywords were found to be “recreation”, “leisure” and “sport/s”. Citation analysis reveals that Lee, Powell and Iwasaki are the most cited authors. There are a total of 475 journals in the data. Leisure Sciences, Journal of Leisure Research and Annals of Leisure Research, are the most cited journals. Griffith University (Australia), University of Illinois (USA) and University of Sydney (Australia) were the leading publishers. It can be stated that the concepts used in leisure and recreation studies focus on physical activity, that the majority of the tourism sector is aimed at the long-term area, that it focuses on theses and government policies to increase participation in physical activity, and that it contains arguments for the development of social theories and practical applications.