SCIENCE OF GYMNASTICS JOURNAL
Vol. 1 Issuel 2009
EDITORIAL
Dear friends,
In front of you is a new journal with an easy name to remember, the Science of Gymnastics Journal. It is a journal, as the name says, dedicated to gymnastics.
When I checked the keyword 'gymnastics' on the Web of Science (WoS, as of 14th July) I learned that throughout the history of WoS (since 1970), 'gymnastics' has featured in 410 journals. The top four journals are the MEDICINE AND SCIENCE IN SPORTS AND EXERCISE with 29 published articles, the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE with 21 articles, CLINICS IN SPORTS MEDICINE and the JOURNAL OF SPORTS MEDICINE AND PHYSICAL FITNESS with 20 articles each. The top 25 journals have published 344 articles and all of them together have published 885 gymnastics-related articles. As the WoS was established in the USA, most of the articles are in English (85%), followed by German (6.8%) and French (3.9%). There are also a few articles published in Italian, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and Turkish respectively.
We decided to use English as the main language, but will also publish articles in the writer's mother language should he or she wish so.
In 1970, when the WoS was established, there were no articles about gymnastics; this number shot up to 64 articles in 2007. The WoS includes writers from 46 countries, most of them from the USA, France, England and Germany. It is interesting to note that there are precious few articles from the former Soviet Union, the whole eastern block and Asia. This is in stark contrast with results achieved in gymnastics at Olympic games and world championships.
The gymnastics community has wide interests; gymnastics itself can be approached from a range of aspects. There is an enormous field of research, spanning from history and medicine to biomechanics. Subjects can cover newborns and elderly, and everyone in-between; research can focus on absolute beginners or on top athletes winning world champions. There is a wide spectrum of disciplines, including artistic gymnastics, acrobatics, rhythmic gymnastics, sports aerobics etc.
Gymnastics is the key word to all of us. The Science of Gymnastics Journal wishes to be a meeting point for all those who are interested in research and want to share their knowledge with others. Some issues are so specific they cannot be published anywhere else, for example, case studies, such as biomechanical characteristics of the Pegan salto on the high bar. The Science of Gymnastics Journal will be more than pleased to publish such case studies on top gymnasts.
The first issue of our journal brings six articles. Their writers come from four countries. They cover a wide range of topics, including biomechanics, motor learning, diet, performance characteristics and terminology.
As we want to be read by researchers, coaches, judges, gymnasts, parents, students and gymnastics fans we will be available on www.scienceofgymnastics.com 24/7, free of charge.
Thank you for reading, I am looking forward to your comments and your articles,
Ivan Cuk Editor-in-Chief
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