Category: Contributor’s corner
The Top 15 Rugby Researchers, Journals and Institutions in World
In February 2015, we posted an article “Research in Rugby growing exponentially-Rugby Research’s Top 15” https://rugbyscientists.com/2015/02/20/research-in-rugby-growing-exponentially-rugby-researchs-top-15/. Based on a Scopus search (scopus.com) at the time (February 2015), we illustrated the growth of rugby research and the top rugby researchers and rugby research institutions. Here is the 3-year update (April 2018).
The Search
Before we get into the results, these are the search terms we entered into Scopus. For those unfamiliar with Scopus, it’s a database of peer-reviewed published research. Like any search database, you in type in a search term and it retrieves all the relevant data.
Below are our search terms: –
“Rugby” (will include rugby union, rugby league, rugby, etc)
“Rugby Union” (only rugby union)
My research interest is the tackle in rugby, so I also searched for: –
“Rugby” AND “Tackle”
“Rugby Union” AND “Tackle”
Only research with the above terms in the title, abstract or keywords were retrieved. The search includes all subject areas.
We report the number of articles by year, the top 15 rugby researchers, the top 15 rugby publishing journals, and the top 15 rugby research institutions.
Articles by year for “Rugby”
5031 articles on “rugby” since 1847.
3150 (63%) articles produced in the last 10 years. Average of 315 articles a year. 1338 published since the 2015 post.
Top 15 “Rugby” Publishing Journals
Top 15 “Rugby” Researchers
Top 15 “Rugby” Research Institutions
Articles by year for “Rugby Union”
1157 “Rugby Union”articles.
864 (75%) over the last 10 years. That’s an average of 86 articles a year. 391 published articles since 2015.
Top 15 “Rugby Union” Publishing Journals
Top 15 “Rugby Union” Researchers
Top 15 “Rugby Union” Research Institutions
Articles by year for “Rugby” AND “Tackle”
262 articles on “Rugby” AND “Tackle”. 195 (74%) produced in the last 10 years.
Top 15 “Rugby” AND “Tackle” Publishing Journals
Top 15 “Rugby” AND “Tackle” Researchers
Top 15 “Rugby” AND “Tackle” Research Institutions
Articles by year for “Rugby Union” AND “Tackle”
Top 15 “Rugby Union” AND “Tackle” Publishing Journals
Top 15 “Rugby Union” AND “Tackle” Researchers
Top 15 “Rugby Union” AND “Tackle” Institutions
Let us know your thoughts, drop us a tweet or comment below.
Sharief Hendricks
Which team has the most optimistic fans in the competition? Superbru predictions Week 9
We were solidly outplayed by the average pundit last weekend: following the lead of Superbru neutrals would have got five out of six games right; we got just three.
To distract you from our poor performance we thought we’d look at an interesting question: which team has the most optimistic fans in the competition? The chart below shows the average overestimate made by each team’s fan base on Superbru. From the 8 rounds played so far, Reds fans have been the most optimistic, in the sense of making the biggest overestimates of how their team is going to fare, followed by three South African franchises. Interestingly fans of most New Zealand teams actually underestimate their team’s performances!
Here are the predictions for the weekend ahead:
Ian Durbach
Small sided games – experts vs. novices (by Prof. Luis Vaz)
This week, we have pleasure in publishing the presentation of Professor Luis Vaz on small-sided games (SSGs) in Rugby Union. For the full presentation (courtesy of Prof. Vaz) click this link: Luis Vaz et al Rugbyscientist Presentation
Professor Vaz is a Professor of Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro (UTAD), a researcher in Center in Sport Sciences, Health and Human Development (CIDESD) and a Rugby Performance Analyst for Portugal Rugby Federation (F.P.R.). You can email him on: lvaz@utad.pt
Rugby Science 