To explore the research hotspots and evolutionary trends in international intangible cultural heritage (ICH) related to sports, this study uses the Web of Science (WOS) Core Collection as its data source and employs VOSviewer to construct a keyword cooccurrence knowledge map for quantitative analysis. The results show: (1) Core topics remain stable. Terms such as “intangible cultural heritage”, “heritage”, and “protection” rank among the most frequent keywords, indicating that scholars continue to focus on defining the cultural essence of ICH and its mechanisms of continuity. (2) The research paradigm exhibits a clear trend of digital transformation. The emergence of technological terms such as “motion capture” and “video annotation” reveals a new direction in using digital technologies to document embodied tacit knowledge. (3) The industrialization pathway has become increasingly explicit. The high frequency of “tourism” confirms that the integration of culture and tourism has become a key approach to realizing the living transmission and value transformation of ICH. The findings suggest that international research on sports related ICH has transcended disciplinary boundaries and is forming a new interdisciplinary pattern characterized by “theoretical grounding, technological empowerment, and industrial driving”.
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Li, D., Zhong, Z., Zhou, R., Li, Y., Pan, L. (2025) Knowledge Mapping and Keyword Hotspot Analysis of International Research on Sports Intangible Cultural Heritage. Journal of Social Development and History, 1(5),68-74. https://doi.org/10.71052/jsdh/ZGUM734