New Studies in Athletics: 1986-2017

I was planning for quite some time now to write a post on the IAAF/WA scientific journal that was shut down recently.

But let us start at the beginning. In 1984 the IAAF Council appointed a scientific working group with the ask of producing a journal focusing on the technical aspects of athletics. The go-ahead for the creation of the journal was given the next year and the name of  “New Studies in Athletics” was chosen. 

The Editor in Chief of NSA was none other than the IAAF president at the time, Dr. Primo Nebiolo. The first issue of NSA saw the light in 1986. And the first article published contained the biographies of the editorial board members, the first "technical" article being one on blood transfusion in athletics.

The following lines are taken from the IAAF presentation of NSA:

Among the existing technical publications, NSA has established itself as a much respected international journal and illustrates the importance the IAAF attaches to scientific and coaching information.

Most of the articles published have been original contributions and provide a valuable source of information for coaches combining the scientific theory, such as biomechanics, with the practical application.

This high level of information comes with an excellent standard of production. NSA is an attractively designed publication with an impressive selection of quality coloured photographs. An essential publication in the coaching world designed with coaches in mind.

And here is the photo of one of the covers

My involvement with NSA had to do with the fact that from time to time I was producing research work on questions related to athletics with results warranting a full publication. Looking for an appropriate journal in which to publish I stumbled upon NSA and between 2007 and 2014 I published four articles (one in collaboration with Y. Charon).

And then disaster struck. World Athletics decided to shut down NSA in 2017. However since there were several articles in the pipeline they published one last volume and I had the chance to have an article of mine appear in that last issue: 

An optimal angle analysis of the 2017 World Championships' shot put event, B. Grammaticos New Stud. Athl. 32 (2017) 55.

(Don't be misled by the date. That last issue was greatly delayed, finally appearing in 2021).

Fortunately most of the articles published in NSA are available in the existing archive. Only the last 2017 volume has not been added yet but since it took almost years to get published this is not astonishing. 

Given the relative paucity of journals specialised in research in athletics (and the fact that the majority of the existing ones operate under the open access formula, whereupon the author of the article has to pay an amount in the thousands of dollars in order to see his article published) the decision of WA to shutter New Studies in Athletics is one that I deeply regret.