Editorial

On behalf of my Associate Editors (Dr Cathy Craig and Dr John Kremer, Queen's University, Belfast; Prof David Lavallee, University of Wales, Aberystwyth; Dr Tadhg MacIntyre, University of Ulster; and Prof Nanette Mutrie, Strathclyde University) and International Editorial Board (see cover page for full list), I would like to welcome you warmly to the inaugural issue of International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology (IRSEP). In this editorial, I would like to outline the aims and scope of IRSEP, provide a brief overview of the reviews featured in this issue and acknowledge gratefully the help that I have received in the journal to date.

Aims and scope

The decision to produce IRSEP arose largely from a simple observation. Specifically, although research on sport and exercise psychology is expanding rapidly, it is difficult to locate a regular journal publication outlet that provides a dedicated source of accurate, authoritative, comprehensive and up-to-date literature reviews in this field. This gap is surprising for at least two reasons. First, the task of finding or conducting a systematic literature review is a necessary prelude to any form of empirical research – regardless of whether the investigator concerned is a novice postgraduate student or an eminent professor. After all, a key challenge for researchers is to explain how their studies build upon yet differ from what went before. Clearly, reviews of research are the foundations of empirical inquiries. Second, review papers, because of their capacity to distil individual research findings into generalizations, tend to be cited significantly more frequently in the scientific literature than individual studies (Eagly, 2006). To illustrate, flagship review journals such as Psychological Bulletin and Annual Review of Psychology that publish critical and integrative evaluations of groups of studies typically have the highest “impact factors” (an index reflecting the average number of times published papers are cited in the two-year period following publication) of all periodicals in scientific psychology. Thus according to the 2006 ISI Journal Citation Reports, Psychological Bulletin (impact factor of 12.725) and Annual Review of Psychology (impact factor of 11.706) are ranked first and second, respectively, of 99 journals classified as “general psychology”. Taken together, these factors highlight the importance of research reviews in any field. Against this background, we have attempted to fill a major gap in the field by launching the International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology as a scholarly publication outlet for substantial reviews of the research literature in sport and exercise psychology.

Ideally, the type of reviews that we seek to publish will satisfy at least three key criteria. First, they should summarise accurately the current state of knowledge about a specific topic or question. Second, they should aim to provide a critical assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of previous studies in the field by evaluating relevant conceptual and methodological issues. Finally, they should identify emerging trends in the literature and outline potentially fruitful new directions for further research in the field. With these criteria in mind, we are especially interested in receiving manuscripts that contain reviews of research literature on theories, topics and issues at the interface between sport and exercise psychology and other branches of the discipline (e.g., cognitive neuroscience, motor cognition, developmental psychology, health psychology). In short, we would like IRSEP to reflect where the field is going. Conceptual bridge-building within and across the discipline is equally important to us. Therefore, we also welcome integrative research reviews that postulate overarching theoretical connections between different areas and topics of research within sport and exercise psychology and/or between conceptual and methodological issues in this field and those in mainstream psychology.

For whom is IRSEP intended? We hope that the reviews published in this journal will attract interest from a wide readership including research colleagues in the field of sport and exercise psychology, graduate students in psychology and sport science, and interested investigators in cognate disciplines. With this readership in mind, our aim is to seek research reviews that are comprehensive and scholarly yet accessible to the non-specialist.

Overview of this issue

In this issue, we feature literature reviews on a variety of established and emerging topics in sport and exercise psychology. Common to all of these reviews is the fact that they have implications for other branches of mainstream psychology. To begin with, Mark Williams and Paul Ford (Liverpool John Moores University) review contemporary research on expertise and expert performance in sport from the framework of “deliberate practice” theory. This review will be of interest not only to cognitive sport psychology researchers but also to expertise researchers in cognitive psychology. Similarly, Sian Belock (University of Chicago) reviews a number of fascinating studies in embodied cognition and action – a domain of inquiry that lies at the interface between sport psychology, cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Recent research on motor imagery, or the mental representation of action without any body movements, is reviewed by Aymeric Guillot and Christian Collet (Université Claude Bernard, Lyon). Again, this topic has obvious significance beyond sport psychology for the burgeoning feld of “motor cognition” which is concerned broadly with the cognitive processes underlying the planning, representation and execution of skilled actions and movements. Addressing a more established field of research, Sheldon Hanton and Rich Neill (both of University of Wales Institute, Cardiff) and Stephen Mellalieu (Swansea University) provide a critical appraisal of recent research on competitive anxiety. In addition to its relevance for sport psychology, this review has interesting implications for mainstream psychology as it explores some of the psychological mechanisms underlying competition stress. An old question with a new twist comes next. To explain, the issue of whether or not life skills can be developed through sport is the topic of a systematic research review by Daniel Gould and Sarah Carson (Michigan State University). As before, this review will be required reading not only for youth sport psychology researchers but also for developmental and health psychologists. Finally, some old problems and new directions in exercise motivation and behaviour are addressed by Martin Hagger (University of Nottingham) and Nikos Chatzisarantis (University of Plymouth) in their extensive critique of research on self-determination theory. This review will be of considerable importance not only to exercise psychologists but also to social psychologists and to motivational theorists.

A note of thanks

The production of this journal is a true collaborative enterprise. Accordingly, a number of people deserve my sincere gratitude for their advice and support. To begin with, the idea for IRSEP was developed through initial discussions with Janet Remmington (Routledge) who encouraged me with many excellent editorial suggestions and who has provided unwavering support for the journal. In addition, I would also like to express my sincere gratitude to a number of other helpful editorial, marketing and production staff in Routledge whose expertise and professionalism have been exemplary: Beth Davidson, Claire Thomas, Rachel Sangster, Rachael Lammey, Samantha Cragg, and Lauree Shepard. Thank you for responding so quickly and helpfully to all my e-mail messages!

Of course, no peer-reviewed journal would be possible without the support of a large network of academic colleagues to help with demanding editorial responsibilities. In this regard, I am deeply indebted to my excellent team of Associate Editors (Cathy Craig, John Kremer, David Lavallee, Tadhg MacIntyre and Nanette Mutrie) who are not only fine scholars in their own right but also gracious, willing and efficient editorial administrators – especially when it comes to the difficult task of cajoling their colleagues to serve as reviewers! I am also extremely grateful to the 24 members of the International Editorial Board (see list on front cover) who are all prolific and internationally renowned researchers in their specialist fields and who are truly global in their institutional affiliations – being drawn from leading universities in Australia, Canada, China, England, France, Ireland, Scotland, USA, and Wales. Thanks to all of you for kindly and unhesitatingly accepting my invitation to join the Board despite being extremely busy with your own research careers! My gratitude is also extended to the many referees who have helped us with their detailed critiques of manuscript submissions to IRSEP. The onerous and time-consuming task of serving as a manuscript referee is one of the may invisible threads that bind the academic tapestry together. Without such conscientious gatekeepers, the quality of academic publications would inevitably decline. Finally, I wish to thank my Editorial Assistant, Ms Kate Kirby, for her enthusiasm, conscientiousness and reliability.

I hope that you and your colleagues will enjoy reading IRSEP and will find it a valuable source of information and research and scholarship.