This issue concludes my work as Editor-in-Chief of World Leisure Journal (WLJ). The consolidation of more than nine years of work, with an output of 36 issues of the journal, cannot be done within one editorial. Yet, I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on this period. In my first editorial back in 2013, I wrote: “I feel excited and honoured to assume the role of editor of the World Leisure Journal”. Well, looking back, I still feel excited and honoured that I have been able to undertake such an important role and to make my humble contribution to the study of leisure and of course to World Leisure Organization. Upon reflection on those nine years of editorship, I feel that I have achieved the aims I set for the Journal and for myself. From the very beginning, I aspired to widen the scope of the journal and increase its internationalization. Over the past decade, there has been an increase in the number of contributions by scholars from across the globe and from different disciplines. It was a satisfying process to present the world map with additional dots representing distinct geographical places as part of my annual reports to World Leisure Organization Board of Directors indicating a huge increase in WLJ’s global reach. We now have submissions from six continents.
Apart from reaching out to scholars, I can also attribute the increase in submission rate to the Journal’s acceptance into Scopus in 2016, signifying an important milestone in its development. As stated by the reviewer: “Excellent journal, excellent, well-crafted, well-cited, interesting and informative papers. It was a pleasure to review this journal and an even greater pleasure to welcome it to Scopus!” Indeed, WLJ continues to be a popular scholarly outlet with an increased number of citations and global recognition.
I also felt excited to be able to celebrate the Journal’s 60s anniversary making it the longest standing journal of leisure studies. All those achievements were the results of a heavy workload and harmonious collaborative process, and here I wish to extend my sincere thanks to members of the Editorial Board and International Editorial Advisory Board, our dedicated reviewers, the guest editors, World Leisure Organization Board of Directors and Secretariat, and Taylor & Francis team for their ongoing cooperation and support. It has been a great pleasure working with you all. My heartful thanks go to Eugene, our highly dedicated editorial assistant who has been with me in this long and at times challenging journey. Thank you, Eugene, for your great support and meticulous job all these years. Even though it is my last piece as an editor-in-chief, I will continue to support the Journal and World Leisure Organization in their efforts to scale new heights.
Turning now to the contents of this issue, we have six research papers and two contributions to the News and Notices section.
The issue starts with a paper by Tony Veal and Atara Sivan who have been leading the recent revision of World Leisure Organization’s Charter for Leisure and are the co-Chairs of the newly established Special Interest Group (SIG) on Leisure and Human Rights. In their analysis, the authors indicate how despite the recognition of leisure as a human right, it has been neglected in the United Nation’s mechanisms for monitoring and evaluating nations states’ compliance with human rights obligations. The authors propose a research agenda and conceptual framework for assessing nation states’ ways of upholding leisure rights. They further offer a collaborative process for undertaking this research agenda internationally.
In the second paper, which is timely, Michelle Shir-Wise reports on her study examining the way time is spent and experienced under the lockdown imposed by the COVID-19. Using an online questionnaire during the first wave of the pandemic, the author found out that the majority of the respondents felt that they had more free time and they mostly engaged in media use, reading, and sport activities. Due to the lockdown, the participants missed the social interaction which they cherished a lot.
The third paper by Bình Nghiêm-Phú focuses on travellers’ skills and their perceived travel benefits. Studying young people in Vietnam, the researcher investigated the impacts that intrapersonal, nonverbal and verbal interpersonal skills have on their perceived travel benefits and stresses. Results indicated a significant effect of verbal interpersonal skills on these young people's perceived travel benefits, drawing some practical implications for travel under the COVID-19 circumstances.
Sehwan Kim and Jepkorir Rose Chepyator-Thomson report on their study examining the experience and perspectives of second-generation Korean Americans on transnational sports. The researchers found that transnational sports provided a space for establishing sense of belonging and promoting participants’ self-development. Recommendations were made to further investigate the role of transnational leisure sports activities among different immigrants to shed more light on their socialization role.
The fifth paper by Mehmet Ertaş from Turkey contributes to the literature on serious leisure. The author examined soccer match as a serious leisure and its effect on life satisfaction and psychological well-being of fans. Soccer fans who took part in this activity were regularly identified as performing serious leisure activity. In addition, participation in this activity was found to increase the fans’ life satisfaction and psychological well-being.
In the sixth research paper, Robert Snape provides a comprehensive examination of the Middletown survey which was conducted in the city of Muncie, Indiana in 1924. In his examination, the author highlights positive and negative perceptions of changes in leisure and its context and the ways in which the study contributed to the sociological understanding of leisure.
Under “News and Notices”, we have two contributions. The first piece by John Dattilo reports on the Global Leisure Debate which took place recently as part of the World Leisure Organization Knowledge Sharing and Networking Experience.
In the second piece, Atara Sivan and Tony (A.J) Veal, announce the establishment of Leisure and Human Rights Special Interest Group (LHRSIG). As co-chairs of the LHRSIG, the authors further share their planned activities and extend invitation to all interested parties to become involved in this significant special interest group.