In Dr. Greg Reid’s (1992) opening editorial remarks, he mused about the pleasure that APAQ Founding Editor Dr. Geoffrey Broadhead must have enjoyed in realizing the position that the journal had taken in our academic community at that time. About 31 years later, and nearing the journal’s 40th birthday, I would expect that Dr. Broadhead is thrilled with the continued growth of APAQ’s reputation and its current status as the major journal of peer-reviewed research in adapted physical activity. Our journal has been fundamental in establishing a foundational knowledge base in the field, one that would not be possible without the early work, vision, and creativity of our founding editor (Porretta, 2004), as well as each proceeding editor who has helped to steer the journal. As such, before proceeding further it is important to provide special recognition for each of our past APAQ editors: Drs. Geoffrey Broadhead (1983–1991), Greg Reid (1992–1996), Claudine Sherrill (1997–2001), David Porretta (2002–2006), Terry Rizzo (2007–2010), Marcel Bouffard (2010–2013), Yeshayahu Hutzler (2014–2016), and Jeffrey Martin (2017–2022). Today, there is a generation of adapted physical activity researchers that know only that APAQ is the major academic journal in our field, and we have these previous editors, their associate editors, and their editorial boards, to thank.
I am humbled, honored, and admittedly anxious to follow in the footsteps of the previous APAQ editors and to be entrusted with the future of the journal, at least for the next 3 years. I am thankful to Dr. Jeffrey Martin for his recommendation for me to take on this post, as well as his insights and transparency regarding journal operations over the past year or so. I am also thankful for the trust and faith that Human Kinetics and the APAQ Editorial Board have offered me in taking on this appointment. I believe that my designation to this important role is unique, for a few reasons. First, I believe that I am the first APAQ editor who is younger than APAQ itself. I suppose I am making an educated guess on this and have not checked with each of the prior editors, but I believe it to be true. Because of this, APAQ has always been there during my academic career and has always been the journal of record in the area of adapted physical activity, the field that I identify my scholarship, practice, and teaching to be within. The value and respect that I have for APAQ was likely instilled during my doctoral studies at The Ohio State University, where I was advised by Dr. David Porretta (APAQ editor 2002–2006), another unique aspect of my appointment. That is, I believe I am the first APAQ editor who was advised by a previous APAQ editor. These particularities have shaped the way that I view our journal, as the journal in adapted physical activity, that hosts and disseminates empirical research, viewpoints, and reviews that help shape knowledge, perspectives, and action in our field. As the incoming editor, I am deeply invested in and committed to supporting this legacy, while also working toward bolstering APAQ within the field and among our colleagues in other disciplines.
It appears to be a tradition that incoming APAQ editors provide some insight into items that they would like to pursue during their tenure with the journal (Porretta, 2004; Reid, 1992; Sherrill, 1997). For this, I will be brief. First, at the culmination of Dr. Martin’s time as APAQ Editor, it is clear that he has delivered on his vision to improve APAQ and continue its legacy through publishing high-quality work, reducing reviewing time, adding associate editors, and increasing the impact factor (Martin, 2017, 2022). His work here should be applauded, and I plan to continue Dr. Martin’s efforts in these areas over the next 3 years. Second, I am keen to explore avenues to enhance the international representativeness of our APAQ editorial board, as nearly 85% of our current board consists of scholars in North America. This is not a new goal for APAQ (Sherrill, 1997), and it will take a purposeful recruitment effort to identify and include editorial board members from currently underrepresented regions. This effort is critical, though, to ensure that voices in all regions of the world are heard in discussions about the direction of our journal, to continue to grow the international reputation of APAQ, and to attract the work of experienced and emerging researchers internationally to publish their work with us. Third, I plan to make a concerted effort to engage with new ways to promote articles published in APAQ through social media. I have had encouraging discussions with Human Kinetics about this issue, and I am happy to share that they are willing to support a social media coordinator to help enhance the visibility of the journal through various social media channels. More to come on this soon. Finally, I plan to further encourage members of our field to engage in critical academic conversations about pressing issues in our field in APAQ. I believe our viewpoint section is the perfect place for our academic community to engage in ontological, epistemological, axiological, methodological, and theoretical conversations that are thoughtful and create tension to help move our field forward. This will include invited commentaries from emerging, as well as recognized, scholars and researchers within and outside of our field to discuss new and potentially controversial ideas in an effort to help push our thinking forward. For this, I am excited.
I conclude this editorial the same way it began, by reflecting about some words that Dr. Greg Reid shared during his welcoming editorial in 1992. In his conclusion, he noted that APAQ is a journal created and supported by many people, including scholars seeking to publish their best work in the journal, reviewers providing timely and constructive commentary and feedback, and associate editors offering wise counsel concerning the acceptability of manuscripts. Not only is this still true today, but I am also confident in suggesting that the corpus of authors, reviewers, and associate editors has grown tremendously in number, quality, and geographic dispersion since 1992. It is with this support that I am excited to take on the role of editor. With this in mind, I am looking forward to shepherding our journal forward for the next 3 years, and into its fourth decade, with a mind toward growing its impact and reach, expanding our acceptance of innovative methodologies and beliefs, and fostering a place where emerging and established scholars are excited to share their work and promote ideas to help advance the field of adapted physical activity.
References
Martin, J.J. (2017). Your new editor. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 34, 97–103. https://doi.org/10.1123/APAQ.2017-0047
Martin, J.J. (2022). Editor’s farewell remarks. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 39, 377–379. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.2022-0147
Porretta, D.L. (2004). Beginning a third decade. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 21(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.21.1.1
Reid, G. (1992). Editorial. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 9(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.9.1.1
Sherrill, C. (1997). Past, present, future. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 14(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1123/apaq.14.1.1
