Background: The term doping is widely used by organizations that regulate sporting competitions. This bibliometric analysis examines the research landscape of doping in athletes using data from the Scopus database. A total of 1,213 research articles, published in English across 570 journals between 2004 and December 2024, were included in the analysis after applying exclusion criteria.

Methods: The study employs a range of bibliometric analysis techniques, including performance analysis and science mapping, to identify key contributors, research themes, influential publications, and potential future research directions.

Results: The United States, the University of Birmingham, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and the journal Drug Testing and Analysis were identified as leading contributors in terms of published work volume. The analysis reveals a significant increase in scholarly output on doping in athletes since 2020, with 37% of publications produced in the last five years.

Conclusion: Thematic concentration analysis highlights current research focus areas, such as the psychological, social, and ethical implications of doping, anti-doping policies and governance, ergogenic aids, and biochemical markers in doping detection.