Research on mental fatigue in ball sports (2000-2025): A bibliometric analysis

Mental fatigue resulting from prolonged cognitive load and emotional stress, significantly affects athletes in high-intensity ball sports. It impairs attention, decision-making, and performance, potentially reducing career longevity. As "cognitive resilience" gains attention, understanding the advancements and future directions in this area becomes increasingly critical.

This bibliometric study analyzes 186 English-language articles from 2000 to November 2025, sourced from WoSCC and Scopus databases. Multidimensional visual analyses using CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and R-Bibliometrix mapped the knowledge structure and evolution of the field.

Mental fatigue research has grown rapidly, particularly since 2015, with the highest annual output recorded in 2025 (partial data), signaling continued expansion. Australia and Brazil are key hubs, with European/North American institutions leading in high-impact journals. Research evolved through phases: from "concussion/perception" to "cognitive fatigue/exercise performance," and now "athlete monitoring/accuracy/recovery." Since 2020, terms like "brain," "decision-making," and "elite athlete" indicate a shift toward neural mechanisms and precision monitoring. Intervention studies, though lab-based, increasingly address psychological aspects like "burnout" and "anxiety." Collaboration is highly integrated, with key contributions from Australia, Brazil, Malaysia, and Spain.

Over the past 25 years, research on mental fatigue in ball sports has evolved from descriptive studies to mechanistic analysis and technology-driven interventions. Key challenges remain in bridging laboratory findings to real-world contexts, addressing geographical and cultural biases in global knowledge, and applying the "monitoring-intervention-recovery" system in practice. Future research should combine neuroscience, sports psychology, and data science to develop personalized fatigue management models, enhancing athletes' long-term health and performance.