Study of the themes and contents of the doctoral theses carried out in Spain on Sports Biomechanics

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to know and assess the evolution of the themes and contents of the doctoral theses that have been read in Spain on Sports Biomechanics during the period between 1980 and 2019. The sample is made up of 233 theses after a selection process with the use of inclusion / exclusion criteria and specific search terms. The results show that there is a progressive growth in the production of doctoral theses over time with progressive increases, especially in the third and fourth periods. The thematic fields with the highest number of theses read are Support Biomechanics and Applied Biomechanics. The Basic Biomechanics field is a residual field with 3 theses read over time. In Support Biomechanics, the most represented subfield with constant growth is the Medical Area with 73 theses read, representing 68.2% of the total thematic field. In Applied Biomechanics, the subfields with the most theses read are the Analysis of Sports Technique and Analysis of Movement with 35 and 32 theses read, with no constant growth observed over time. The Biomechanics-Technologies field is the third with 10.7% of the theses read. The term most used in the thesis titles is "walking", which becomes a cross-cutting theme that has been approached from different scientific perspectives.