Past, present and future of sport policy: a bibliometric analysis of International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics (2010–2022)

ABSTRACT Understanding a discipline’s literature is essential to advance in that area. However, there has yet to be a study that summarises the current research on sport policy. Without a study of the topic, particularly one as extensive as the current one, where over 450 papers were evaluated, it is difficult for newcomers to the field and seasoned experts to have a firm grasp of all there is to know about it. Given this context, the current research is necessary and valuable because it is the first to provide insight into the effectiveness and intellectual framework of the sport policy literature selected by the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics (IJSPP). This study used bibliometric techniques and indicators to analyse IJSPP publications from 2010 to 2022. The research data was collected from Scopus and analysed with bibliometrix and VOSviewer software. We found that the various components of the production (countries, institutions, and authors) in IJSPP work well in collaboration and over 82% of the research results from teamwork. The co-occurrence analysis of keywords comprises nine clusters, the co-citation analysis comprises four, and sport policy was the most significant cluster. Looking at niche topics in the future, sports diplomacy, social justice, elite sport policy, sport for development, and youth sport are just a few of the niche themes that have the potential to come up. This study will be helpful as a roadmap for researchers in different fields who are interested in such studies, as well as for editorial board members and those who work in sport policy and politics.