Sport and health are global issues

Sport and health are global issues

One of the mandates I tried to embrace when I was president of the International Society of Biomechanics(2007-2009) was to foster,encourage,and bring to the limelight,the research activities from countries that were underrepresented internationally.I realized that such underrepresentation was often the result of barriers between scientific communities that had evolved historically,based on background,language, scientific method,financial support etc.,barriers that could easily be overcome by personal contacts,acknowledgement of each other’s strength,the will to help,student and faculty exchange programs,and contributions by international scientists to areas of need.

When invited to serve as co-editor-in-chief for a new sport and health science journal,many thoughts crossed my mind:is there a need for another journalin this field?What willbe the focus of the journal?Can it make an international impact? Valid questions with no easy answers.

However,what intrigued me about the invitation,and why I ultimately agreed to help with the start of the JournalofSport and Health Science(JSHS),was the fact that health and sport science research has remained geographically isolated. Thousands of health and sport sciences manuscripts are published every year in China,but they remain inaccessible to the rest of the world because of the language barrier.I am aware of severalother countries with a greattradition in the health and sport sciences area,Korea and Brazil come to mind,where I have encountered top rate research first hand,but because of the language barrier,these works are condemned to obscurity in the international field of science.

One of the goals of JSHS is to make the journal truly international,and to have an impact worldwide.Because itis published in China,we have the unique opportunity to capture much of the research performed in Asia in addition to the more traditional health and sport sciences research originating inEurope and North America,and other parts of the globe.In order to achieve this goal,it will be necessary to have excellent editorial staff that can help in overcoming geographical and language barriers.One of my main points at the recent editorial board meeting was that we need to implement firstclass help with English writing so that no manuscript fails because of language.

Another strategy we will employ is to identify leaders in health and sportsciences from scientifically underrepresented countries,who are willing to help and contribute to the journal so that geographic barriers are eliminated.This is an ongoing process,and input from Australia/New Zealand,South America,and Asia(other than China and Japan)is required.In time,we need to strike the right balance for true global representation.Your input in this quest is highly appreciated and any suggestions you may have are welcome and will receive serious consideration.

We are committed to make JSHS a leading journal in the field.Needless to say that a scientific journal is only as good as the research it publishes,and ultimately the publications can only reflect what is submitted to the journal.Therefore,we invite all of you to be active contributors to JSHS.We guarantee an excellent turnaround and constructive reviews of your work.We are here to help and our philosophy is to make every submitted manuscript the best it can be.

Thank you for considering JSHS for your next contribution!

Walter Herzog,Co-Editor-in-Chief Human Performance Laboratory, Faculty of Kinesiology,University of Calgary, Alberta,Canada

E-mail address:walter@kin.ucalgary.ca

19 January 2012

Peer review under responsibility of Shanghai University of Sport

Production and hosting by Elsevier

2095-2546/$-see front matter Copyright©2012,Shanghai University of Sport.Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved.

10.1016/j.jshs.2012.04.002