MAPPING RESEARCH ON STUDENTS’ LEARNING INTEREST IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

Abstract

Research on students’ learning interest in physical education has expanded across diverse topics, highlighting the need to map its structure and development. This study aims to map publication trends, research contributions, thematic relationships, and emerging directions in research on students’ learning interest in physical education. A bibliometric analysis was conducted on 66 Scopus-indexed articles selected through a screening process based on predefined eligibility criteria. The data were analyzed using Bibliometrix in RStudio and VOSviewer to examine publication trends, author contributions, publication sources, affiliations, countries, citations, and keyword structures and developments. The results show that annual publication output peaked in 2024. Keyword mapping revealed connections among physical education, students, teaching, and learning interest, which were linked to themes such as motivation, adolescent, and attitudes. The temporal analysis indicated more recent attention to learning interest and individual interest. These findings suggest that research on learning interest in physical education extends beyond instructional contexts to include students’ psychological aspects and individual characteristics. Future research could further investigate the relationships among learning interest, motivation, student characteristics, and learning experiences and environments in physical education.