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Topic · Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation

Physical Education and Pedagogy

Physical Education and Pedagogy is a research topic within Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the benefits, practices, and challenges of physical education in schools, emphasizing topics such as sport education, teaching games for understanding, lifelong participation, pedagogical practices, teacher development, socialization theory, health promotion, gender dynamics, and youth engagement.

  • Physical Education
  • Sport Education
  • Teaching Games for Understanding
  • Lifelong Participation
  • Pedagogical Practice
  • Teacher Development
  • Socialization Theory
  • Health Promotion
  • Gender Dynamics
  • Youth Engagement
Research works
19k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+28%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
20% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Physical Education and Pedagogy

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead Physical Education and Pedagogy research?

By volume, the United States and Indonesia publish the most (607 and 402 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 607 works
  2. 2 Indonesia 402 works
  3. 3 Brazil 376 works
  4. 4 Spain 365 works
  5. 5 China 343 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom 245 works
  7. 7 Türkiye 204 works
  8. 8 Philippines 187 works
  9. 9 Australia 178 works
  10. 10 India 143 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 19.9%Indonesia: 13.2%Brazil: 12.3%Spain: 12.0%6 others listed: 42.6%20%largest
United States607 · 19.9%Indonesia402 · 13.2%Brazil376 · 12.3%Spain365 · 12.0%6 others listed1,300 · 42.6%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Physical Education and Pedagogy research?

By volume in 2022-now, Yogyakarta State University publishes the most Physical Education and Pedagogy research, followed by Indonesia University of Education and State University of Padang.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Yogyakarta State UniversityIndonesia 49 works
  2. 2 Indonesia University of EducationIndonesia 41 works
  3. 3 State University of PadangIndonesia 28 works
  4. 4 Universidad de ExtremaduraSpain 26 works
  5. 5 Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP)Brazil 21 works
  6. 6 University of Castilla-La ManchaSpain 20 works
  7. 7 Adamson UniversityPhilippines 20 works
  8. 8 Universidade do PortoPortugal 19 works
  9. 9 Universidad de MurciaSpain 19 works
  10. 10 State University of MakassarIndonesia 19 works

Who are the leading researchers in Physical Education and Pedagogy?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Physical Education and Pedagogy include James F. Sallis, Ester Cerin and Diego Augusto Santos Silva.

  1. 1 James F. Sallis United States 169k citations
  2. 2 Ester Cerin China 154k citations
  3. 3 Diego Augusto Santos Silva Brazil 152k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Physical Education and Pedagogy?

The most cited paper in Physical Education and Pedagogy is "Developing rigor in qualitative research: problems and opportunities within sport and exercise psychology" (Brett M. Smith, Kerry R. McGannon, 2017), with 3,082 citations. Next come "Reducing obesity via a school-based interdisciplinary intervention among youth: Planet Health." (1,311) and "Research methods in physical activity" (1,258).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Developing rigor in qualitative research: problems and opportunities within sport and exercise psychology Brett M. Smith, Kerry R. McGannon · International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology Open access 14 May 2017 3,082
2 Reducing obesity via a school-based interdisciplinary intervention among youth: Planet Health. Steven L. Gortmaker, Karen E. Peterson, Jean L. Wiecha et al. · PubMed Apr 1999 1,311
3 Research methods in physical activity Ron Maughan · Journal of Sports Sciences 11 Apr 2016 1,258
4 Understanding participation in sport and physical activity among children and adults: a review of qualitative studies Steven E. Allender, Gill Cowburn, Charlie E Foster · Health Education Research 20 Jul 2006 1,235
5 Generalizability in qualitative research: misunderstandings, opportunities and recommendations for the sport and exercise sciences Brett M. Smith · Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health Open access 23 Oct 2017 1,194
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Physical Education and Pedagogy research done?

The largest centres of Physical Education and Pedagogy research in 2022-now are São Paulo (Brazil), Yogyakarta (Indonesia), Bandung (Indonesia) and Manila (Philippines). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Badajoz and Albacete.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 São PauloBrazil 70 works
  2. 2 YogyakartaIndonesia 53 works
  3. 3 BandungIndonesia 51 works
  4. 4 ManilaPhilippines 42 works
  5. 5 Kuala LumpurMalaysia 40 works
  6. 6 BeijingChina 39 works
  7. 7 MadridSpain 38 works
  8. 8 ValenciaSpain 33 works
  9. 9 ShanghaiChina 33 works
  10. 10 MelbourneAustralia 33 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. BadajozES · 26.0 works24×
  2. AlbaceteES · 20.2 works16×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Physical Education and Pedagogy than the world average.

See Physical Education and Pedagogy on the map

Where is the best place to study Physical Education and Pedagogy?

Among universities, judged by research, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Loughborough University and Deakin University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 27.29%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →The University of Qu…Norwegian School of …Deakin UniversityLoughborough Univers…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Norwegian School of Sport SciencesNorway 82.234.7%207.3×17 +115.7%
2Loughborough UniversityUnited Kingdom 76.528.5%17.6×18 +60.2%
3Deakin UniversityAustralia 74.634.0%8.4×16 +33.5%
4The University of QueenslandAustralia 66.636.3%3.5×14 +40.2%
5Leeds Beckett UniversityUnited Kingdom 64.226.4%46.7×16 +0.2%
6University of LimerickIreland 63.330.8%18.4×16 -22.5%
7University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignUnited States 56.929.7%3.9×14 +2.2%
8Yogyakarta State UniversityIndonesia 55.24.6%19.7×49 +70.2%
9University of Inland NorwayNorway 55.219.5%43.0×10 +93.3%
10Brock UniversityCanada 54.428.4%16.9×8 +4.7%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Physical Education and Pedagogy, country by country

Is Physical Education and Pedagogy research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 28% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Physical Education and Pedagogy.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Physical Education and Pedagogy as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.021% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%0.030%Physical Education and Pedagogy0.024% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Physical Education and Pedagogy over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Physical Education and Pedagogy10.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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