Use of Sports as a Label in Google Scholar Profiles

Author profiles in academic social media and database services are important research search, access, and promotion tools. This study documented the use and relevance of sports as research interest areas using the “label” function in Google Scholar Profiles. Profiles and citation metrics for the top twenty Google Scholar Citations Profiles were extracted for 22 sports and four sport terms. Citations to the top twenty profiles for each term were classified as relevant to that sport research interest label if there were at least four publications on that sport. The number of profiles using any of the 22 sport terms varied widely (CV = 122%), ranging from 22 for fencing to 549 for football/soccer. The mean (SD) relevant profiles across sports were 40 (17) percent and less variable (CV = 43%) than the citation metrics. There were moderate to strong associations in five of the six pairwise correlations. Several results indicate that use of specific sports as research areas with the label function to search Google Scholar Profiles should be interpreted cautiously. Many profiles using a sport as a label may not be related to the majority of highly cited publications on that sport. The number of profiles and citations to profiles related to sport keywords support previous research reporting large variation in citations using common kinesiology subdisciplines and research terms as labels for searches of Google Scholar Citations.