Review of Research Trends in Publications from Korean Journal of Sport Biomechanics using Topic Modeling Analysis

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Objective: Biomechanics is a research field focused on human movement, with broad applications in sports science and physical health. This study aims to synthesize previous publications in the field using a text-mining approach to identify key research trends.
Method: Dirichlet Multinomial Regression topic modeling was applied to 1,233 research papers published in the Korean Journal of Sport Biomechanics between 1994 and 2024. To enhance the model's accuracy, we excluded the top three most frequent terms and trained the model over 2,000 iterations. Publication year data was also used to analyze temporal trends across topics.
Results: Topic modeling identified 15 key research topics in biomechanics, covering both experimental and review studies across various sports and health-related fields. The analysis revealed growth in research on 'Functional Movement' and 'Clinical Biomechanics', while 'Sports Biomechanics' showed a decline. Other topics displayed mixed trends, with some maintaining steady interest over time.
Conclusion: This study provides a comprehensive overview of historical research trends in biomechanics within Korea. By identifying key topics such as motion, movement, and sports, it offers valuable insights into the evolution of the field and suggests future research directions.