European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity in the second decade

Published: 21st November 2018 Scientific journals are important to develop the science. In the field of adapted physical activity (APA), the predominant journals are based in the United States. However, this is not to say that the APA movement outside of the US does not exist. In 2002, the European Bulletin of Adapted Physical Activity (EBAPA) was launched by KU Leuven. This led to many important communications between researchers and practitioners across Europe. It was a good dissemination tool for the panEuropean and cross-country projects that took place at the beginning of the century. However, there was a need to transform the bulletin into a more permanent and systematic scientific journal. This would start competing for recognition in growing numbers of scientific journals and being complementary to “flagship journal in APA”; APAQ, published by Human Kinetics. As a result, at the 2007 International Symposium of Adapted Physical Activity, Prof. Yves Vanlandewijck from Leuven, Belgium, Prof. Martin Kudlacek from Olomouc, Czech Republic and Prof. Jose Pedro Ferreira from Coimbra, Portugal agreed upon the birth of the European Journal of Adapted Physical Activity (EUJAPA). It was agreed that journal would be publishing articles in English language only to assure broader understanding with two issues per year and the journal would be open access without any limitation. The Online Journal System was the most supported platform for hosting a free to publish journal system. This was one of the first moves to make the journals open access, something that nowadays is very important for EU funded projects. In that way, EUJAPA were leading the way for dissemination of APA through open access journals. The first issue of EUJAPA was published in July 2008. There were four excellent papers from leading researchers in APA. Shortly after in October 2008, the second issue was published, again with some leading researchers in APA trailblazing the journal. The high level of interest proved that there was a need for such a journal. Ever since, there have been two issues of EUJAPA a year. In the 10 years of being Editor-in-Chief of EUJAPA, the journal has continued to grow. EUJAPA is now indexed in the SCOPUS and EBSCO databases. Moreover, it has now moved over to a secure site through a new journal system called ACTAVIA. Furthermore, there is a new Editor-in-Chief is Professor Pauli Rintala from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland, and Assistant Editor is Dr. Kwok Ng. Professors Aija Klavina from Latvia, Bartosz Molik from Poland, and Jose Pedro Ferreira from Portugal continues as Section Editors. The Editorial Board is under re-forming at the moment. With these changes comes along a ready-made template in order to fasten the publishing process, with an ‘Ahead of Print’ option. Thus, the whole outlook of the journal is different from the previous issues. Despite these changes to the journal, the aims and scope of EUJAPA remain the same. You can find all relevant information and submission guidelines directly from EUJAPA (https://eujapa.upol.cz) or from the EUFAPA website (www.eufapa.eu) in the section European Journal of APA.