OOIR: Observatory of International Research

Papers

(The TQCC of Biology of Sport is 7. The table below lists those papers that are above that threshold based on CrossRef citation counts [max. 250 papers]. The publications cover those that have been published in the past four years, i.e., from 2021-04-01 to 2025-04-01.)

Article	Citations
Recreational 3 × 3 basketball elicits higher heart rate, enjoyment, and physical activity intensities but lower blood lactate and perceived exertion compared to HIIT in active young adults	315
Internal and external load during 8 v 8, 5 v 5 and 3 v 3 in Chinese elite youth male football players	43
Large-scale sporting events during the COVID-19 pandemic: insights from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar with an analysis of patterns of COVID-19 metrics	35
Mpox in sports: A comprehensive framework for anticipatory planning and risk mitigation in football based on lessons from COVID-19	32
A comparison in knee flexor and extensor strength following ACL reconstruction in international, male soccer players receiving patellar tendon or hamstrings grafts	31
Effect of 3 and 6 mg/kg of caffeine on fat oxidation during exercise in healthy active women	29
Fatigue score as a promising complementing training monitoring tool: a pilot study in elite rugby sevens players	28
Injury incidence and risk factors in youth soccer players: a systematic literature review. Part II: Intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors	28
Caffeine-carbohydrate mouth-rinsing counter-acts an observed negative effect of mouth-rinsing procedure during sprint-endurance training performance in fasted athletes: A pilot study	27
Ramadan intermittent fasting induced poorer training practices during the COVID-19 lockdown: A global cross-sectional study with 5529 athletes from 110 countries	25
Effects of light- vs. heavy-load squat training on velocity, strength, power, and total mechanical work in recreationally trained men and women	25
Tell me how much your opponent team runs and I will tell you how much you should run: A predictive model applied to Spanish high-level football	24
Laboratory-based determinants of simulated time trial performance in cyclists	22
Effects of recreational team sports on the metabolic health, body composition and physical fitness parameters of overweight and obese populations: A systematic review	21
Do small-sided games prepare players for the worst-case scenarios of match play in elite young soccer players?	21
Different pitch configurations constrain the external and internal loads of young professional soccer players during transition games	21
The influence of menstrual cycle phase on neuromuscular performance and subjective perception of effort in elite football players	20
Contextualized high-speed running and sprinting during English Premier League match-play with reference to possession, positional demands and opponent ranking	20
Female football players’ key physical qualities: playing-position specific comparison between national-team selected and non-selected players	19
Normative cardiorespiratory values in Italian first-division male soccer players: effects of age, playing position and season phase	19
Increased brain 1H-MRS glutamate and lactate signals following maximal aerobic capacity exercise in young healthy males: an exploratory study	19
Analysis of mental and physical fatigue over the course of a professional English Premier League season in outfield players	19
Fitness and fatness in children and adolescents: investigating their role in the association between physical activity and cardiometabolic health	18
A comparison of running and contact loads in U18 and U20 international rugby union competition	18
The effects of normobaric hypoxia on the leukocyte responses to resistance exercise	18

The comparison between foam rolling either combined with static or dynamic stretching on knee extensors’ function and structure	17
Predicting resting energy expenditure among athletes: a systematic review	17
Running demands and activity profile of men’s rugby sevens: a tournament scenario	17
Does the Paleo diet affect an athlete’s health and sport performance?	16
The influence of light and heavy training weeks on the cortisol and testosterone awakening responses of elite male judokas: is skeletal muscle damage a mediating factor?	15
Balancing the load: A narrative review with methodological implications of compensatory training strategies for non-starting soccer players	15
Do all matches require the same effort? Influence of contextual factors on physical demands during official female handball competitions	15
The importance of previous season performance on world-class 200- and 400-m individual medley swimming	15
Relative age effect across the talent identification process of youth female soccer players in the United States: Influence of birth year, position, biological maturation, and skill level	15
Analysing substitutions in recent World Cups and European Championships in male and female elite football – influence of new substitution rules	14
Biological maturation influences selection process in youth elite soccer players	14
A post-exercise infrared sauna session improves recovery of neuromuscular performance and muscle soreness after resistance exercise training	14
Machine learning application in soccer: a systematic review	13
Sex-specific response to whole-body vibration training: a randomized controlled trial	13
The selection advantages associated with advanced biological maturation vary according to playing position in national-level youth soccer	13
Perception and application of flywheel training by professional soccer practitioners	13
Testing variations between starters and substitute players in terms of total distance, high-speed running, and sprinting distance: a descriptive study on professional male soccer players	13
Caffeine supplementation improves physical performance without affecting fatigue level: a double-blind crossover study	13
A comprehensive assessment of caffeine’s effects on components of countermovement jump performance	13
Factors determining sports results in elite national volleyball teams between 2004 and 2016	12
The impact of EEG biofeedback training on the athletes’ motivation and bench press performance	12
Physical match performance of elite soccer players from the English Championship League and the English Premier League: The effects of opponent ranking and positional differences	12
A comparison of morning priming exercise using traditional-set and cluster-set configurations on afternoon explosive performance	12
Physical performance discriminating winning and losing in UEFA Champions League: a full-season study	12
Effects of carob rich-polyphenols on oxidative stress markers and physical performance in taekwondo athletes	12
Relationships between training dose and record power outputs in professional road cyclists: insights and threats to validity	11
Effect of goalkeepers’ offensive participation on team performance in the women Spanish La Liga: a multinomial logistic regression analysis	11
Relationship between aerobic fitness and metabolic power metrics in elite male soccer players	11
Substitute running outputs in elite youth male soccer players: less peak but greater relative running outputs	11
A novel multifactorial hamstring screening protocol: association with hamstring muscle injuries in professional football (soccer) – a prospective cohort study	11
Effects of squatting with elastic bands or conventional resistance - training equipment at different effort levels in post-exercise intraocular pressure of healthy men	11
Enhancing physical fitness using recreational soccer and basketball: A parallel-controlled 8-week study involving overweight and obese individuals, with consideration of sex-related interactions	11
Effects of 6 weeks in-season flywheel squat resistance training on strength, vertical jump, change of direction and sprint performance in professional female soccer players	11
An eight-weeks resistance training programme with elastic band increases some performance-related parameters in pubertal male volleyball players	11
Does beta-alanine supplementation enhance adaptations to resistance training? A randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind study	11
Does sodium bicarbonate based extra-cellular buffering support reduce high intensity exercise-induced fatigue and enhance short-term recovery assessed by selected blood biochemical indices?	11
The influence of match status on the conditional characteristics of tactical sprint actions in professional soccer players	11
Effects of linear versus curvilinear sprint training on multidirectional speed in young soccer players: a randomized parallel-group trial	11
Is there any relationship between match running, technical-tactical performance, and team success in professional soccer? A longitudinal study in the first and second divisions of LaLiga	11
Effectiveness of the Functional Movement Screen for assessment of injury risk occurrence in football players	10
Acute effects of foam rolling and dynamic stretching on angle-specific change of direction ability, flexibility and reactive strength in male basketball players	10
Monitoring training load in youth soccer players: effects of a six-week preparatory training program and the associations between external and internal loads	10
‘Setting the Benchmark’ Part 1: The Contextualised Physical Demands of Positional Roles in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022	10
Injury incidence and characteristics in adolescent female football players: A systematic review with meta-analysis of prospective studies	10
Quercetin supplementation promotes recovery after exercise-induced muscle damage: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials	9
Squat and countermovement jump performance across a range of loads: a comparison between Smith machine and free weight execution modes in elite sprinters	9
Analyzing soccer match sprint distances: A comparison of GPS-based absolute and relative thresholds	9
Establishing reference values for tensiomyography-derived parameters in soccer players: insights from a systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression	9
The positional demands of explosive actions in elite soccer: Comparison of English Premier League and French Ligue 1	9
Is moderate-intensity interval training more tolerable than high-intensity interval training in adults with obesity?	9

Influence of anthropometric, ball impact and landing location parameters on serve velocity in elite tennis competition	9
Movement patterns and player load: insights from professional padel	9
Effects of vitamin D3 supplementation on oxidative stress and antioxidant enzyme after strenuous endurance exercise in healthy young men: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial	9
Physiological responses after two different Crossfit workouts	9
Predictors of linear sprint performance in professional football players	9
Dose-response and time-lagged effect of daily training load on athlete well-being during an international rugby series	9
Comparison of NIRS exercise intensity thresholds with maximal lactate steady state, critical power and rowing performance	9
Effects of changing the head coach on soccer team’s performance: A systematic review	8
Genetic characteristics of competitive swimmers: a review	8
High fat diet improves metabolic flexibility during progressive exercise to exhaustion (VO 2 max testing) and during 5km running time trials	8
Global disease burden attributed to low physical activity in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019: Insights from the Global Burden of Disease 2019 Study	8
Effects of plyometric jump training on soccer player’s balance: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized-controlled trials	8
Validation of session ratings of perceived exertion for quantifying training load in karate kata sessions	8
Acute effects of different external compression with blood flow restriction on force-velocity profile during squat and bench press exercises	8
Effect of training load on sleep parameters and biochemical fatigue markers in elite swimmers	8
The effects of training type and area size variations on the physiological and session rating of perceived exertion responses during male judo matches	8
Playing position and match location affect the number of high-intensity efforts more than the quality of the opposition in elite football players	8
One hour of internal precooling with cold water/menthol enhances cycling performance in a heat/wet stress environment: A pilot study	8
Effects of contemporary cryo-compression on post-training performance in elite academy footballers	8
Limb-belt resisted sprint training improves physical fitness and ball-throw velocity in pubertal handball players	8
Recovery following the extra-time period of soccer: practitioner perspectives and applied practices	8
Effect of alterations in whole-body cryotherapy (WBC) exposure on post-match recovery markers in elite Premier League soccer players	7
Application of acute pre-exercise partial-body cryotherapy promotes jump performance, salivary-amylase and athlete readiness	7
A comparison of the physical demands generated by playing different opponents in basketball friendly matches	7
Physical activity shifts gut microbiota structure in aged subjects with overweight/obesity and metabolic syndrome	7
Speed and power-related gene polymorphisms associated with playing position in elite soccer players	7
Ten-minute warm-up in hot climate best assists thermal comfort, muscular power output, and fatigue, during soccer-specific repeated-sprint ability	7
Combined training is not superior to strength and aerobic training to mitigate cardiovascular risk in adult healthy men	7
Level of anxiety and results of psychomotor tests in young soccer players of different performance levels	7
Association between polymorphism rs6295 of HTR1A serotonin receptor gene and personality traits among athletes of combat sport	7
Sodium bicarbonate and beta-alanine supplementation: Is combining both better than either alone? A systematic review and meta-analysis	7
Hamstring muscle architecture and myotonometer measurements in elite professional football players with a prior strained hamstring	7
Effects of playing 1 vs 3 matches in a one-week period on physical performance in young soccer players	7
Biological maturity vs. relative age: Independent impact on physical performance in male and female youth handball players	7
Genetic profile of sports climbing athletes from three different ethnicities	7
Top-class women’s soccer performance: peak demands and distribution of the match activities relative to maximal intensities during official matches	7
Effectiveness of short vs. long-distance sprint training on sprinting and agility performance in young soccer players	7
A longitudinal analysis of technical-tactical and physical performance of the teams in the Spanish LaLiga Santander: An eight-season study	7