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Communication and Sport
H-index 13

Communication and Sport

2167-4795

Published by: SAGE

https://journals.sagepub.com/home/com

Ranking & Metrics

Discipline name Position Best Scientists Publications D-Index
Social Sciences and Humanities 569 8 33 9

Additional Metrics

Number of Best Scientists*: 16
Documents by Best Scientists*: 42
Top 100 Ranked Scientists*: 1
SCIMAGO H-index: 35
SCIMAGO SJR: 1.418
Impact Factor: 2.8

Overview

Top Research Topics at Communication and sport?

The foci of the journal are Media studies, Advertising, Social psychology, Public relations and Social media. While Media studies is the focus of the journal, it also provided insights into the studies of Nationalism, Politics and Framing (social sciences). The journal holds forums on Advertising that merges themes from other disciplines such as Football and Fandom.

Football research discussed connects with the study of Gender studies. The journal features Gender studies research that overlaps with concepts in Content analysis. The journal explores research in Social psychology and the adjacent study of Perception.

The Public relations works featured in it incorporate elements from Digital media, Context (language use) and Sport communication.

  • Media studies (25.49%)
  • Advertising (20.17%)
  • Social psychology (16.25%)

What are the most cited papers published in the journal?

  • Women Play Sport, But Not on TV A Longitudinal Study of Televised News Media (188 citations)
  • “It’s Dude Time!”: A Quarter Century of Excluding Women’s Sports in Televised News and Highlight Shows (163 citations)
  • Exploring Elite Female Athletes’ Interpretations of Sport Media Images: A Window Into the Construction of Social Identity and “Selling Sex” in Women’s Sports (106 citations)

Research areas of the most cited articles at Communication and sport:

The main points discussed in the most cited publications deal with Social media, Public relations, Advertising, Social psychology and Sport communication. While the journal publications focused on Public relations, they were also able to explore topics like Digital media, Rhetoric and Newspaper. The most cited papers explore issues in Advertising which can be linked to other research areas like Commodification, Online community and Framing effect.

What topics the last edition of the journal is best known for?

  • Law
  • Social science
  • Social psychology

The previous edition focused in particular on these issues:

Communication and sport focuses on Media studies, Social psychology, Gender studies, Social media and Football. Issues in Media studies were discussed, taking into consideration concepts from other disciplines like Quality (business) and Politics. The studies on Gender studies discussed can also contribute to research in the domains of Identity (social science) and Turkish.

Social media research featured in the journal incorporates concerns from various other topics such as Memorialization, Advertising, Public relations and Fandom. Some problems in Advertising that were presented in Communication and sport overlapped with concepts under Mode (computer interface), Second screen and Race (biology). Public relations research in Communication and sport involves the investigation of Legitimacy studies, all of which are linked to disciplines such as Content analysis.

The most cited articles from the last journal are:

  • The Footy Girls of Tumblr: How Women Found Their Niche in the Online Football Fandom: (6 citations)
  • Repurposing the (Super)Crip: Media Representations of Disability at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games: (6 citations)
  • The Football Dream of a Sleeping Dragon: Media Framing(s), East–West Geopolitics, and the Crisis of the Chinese Men’s National Team: (6 citations)

Papers citation over time

A key indicator for each journal is its effectiveness in reaching other researchers with the papers published at that venue.

The chart below presents the interquartile range (first quartile 25%, median 50% and third quartile 75%) of the number of citations of articles over time.

The top authors publishing in Communication and sport (based on the number of publications) are:

  • Andrew C. Billings (20 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition, 5 less than at the previous edition,
  • Gregory A. Cranmer (14 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
  • Kenon A. Brown (11 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
  • Jimmy Sanderson (9 papers) published 1 paper at the last edition the same number as at the previous edition,
  • Ann Pegoraro (8 papers) published 4 papers at the last edition, 2 more than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top authors publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top authors.

Only papers with recognized affiliations are considered

The top affiliations publishing in Communication and sport (based on the number of publications) are:

  • University of Alabama (32 papers) published 6 papers at the last edition, 2 less than at the previous edition,
  • Clemson University (23 papers) published 3 papers at the last edition, 2 less than at the previous edition,
  • Indiana University (13 papers) published 4 papers at the last edition,
  • University of Texas at Austin (12 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition, 3 less than at the previous edition,
  • Arizona State University (10 papers) published 2 papers at the last edition, 1 less than at the previous edition.

The overall trend for top affiliations publishing in this journal is outlined below. The chart shows the number of publications at each edition of the journal for top affiliations.

Publication chance based on affiliation

The publication chance index shows the ratio of articles published by the best research institutions in the journal edition to all articles published within that journal. The best research institutions were selected based on the largest number of articles published during all editions of the journal.

The chart below presents the percentage ratio of articles from top institutions (based on their ranking of total papers).Top affiliations were grouped by their rank into the following tiers: top 1-10, top 11-20, top 21-50, and top 51+. Only articles with a recognized affiliation are considered.

During the most recent 2021 edition, 1.49% of publications had an unrecognized affiliation. Out of the publications with recognized affiliations, 31.82% were posted by at least one author from the top 10 institutions publishing in the journal. Another 10.61% included authors affiliated with research institutions from the top 11-20 affiliations. Institutions from the 21-50 range included 22.73% of all publications and 34.85% were from other institutions.

Returning Authors Index

A very common phenomenon observed among researchers publishing scientific articles is the intentional selection of journals they have already attended in the past. In particular, it is worth analyzing the case when the authors participate in the same journal from year to year.

The Returning Authors Index presented below illustrates the ratio of authors who participated in both a given as well as the previous edition of the journal in relation to all participants in a given year.

Returning Institution Index

The graph below shows the Returning Institution Index, illustrating the ratio of institutions that participated in both a given and the previous edition of the conference in relation to all affiliations present in a given year.

The experience to innovation index

Our experience to innovation index was created to show a cross-section of the experience level of authors publishing in a journal. The index includes the authors publishing at the last edition of a journal, grouped by total number of publications throughout their academic career (P) and the total number of citations of these publications ever received (C).

The group intervals were selected empirically to best show the diversity of the authors' experiences, their labels were selected as a convenience, not as judgment. The authors were divided into the following groups:

  • Novice - P < 5 or C < 25 (the number of publications less than 5 or the number of citations less than 25),
  • Competent - P < 10 or C < 100 (the number of publications less than 10 or the number of citations less than 100),
  • Experienced - P < 25 or C < 625 (the number of publications less than 25 or the number of citations less than 625),
  • Master - P < 50 or C < 2500 (the number of publications less than 50 or the number of citations less than 2500),
  • Star - P ≥ 50 and C ≥ 2500 (both the number of publications greater than 50 and the number of citations greater than 2500).

The chart below illustrates experience levels of first authors in cases of publications with multiple authors.

Career Opportunities in Communication and Sports

Investing knowledge and effort into any research field should ideally open up a rich array of career opportunities. This holds true also for the domain of communication and sports. Participants in this field may refer to career prospects ranging from being a sport journalist, advertising specialist or even a licensed professional counselor who utilizes sports as a medium of therapy.

A career as a sport journalist could entail covering national and international sports events and providing expert comments and analysis. When one aligns advertising with sports, it can lead to a career as a sports brand manager or sports advertising specialist. On the other hand, combining elements of social psychology and sports communications can prepare one for a role as a sports counselor.

For those interested in combining aspects of psychology and sports for their career path, becoming a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) could be a very fulfilling choice. In this case, individuals often work with sportsmen and sportswomen to improve their performance by helping them overcome psychological obstacles. If you are based in Wisconsin and are interested in this line of profession, read our guide on How to become an LPC in Wisconsin.

Overall, the field of communication and sports offers diverse career paths, offering opportunities that converge passion for sports with deep inter-personal skills and understanding.

Top Publications

  • One and Done: The Long Eclipse of Women’s Televised Sports, 1989–2019:

    Cheryl Cooky;Maria A. Mears;Michael A. Messner

    (2021)
    97 Citations
  • “We All Go Through It”: Media Depictions of Mental Illness Disclosures From Star Athletes DeMar DeRozan and Kevin Love:

    Scott Parrott;Andrew C. Billings;Nicholas Buzzelli;Nathan Towery

    (2021)
    45 Citations
  • Twitter-Based BIRGing: Big Data Analysis of English National Team Fans During the 2018 FIFA World Cup:

    Minghui Fan;Andrew Billings;Xiangyu Zhu;Panfeng Yu

    (2020)
    43 Citations
  • Separating Perceptions of Kaepernick From Perceptions of His Protest: An Analysis of Athlete Activism, Endorsed Brand, and Media Effects:

    Bumsoo Park;Sanghyun Park;Andrew C. Billings

    (2020)
    35 Citations
  • Let’s Watch Live Streaming: How Streamer Credibility Influences Brand Attitude in Esports Streamer Marketing

    (2022)
    33 Citations
  • Sports Journalism Content When No Sports Occur: Framing Athletics Amidst the COVID-19 International Pandemic

    Sean R. Sadri;Nicholas R. Buzzelli;Patrick Gentile;Andrew C. Billings

    (2021)
    24 Citations
  • Media Framing of Women’s Football During the COVID-19 Pandemic

    (2021)
    20 Citations
  • “Willpower knows no obstacles”: Examining Neoliberal Postfeminist Messaging in Nike’s Transnational Advertisements for Women

    (2022)
    11 Citations
  • Five Rings, Five Screens? A Global Examination of Social TV Influence on Social Presence and Social Identification During the 2018 Winter Olympic Games:

    Natalie Brown-Devlin;Michael B. Devlin;Andrew C. Billings;Kenon A. Brown

    (2020)
    11 Citations
  • The Tweet Heard Round the World: Daryl Morey, the NBA, China, and Attribution of Responsibility:

    Sitong Guo;Andrew C. Billings;Kenon A. Brown;John Vincent

    (2020)
    9 Citations

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Investing in these related online programs can expand career pathways and ensure practical skills apply to real-world social and psychological challenges.

Best Scientists Contributing to This Journal

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