In Russia, physical development of children has been a subject of research for historically long time. Ferdinand Friedrich Erisman, the founder of the Russian hygiene school, laid the foundation for analyzing the physical development of children and adolescents in long-term dynamics [1].

Physical development indicators are used to characterize public health, and they reflect the socio-hygienic and economic well-being of a region, which, as suggested by several researchers, necessitates timely collection of the younger generation's physical development data and their comparison over time [2].

Given the large body of accumulated scientific material, it is necessary to not only review the literature, but also to analyze the authors’ current publication activity, search for possible research priority areas, and substantiate the relevance of scientific investigations in this field.

This study aimed to analyze publications addressing the physical development of children and adolescents during the past ten years.

METHODS

We used the Russian Science Citation Index (RSCI, https://elibrary.ru/ (cited 28.01.2025)) to analyze the publication activity related to research in physical development of children and adolescents. The search for papers was limited to the sources included in the core of the RSCI; the publication time span — from the beginning of 2014 to the first quarter of 2025. There were three stages to the search. At the first stage, we entered "physical development" in the "Search for" field of the RSCI's advanced search tool, and applied the following modifiers: keyword presence in titles and keywords; type of paper — journal articles; publication date from 2014 to 2025. The search returned 5054 works. At the second stage, we used the "Continue searching among the found results" tool and added "children OR teenagers" to the query. This attempt yielded 945 publications by 762 authors (mostly Russian) with a total of 7055 citations. At the third stage, we selected papers published in the media part of the RSCI core. Ultimately, the number of works included in the analysis was 566. They covered the processes of growth and development of the country's child population taking into account the impact of climatic, geographical, ethnic, socio-economic, medical, social and other factors. We discarded publications investigating the specifics of physical development of children and adolescents with somatic diseases or practicing certain sports.

At the data processing stage, GigaChat 2.0 (https://giga.chat) was used as an auxiliary tool to build the word cloud, cluster the selected papers, and calculate the frequency of occurrence of authors. The results were verified and edited by the authors in accordance with modern approaches to data processing [3]. The data was visualized using the Word Cloud service (https://diaclass.ru/cloud/).

RESULTS

We analyzed the journals that published the studies investigating aspects of physical development of the child population (table).

The journals that published the articles reflect the research directions the authors work in. There were more than 33 such journals; Table above gives the main of them. The most popular journals among the authors were "Hygiene and Sanitation" (3.2.1 Hygiene) — 16 articles; "Bulletin of Moscow University. Series 23: Anthropology" (3.3.1 Anatomy and anthropology) — 16; "Theory and Practice of Physical Culture" (5.8.4 Physical culture and professional physical training) — 16; "Public Health and Habitat" (3.2.1 Hygiene) — 15; "Russian Pediatric Journal" (3.1.21 Pediatrics) — 10 articles. There were also publications in other journals that publish materials on preventive medicine, pediatrics, and physical education.

We have identified articles with the maximum number of citations by year. This angle reflects current trends in the study of the physical development of the child population. In 2014, an article with 33 citations was published in "Theory and Practice of Physical Culture"; it covered the impact of sports on the physical development of students [4].

An article with 52 citations published in 2015 in the "Kazan Medical Journal" considered the problem of assessing the physical development of children and adolescents [5].

In 2016, the same journal published an article on the study of the physical development of schoolchildren in a modern metropolis, which was cited 38 times [6].

An article about the use of bioimpedance to assess the component composition of the human body and the potential of this method in the study of physical development was published in 2017 in "Bulletin of St. Petersburg University. Medicine"; it gathered 143 citations [7].

An article by a team of pediatricians that discussed assessment of the physical development of children of middle and senior school age based on the results of a one-stage study was published in 2018 in "Pediatric Pharmacology." It was cited 63 times [8].

In 2019, the next installment of a discussion on methods of assessing the physical development of the child population factoring in the specifics of the region — St. Petersburg, in that case — was published in "Pediatrician," and cited 38 times [9].

The same team of authors continued to elaborate on the topic in 2020: they published an article in "Issues of Practical Pediatrics" that covered screening assessment of the nutritional status of schoolchildren living in various regions of the Russian Federation. This work amassed 27 citations [10].

The results of a large-scale study of the state of health and physical development of children and adolescents in school ontogenesis were published in "Healthcare of the Russian Federation" in 2021, and cited 84 times [11].

The long-term study of physical development of children in various regions of Russia retains its relevancy, as it allows characterizing the current acceleration and deceleration processes. An article on this topic was published in "Human Ecology" in 2022. It was cited 39 times [12].

In 2023, "Theory and practice of physical culture" published an article demonstrating the functional capabilities of detrained adolescents, which was cited seven times; in 2025, the same journal delivered a piece analyzing the physical capabilities of asthenized young men during regular training, which amassed 16 citations [13, 14].

Among the authors of the above articles are well-known pediatricians: L.S. Namazova-Baranova, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, et al; V.L. Gritsinskaya, professor, et al; hygienists — V.R Kuchma, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, I.B Ushakov, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences, O.Yu. Milushkina, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, V.I. Popov, corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, N.A. Skoblina, professor, I.K. Rapoport, professor; renowned anthropologists, specialists in physical culture and sports. The word cloud below reflects the contribution of the authors (figure).

Professor V.L. Gritsinskaya, representing the St. Petersburg pediatric school of thought, is the most prolific author with 10 articles mentioning her as part of the team of researchers. She has students in various regions of Russia.

We can also mention the scientific school of hygienists, which was formed on the basis of the "East-European" scientific and educational medical cluster in the Central Federal District; scholars from this cluster were cited as article co-authors 27 times. The related schools are those of Samara State Medical University (associate professor M.Yu. Gavryushin — 7 times and professor O.V. Sazonova — 5 times) and Northern State Medical University (associate professor D.M. Fedotov — 6 times). The research was carried out in close cooperation with physical culture specialists (professor S.P. Levushkin — 5 times). Indicators of physical development and factors affecting the health of children, adolescents and youth are also studied by hygiene scientists at the F.F. Erisman Federal Scientific Center for Hygiene, Burdenko Voronezh State Medical University, and Volgograd State Medical University.

Scholars specializing in public health, organization and sociology of healthcare, medical and social expertise also participate in research on the problems of physical development of the child population (professor E.N. Mingazova — 5 times).

Fundamental research in this field is conducted by the Russian school of anthropologists (professor T.K. Fedotova — 7 times, professor E.Z. Godina — 4 times, candidate of biological sciences A.K. Gorbacheva — 6 times).

DISCUSSION

There is a sufficient amount of fundamental studies of the Russian children's physical development that suggest methodology, approaches to statistical processing, analysis of patterns of growth and development, etc. [15, 16].

However, at the present stage, it is possible to use big data (both current state and historical records) to further study the biological patterns of growth and development and the mechanisms of acceleration-deceleration. The data arrays can be processed with the involvement of specialists from related medical fields as well as economists, demographers, statisticians, programmers, etc., and the body of historical data can be analyzed with the help of AI-driven cutting-edge tools.

Research in this area is relevant for world science, which has been reflected in a number of publications over the past decades [17−19].

For many years, there has been a discussion in the scientific literature about methods for assessing the physical development of the Russian child population and what standards should be applied to this task. Most researchers highlighted the informative value of comprehensive methodology, and pointed to regional age-sex standards [9, 20, 21].

The problem of formulation of regional age-sex standards to support morphofunctional status and biological development assessments has been successfully solved. Alongside the published collections, standards-management software and computer programs enabling assessment of children's physical development have been developed and are freely available [22, 23].

In September 2025, the Order of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation of April 14, 2025 No. 211n "On approval of the preventive medical examination procedure for minors, registration form No. 030-PO/u "Card of preventive medical examination of a minor," its record-keeping procedure, and the form of sectoral statistical observation No. 030-PO/o "Information on preventive medical examinations of minors" became effective. This order includes assessment of body mass index, which necessitates development of Russian standards for assessing the body mass index of Russian children. The first attempts to create such standards have already been made [24, 25].

Longitudinal studies of physical development across different regions remain important for identifying regional determinants of growth and development, particularly factors related to enhancing the health and fitness of children, adolescents, and young people through physical education and sport [26−35].

The emergence of new methods and instrumentation (for example, bioimpedance measurement) expands the possibilities of studying the physical development of children, adolescents and youth, which, in turn, enables extension of the standard anthropometric methodology [36].

CONCLUSIONS

The analysis of publication activity related to the studies considering physical development of children, adolescents and youth shows continued relevance of research in this area. However, it should rely on big data and cross-discipline approach involving leading schools of thought. It is also necessary to carefully examine the already published studies to avoid duplication. Newly planned research should be based on fundamental research, with national scientific traditions taken into account. Other prerequisites of efficient studies in this field include exchange of scientific experience and cross-citation of papers that supports comparisons of the results.