Bibliometric Analysis of Scientific Publication Trends on the Application of Physical Literacy in Physical Education

Abstract

Study purpose. The problem raised is the lack of a comprehensive and quantitative overview of global trends, collaboration patterns, and the intellectual structure of this field, as most previous studies have been qualitative or single case studies

Materials and methods. This study used a bibliometric approach to analyze 312 documents from the Scopus database published between 1981 and 2025 related to the application of physical literacy in physical education. Data collection was conducted systematically using Boolean keywords and PRISMA guidelines to identify evolutionary patterns and emerging research trends in the field. The collected data were then exported to CSV format for statistical metric analysis, while VOSviewer software was used specifically to generate network, overlay, and density visualizations to map citation and publication trends.

Results. Document analysis reveals a dramatic increase in publications on the application of physical literacy in physical education, predominantly from the United States, while highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of this topic, which remains open for future researchers to explore. Furthermore, trends in titles and abstracts confirm that the current literature has successfully bridged clinical health theory with the practical implementation of physical literacy to improve students' skills, activity, and well-being in school settings.

Conclusions. Overall, this bibliometric study successfully charts the evolution of physical literacy applications in physical education as a rapidly growing multidisciplinary field, characterized by increasing publication trends and an emphasis on technology integration. These quantitative findings provide empirical guidance for practitioners to continuously update their teaching methods, while also encouraging researchers to explore under-researched topics and conduct systematic literature reviews in the future.