Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May 25:14:1141159.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1141159. eCollection 2023.

Talent identification research: a bibliometric study from multidisciplinary and global perspectives

Fabio Andres Parra-Martinez  1 , Jonathan Wai  1   2
Affiliations

Talent identification research: a bibliometric study from multidisciplinary and global perspectives

Fabio Andres Parra-Martinez et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

This paper describes the general status, trends, and evolution of research on talent identification across multiple fields globally over the last 80 years. Using Scopus and Web of Science databases, we explored patterns of productivity, collaboration, and knowledge structures in talent identification (TI) research. Bibliometric analysis of 2,502 documents revealed talent identification research is concentrated in the fields of management, business, and leadership (~37%), sports and sports science (~20%), and education, psychology, and STEM (~23%). Whereas research in management and sports science has occurred independently, research in psychology and education has created a bridge for the pollination of ideas across fields. Thematic evolution analysis indicates that TI has well developed motor and basic research themes focused on assessment, cognitive abilities, fitness, and youth characteristics. Motor themes in management and sports science bring attention to talent management beyond TI. Emerging research focuses on equity and diversity as well as innovation in identification and technology-based selection methods. Our paper contributes to the development of the body of TI research by (a) highlighting the role of TI across multiple disciplines, (b) determining the most impactful sources and authors in TI research, and (c) tracing the evolution of TI research which identifies gaps and future opportunities for exploring and developing TI research and its broader implications for other areas of research and society.

Keywords: bibliometrics; gifted education; management and business; multidisciplinary research; sports; talent identification.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
PRISMA flow diagram of the literature search strategy. PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses. Research studies about talent identification.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Total production and citation growth of TI research between 1943 and 2022.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Bibliometric co-citation network for the Top 50 journals publishing TI research. Red = management cluster; Green = sports sciences. Journal abbreviations are in VOSviewer default style and size of text indicates relative prominence in the network.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Cross-country collaboration network. Node size reflects total number of publications. Links between nodes represent frequency of collaboration.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Co-citation patterns for most relevant articles in TI research. Author names are represented in the format last name and first and/or second initial. For example, collings dg 2009–1 indicates publication number 1 in the WOS and Scopus database led by David G. Collings published in 2009. Size of text and node represents relative level of prominence in the network.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Collaboration network among researchers in Scopus and WOS. The strength (thickness) of a link indicates the frequency of collaboration between two authors. The size of a node and corresponding text size is relative to the number of collaborations.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Thematic map of author’s keywords.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Evolution in TI research themes. Sankey plot presents the frequency of words used during each periods, while streams indicate the pattern of citation for emerging keywords.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Thematic evolution from 1943 to 2000.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Thematic evolution from 2001 to 2010.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Thematic evolution from 2011 to 2020.
Figure 12
Figure 12
Thematic evolution from 2021 to 2022.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abbott A. (2006). A multidimensional and dynamic approach to talent identification in sport PQDT – UK & Ireland; Available at: https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/multidimensional-dynamic-a....
    1. Abbott A., Collins D. (2004). Eliminating the dichotomy between theory and practice in talent identification and development: considering the role of psychology. J. Sports Sci. 22, 395–408. doi: 10.1080/02640410410001675324, PMID: - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abeuova D., Muratbekova-Touron M. (2019). Global talent management: shaping the careers of internationally educated talents in developing markets. Thunderbird Int. Bus. Rev. 61, 843–856. doi: 10.1002/tie.22085 - DOI
    1. Abreu J. L. R. (2021). As tarefas do treinador adjunto no escalão de infantis, num contexto de elite. estudos: sistema de observação de identificação de talentos & caracterização de um torneio de futebol de formação. [The tasks of the assistant coach in the children’s class, in an elite context. Studies: talent identification observation system & characterization of a youth soccer tournament]. [Masters Thesis, Politecnico de Santarem]. Available at: https://repositorio.ipsantarem.pt/handle/10400.15/3531
    1. Ackerman P. L. (2014). Nonsense, common sense, and science of expert performance: talent and individual differences. Intelligence 45, 6–17. doi: 10.1016/j.intell.2013.04.009 - DOI

LinkOut - more resources