Wesley O’Brien

2.4k citations

80 papers · 1.7k · 1 hit paper · h-index 20

Impact in

Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation top 0.5%
- Sports and Physical Education Research
- Physical Education and Pedagogy
Developmental and Educational Psychology top 1%
- Children's Physical and Motor Development

Papers in

Developmental and Educational Psychology 53
- Children's Physical and Motor Development 48
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation 22
- Physical Education and Pedagogy 13
- Sports and Physical Education Research 8

Co-authors: Johann Issartel (16 shared papers)Sarahjane Belton (18 shared papers)Lisa E. Bolger (7 shared papers)Sean M. Lacey (5 shared papers)Con Burns (5 shared papers)Linda A. Bolger (5 shared papers)Cian O’ Neill (5 shared papers)Suzanne Belton (12 shared papers)
Journals: Journal of Motor Learning and Development (8 papers)International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (7 papers)Journal of Physical Activity and Health (5 papers)Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (3 papers)Sports (3 papers)
Partner nations: Ireland United Kingdom Australia

In The Last Decade

Wesley O’Brien

71 papers receiving 1.7k citations

Wesley O’Brien's Hit Papers

align trajectories log scale

Global levels of fundamental motor skills in children: A systematic review 2020 · 186 citations

What are hit papers?

Paper score: A paper's citations measured against the top-1% bar of its own field and year: the square root of citations ÷ bar, so 1 means right at the bar and 2 means four times its citations. The bar blends the citation counts that enter the top 1% of the paper's subfields in its year (weighted 89.5%), of those subfields over all years (0.5%) and of its year across all fields (10%); a subfield and year with fewer than 400 papers takes its year's bar. Papers from 2026 are not scored yet: in an unfinished year, when a paper appeared matters more than how it is cited.

Hit paper: A paper cited at least 1.5× the top-1% bar of its field and year: a paper score of at least √1.5.

2020 Journal of Sports Sciences

Peers

Countries citing papers authored by Wesley O’Brien

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Wesley O’Brien's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Wesley O’Brien with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Wesley O’Brien more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Wesley O’Brien

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Wesley O’Brien. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Wesley O’Brien. The network helps show where Wesley O’Brien may publish in the future.

Co-authors

The 25 scholars most cited alongside Wesley O’Brien, linked wherever they have co-authored with each other. Click a name or a connecting line to browse the papers they share.

Border = papers with Wesley O’Brien Line = papers co-authored together Wesley O’Brien links everyone, so they are left out of the graph.

All Works

Sort: Min cites: Since: Top N: Style:

20 of 20 papers shown

Showing the 20 most-cited of 80 papers — load more, or switch the sort, to bring in the rest.

#	Work
1	Global levels of fundamental motor skills in children: A systematic review Journal of Sports Sciences ·Lisa E. Bolger, Linda A. Bolger, Cian O’ Neill, Edward K. Coughlan, Wesley O’Brien, Sean M. Lacey, Con Burns, Farid Bardid Hit paper breakdown →	2020	186
2	Fundamental movement skill proficiency amongst adolescent youth Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy ·Wesley O’Brien, Sarahjane Belton, Johann Issartel	2015	155
3	A Narrative Review of Motor Competence in Children and Adolescents: What We Know and What We Need to Find Out International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ·Luis Oliveira Lopes, Rute Santos, Manuel João Coelho-e-Silva, Catherine Elizabeth Draper, J. V. R. Mota, Boris Jidovtseff, Cain C. T. Clark, Mirko Schmidt	2020	129
4	Implications for European Physical Education Teacher Education during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-institutional SWOT analysis European Journal of Teacher Education ·Wesley O’Brien, Manolis Adamakis, Niamh O’Brien, Marcos Onofre, João Martins, Aspasia Dania, Kyriaki Makopoulou, Frank Herold	2020	115
5	Youth-Physical Activity Towards Health: evidence and background to the development of the Y-PATH physical activity intervention for adolescents BMC Public Health ·Sarahjane Belton, Wesley O’Brien, Sarah Meegan, Catherine B. Woods, Johann Issartel	2014	78
6	Age and Sex Differences in Fundamental Movement Skills Among a Cohort of Irish School Children Journal of Motor Learning and Development ·Lisa E. Bolger, Linda A. Bolger, Cian O’ Neill, Edward Coughlan, Wesley O’Brien, Sean M. Lacey, Con Burns	2017	74
7	The relationship between adolescents’ physical activity, fundamental movement skills and weight status Journal of Sports Sciences ·Wesley O’Brien, Sarahjane Belton, Johann Issartel	2015	56
8	Run, jump, throw and catch: How proficient are children attending English schools at the fundamental motor skills identified as key within the school curriculum? European Physical Education Review ·Michael Joseph Duncan, Clare M. P. Roscoe, Mark R. Noon, Cain C. T. Clark, Wesley O’Brien, Emma L. J. Eyre	2019	49
9	Relationship between Physical Activity, Screen Time and Weight Status among Young Adolescents Sports ·Wesley O’Brien, Johann Issartel, Suzanne Belton	2018	43
10	The Relationship between Actual Fundamental Motor Skill Proficiency, Perceived Motor Skill Confidence and Competence, and Physical Activity in 8–12-Year-Old Irish Female Youth Sports ·Orlagh Farmer, Sarahjane Belton, Wesley O’Brien	2017	39
11	Increasing Athlete Knowledge of Mental Health and Intentions to Seek Help: The State of Mind Ireland (SOMI) Pilot Program Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology ·Gavin Breslin, Tandy Jane Haughey, Wesley O’Brien, Laura Caulfield, Alexa Robertson, Martin P. Lawlor	2018	36
12	Patterns of Noncompliance in Adolescent Field-Based Accelerometer Research Journal of Physical Activity and Health ·Suzanne Belton, Wesley O’Brien, Eric E. Wickel, Johann Issartel	2013	36
13	Self-Perceived and Actual Motor Competence in Young British Children Perceptual and Motor Skills ·Michael Joseph Duncan, Victoria M. Jones, Wesley O’Brien, Lisa Michele Barnett, Emma L. J. Eyre	2018	35
14	Do Irish Adolescents Have Adequate Functional Movement Skill and Confidence? Journal of Motor Learning and Development ·Wesley O’Brien, Michael Joseph Duncan, Orlagh Farmer, Diarmuid Lester	2017	32
15	Motor Competence Among Children in the United Kingdom and Ireland: An Expert Statement on Behalf of the International Motor Development Research Consortium Journal of Motor Learning and Development ·Michael Joseph Duncan, Lawrence Foweather, Farid Bardid, Anna L. Barnett, James Robert Rudd, Wesley O’Brien, Jonathan D. Foulkes, Clare M. P. Roscoe	2022	29
16	Evidence for the Efficacy of the Youth-Physical Activity towards Health (Y-PATH) Intervention Advances in Physical Education ·Wesley O’Brien, Johann Issartel, Sarahjane Belton	2013	28
17	A cross-validation study of the TGMD-2: The case of an adolescent population Journal of science and medicine in sport ·Johann Issartel, Bronagh McGrane, Richard Fletcher, Wesley O’Brien, Danielle S. Powell, Sarahjane Belton	2016	25
18	Results From Ireland North and South’s 2016 Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth Journal of Physical Activity and Health ·Deirdre M. Harrington, MARIE H. MURPHY, Angela Carlin, Tara C. Coppinger, Alan Donnelly, Kieran Dowd, Teresa Keating, Niamh M Murphy	2016	25
19	The Age-Related Association of Movement in Irish Adolescent Youth Sports ·Diarmuid Lester, Bronagh McGrane, Sarahjane Belton, Michael Joseph Duncan, Fiona C. Chambers, Wesley O’Brien	2017	25
20	Fundamental Movement Skill Proficiency and Health Among a Cohort of Irish Primary School Children Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport ·Linda A. Bolger, Lisa E. Bolger, Cian O’ Neill, Edward K. Coughlan, Sean M. Lacey, Wesley O’Brien, Con Burns +1 other	2019	22

About Wesley O’Brien

Wesley O’Brien is a scholar working on Developmental and Educational Psychology, Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation, Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health, Sociology and Political Science and Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health, having authored 80 papers that have together received 1.7k indexed citations. Recurring topics across this work include Children's Physical and Motor Development (48 papers), Inclusion and Disability in Education and Sport (26 papers), Infant Development and Preterm Care (16 papers), Physical Education and Pedagogy (13 papers), Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet (11 papers), Physical Activity and Health (9 papers), Sports and Physical Education Research (8 papers) and Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports (5 papers). The work is most often cited by research in Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation (432 citations), Developmental and Educational Psychology (1.1k citations), Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health (233 citations), Psychiatry and Mental health (144 citations) and Sociology and Political Science (457 citations). Wesley O’Brien has collaborated with scholars based in Ireland, United Kingdom and Australia. Frequent co-authors include Johann Issartel, Sarahjane Belton, Lisa E. Bolger, Sean M. Lacey, Con Burns, Linda A. Bolger, Cian O’ Neill, Suzanne Belton, Michael Joseph Duncan and Edward K. Coughlan. Their work appears in journals such as Journal of Motor Learning and Development, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Journal of Physical Activity and Health, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy and Sports.

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

Explore authors with similar magnitude of impact

Wesley O’Brien

Impact in

Papers in i

In The Last Decade

Wesley O’Brien

Wesley O’Brien's Hit Papers

Peers

Countries citing papers authored by Wesley O’Brien

Fields of papers citing papers by Wesley O’Brien

All Works

About Wesley O’Brien

Explore authors with similar magnitude of impact

Papers in