A Scientometric Insight into 70 Years of Research in Performance-Enhancing Substances in Sports

Introduction: The use of performance-enhancing substances is extremely high among athletes. Besides compromising the spirit of fair sport competition, performance-enhancing substances also pose a serious threat to athletes’ health. The control of such substances requires a close dialogue between science, medicine, and legislation. Therefore, providing an updated review of the literature on performance-enhancers is paramount. Methods: The current study aims to identify the key publications and main thematic domains in the literature on performance-enhancing substances. To do so, a scientometric approach was used to analyze an amount of 4330 documents collected from Scopus. A document co-citation analysis was performed, and a network of co-cited documents was generated. Results: In the network, the most impactful document emerged to be authored by Ntoumanis et al. in 2014, who examined the psychosocial predictors of doping use in physical activity. Furthermore, seven major thematic clusters were identified. Overall, researchers focused on investigating specific substances, such as erythropoietin, growth hormone, and dietary supplements. Conclusions: In the literature, the discussion about adequate screening methods represented a strong and recurrent thematic interest. Additionally, the pivotal role of physicians and sports medicine practitioners in educating athletes was identified.