A bibliometric sweep of 3,404 Web of Science records (1991–2024), narrowed to 368 qualifying publications, reveals that sports phytotherapy research has grown at an 11.83% compound annual rate, peaking in 2021. Keyword co-occurrence and bibliographic coupling via Bibliometrix and VOSviewer identify curcumin and resveratrol as the dominant phytochemicals, clustered tightly around exercise, inflammation, and oxidative stress. International collaboration sits at a modest 22.55%, led by the US, UK, and China across 199 source journals and 2,103 contributing authors.
This mapping exercise is methodologically competent but represents the cartography of a field rather than new causal evidence — it tells us where researchers have looked, not what definitively works. The curcumin-and-resveratrol dominance reflects publication gravity around commercially interesting polyphenols, potentially crowding out understudied botanicals like ashwagandha, Rhodiola rosea, or tart cherry. The 22.55% international collaboration rate is notably low for a global supplement market exceeding $50 billion, suggesting fragmented, often industry-adjacent research ecosystems. Critically, the gap between bibliometric output and clinical translation flagged by the authors themselves is the real story: high publication volume has not yielded standardized dosing protocols or regulatory-grade evidence. For practitioners, this analysis confirms curcumin and resveratrol as the most-researched options but offers no direct guidance on efficacy. The field's next decade needs fewer descriptive surveys and more well-powered randomized trials with standardized bioavailability controls.
