Advances, trends, and hotspots in sport for sustainable development: A bibliometric analysis using CiteSpace and VOSviewer

The contribution of sports in promoting sustainable development has been widely recognized by the international community. Sustainable development has become the core concept of sports development. In order to systematically review the evolution trend, hot spots, and future research directions of sports promotion sustainable development, this article adopts a bibliometrics method and is based on the Web of Science database. CiteSpace (version 6.2.R3) software and VOSviewer (version 1.6.20) software were applied to perform a visual analysis of 565 relevant articles published between 2003 and 2024. Those obtained results show that the research of sports promoting sustainable development is growing in stages, and an interdisciplinary research system has been initially formed. The current research focuses on institutions of higher learning. The UK and the University of California System are the most influential countries and institutions in this field; China has the largest number of publications, but the international cooperation is relatively weak; Sustainability is the journal with the largest number of publications in this field. Keyword analysis shows that sports events, sports tourism, health promotion, social inclusion and equality, green sports, environmental awareness, physical education, and sustainable development are current research hotspots. Interdisciplinary research from the perspective of globalization, adaptation, and action of sport in the context of world turbulence and climate change, long cycle and longitudinal research, digital sport, and evaluation of progress of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be the future research directions. This study provides an important reference for academics and practitioners in the sports industry and aims to enhance the awareness of the potential of sport to promote sustainable development and promote the realization of SDGs.