Trends in Sport Motivation Research: A Bibliometric Study on Scopus Database

Sports motivation is a basic instinct that guides and sustains human behavior. After the 1970s, psychologists interested in sports and exercise began investigating motivations for starting, participating in, and quitting sports. This study aims to examine the subject of sports motivation with a descriptive screening model. The screening model aims to reveal trends in the literature by analyzing the current situation in a certain period. Bibliometric analysis, a quantitative research method, was used. The findings show that academic studies in sports motivation have increased over time, with a significant increase, especially after 2019. Keyword network analysis revealed the multidisciplinary structure of the field and its various components. In addition, cross-country collaboration analyses show that academic partnerships have increased over time and that some countries have come to the forefront in this field. Reviews of cited publications revealed that the most cited studies include theoretical models, scale development, and large-scale empirical research. This study evaluated academic developments in sports motivation from a general perspective and determined the basic trends.