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Analysis of institutional authors

Jimenez, Sergio LCorresponding Author

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October 18, 2022
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Influence of Nitrate Supplementation on Endurance Cyclic Sports Performance: A Systematic Review

Publicated to:Nutrients. 12 (6): 1796-20 - 2020-06-01 12(6), DOI: 10.3390/nu12061796

Authors: Lorenzo Calvo, Jorge; Alorda-Capo, Francesca; Pareja-Galeano, Helios; Jimenez, Sergio L

Affiliations

Univ Europea Madrid, Fac Sport Sci, Madrid 28670, Spain - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid, Sport Dept, Fac Ciencias Actividad Fis & Deporte, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author

Abstract

Endurance can be defined as the capacity to maintain one's velocity or power output for the longest possible time. Maintaining such activity can lead to the onset of fatigue. Dietary nitrate supplementation produces an ergogenic effect due to the improvement of mitochondrial oxygen efficiency through a reduction in the oxygen cost of exercise that increases vasodilation and blood flow to the skeletal muscle in recreationally active subjects. However, the effects of dietary nitrate supplementation on well-trained endurance athletes remain unclear; such supplementation could affect more performance areas. In the present study, a systematic review of the literature was conducted to clarify the use and effects of nitrate as a dietary supplement in endurance athletes trained in cyclic sports (repetitive movement sports). A systematic search was carried out following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines in the databases of SCOPUS, Web of Science (WOS), Medline (PubMed), and Sport Discus from 1 January 2010 to 30 November 2019. Twenty-seven studies were included in the study. The methodological quality of the articles was assessed using the McMaster Critical Review Form. Statistically significant ergogenic results were obtained in 8 (29.63%) of the 27 studies investigated, with significant results obtained for cardiorespiratory parameters and performance measures. Improvement in exercise tolerance was obtained, which could help with exhaustion over time, while the improvement in exercise economics was not as clear. Additionally, the dose necessary for this ergogenic effect seems to have a direct relationship with the physical condition of the athlete. The acute dose is around 6-12.4 mmol/day of nitrate administered 2-3 h before the activity, with the same amount given as a chronic dose over 6-15 days. Further studies are required to understand the factors that affect the potential ergogenic impacts of nitrate on athletic performance among endurance athletes.

Keywords

AthletesBeetroot juiceBeetroot juice supplementationCyclicDietary nitrateDietary supplementsEnduranceExercise performanceHumansIntensity exerciseNitrateNitratesNitric oxideO-2 uptake kineticsPerformance exercisePerformance-enhancing substancesPhysical enduranceResponsesSingleSodium-nitrateTime-trial performanceTolerance

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Nutrients due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2020, it was in position 17/88, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Nutrition & Dietetics.

From a relative perspective, and based on the normalized impact indicator calculated from World Citations provided by WoS (ESI, Clarivate), it yields a value for the citation normalization relative to the expected citation rate of: 1.2. This indicates that, compared to works in the same discipline and in the same year of publication, it ranks as a work cited above average. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

This information is reinforced by other indicators of the same type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of their calculation, consistently position the work at some point among the top 50% most cited in its field:

  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 1.24 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 10.86 (source consulted: Dimensions Jul 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-07-08, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 28
  • Scopus: 28

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-07-08:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 205.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 222 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 21.35.
  • The number of mentions on the social network Facebook: 1 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 22 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (Jiménez Sáiz, Sergio Lorenzo).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been Jiménez Sáiz, Sergio Lorenzo.