Citation Rate of Highly-Cited Papers in 100 Kinesiology-Related Journals

This study extended previous research on several citation-based bibliometric variables for highly cited articles in a large (N = 100) number of journals related to Kinesiology. Total citations and citation rate of the 30 most highly cited articles in each journal were identified by searchers of Google Scholar (GS). Other major biblometric variables for these journals were obtained from three databases: Thomson-Reuters’ Journal Citation Reports, SCImago Journal and Country Rank, and Eigenfactor.org. Two variables (SCImago Journal Rank and the Impact Factor) were aligned with journal impact, and two variables (Eigenfactor? and Hirsh index) were aligned with journal prestige. There was great variation in median citation rates of highly cited articles across these journals indexed in GS. Correlations confirmed the different impact and prestige structure in these Kinesiology journals, which has also been previously observed in Kinesiology and other academic fields. There is a need for scholar ratings of Kinesiology journals because of the disparate citation rates in different sub-disciplines and the multi-factorial nature of journal influence, as well as to improve the recognition of Kinesiology as a distinct field of study.