Datasets - Sex and gender distribution in dance

The datasets presented here are part of a study investigating the sex and gender distribution of participants in dance medicine and science research. Articles in four major journals utilised for Dance Medicine and Science research were studied from January 2023 – December 2025 inclusive. The methodology sought to replicate that utilised by Costello et al. (2014) and Ose et al. (2025) in their study of sports science papers. Both articles utilised the “Sport Science” category of the Thomson Reuters science citation index in order to select the top-ranking journals, however there is currently no equivalent “Dance Science” category available in the index, therefore this study drew upon the recent bibliometric analysis of research in dance medicine and science by Brown-Appenzeller et al. (2025). The authors analysed dance medicine and science research between 2007 and 2024, a period of significant growth in this sector, and provided a number of performance indicators including most cited sources. Accordingly, the Journal of Dance Medicine and Science (JDMS), American Journal of Sport Medicine (AJSM), British Journal of Sport Medicine (BJSM) and Medical Problems of Performing Artists (MPPA) were selected based on this citation ranking (Brown-Appenzeller et al., 2025).