Terminological recommendations for improving the visibility of scientific literature on martial arts and combat sports

Abstract

Background and Study Aim: Martial Arts and Combat Sports (MA&CS) terminology is diverse and heterogeneous, limiting the research visibility and information retrieval. This study points out the different terms related to MA&CS names included in the scientific literature. From this basis, a set of recommendations are offered for improving publication visibility.

Material/Methods: Web of Science (WOS) databases SCI-EXPANDED, SSCI, A&HCI for the period 2000-2009 were used for generating the data. A list of 278 searching terms was compiled, each of them enter individually in WOS databases. Results were collected in a reference management software and filtered manually. Statistical analysis was focused on precision, noise factor, recall and snobbery ratio indexes.

Results: 53.2% searching terms showed no result, 14.0% obtained some result but not related to MA&CS, and 32.7% showed results related to MA&CS. Specific terminology is quite standardized, although there are some MA&CS showing different names. Generally, a preferred and most common term is used by authors. Precision values vary between 1 and 0.02 (noise factor values vary inversely) while recall values vary between 1 and 0.04 (snobbery ratio values vary inversely).

Conclusions: MA&CS terminology used in scientific literature is quite varied and can cause diverse problems and slow down researcher’s bibliographic data collection. Romanization, popularization of some terms, names given to MA&CS by different organizations and terms syllable separation are the main problems for the lack of standardized terms in this area of knowledge. A group of seven recommendations are provided for enhancing the visibility of MA&CS researches.