The scope of Exercise, Sport, and Movement (ESM) is broad, encompassing scientific, clinical, public health, community and policy topics in all areas related to sports and exercise medicine, exercise-related physiology, nutrition, metabolism and physical fitness. Manuscripts addressing movement, fitness, exercise, physical activity, health promotion, sport, and prevention and treatment of injury and disease are welcome.
ISSN: 2831-3461
Exercise, Sport, and Movement uses an e-only, continuous publication model and accepts the following article types:
I am pleased to present the summer compendium of Exercise, Sport, and Movement (ESM), which brings together new work across exercise, sport, and movement sciences. Together, these papers show that promoting health through movement is more than encouraging people to be active. It also means designing exercise programs people can sustain, supporting sport participation through developmentally informed injury prevention, and remaining clinically attentive when movement-related symptoms do not follow the expected course. These contributions remind us that exercise, sport, and movement research is most impactful when it reflects the lived realities, developmental contexts, and health priorities of the people it serves.
In “Exercise Habits, Preferences, Barriers, and Facilitators in Midlife Women,” McLean and colleagues surveyed 857 women aged 45 to 55 years to better understand exercise behaviors during midlife and the menopause transition. About half reported regular exercise participation, with fatigue and lack of time as the leading barriers. Resistance training was the most frequently selected exercise modality of interest, and many women identified a structured exercise plan as helpful. Participants rated lowering chronic disease risk, improving heart health, and improving mood as the most important potential benefits of exercise. These findings suggest that exercise programs for midlife women should be structured, time-efficient, practical, and aligned with the health outcomes women themselves prioritize.
In “Injury Surveillance in Early Specialized Adolescent Competitive Swimmers: A 4-Year Prospective Study,” Mise, Suzuki-Yamanaka, and Matsuura followed 90 adolescent competitive swimmers to describe injury incidence and patterns. The study identified important sex- and maturity-related patterns: females had higher injury incidence and recurrence rates, ankle injuries were more common before age of peak height velocity, and lumbar injuries were more common after. These findings support injury prevention strategies that consider biological maturation and account for sex-specific risk patterns.
The clinical case report “Paget-Schröetter Syndrome in an Active Adolescent: A Case Report,” by Crofton and Skaria highlights the diagnostic challenges of primary effort thrombosis. Although rare, this case is a valuable reminder that vascular conditions can occasionally mimic routine athletic injuries, and that persistent or atypical symptoms warrant careful reassessment.
Recognizing ESM’s Paper of the Year
We are pleased to recognize the 2025 ESM Paper of the Year, “Benefits of After-School Sports: A Global Analysis of Pediatric Physical Health and Cognitive Function,” by Lim, Gaudreau, and Logan. Using a matched sample of 782 children, the study compared those who participated in after-school sports or physical activity with peers who did not, while accounting for key demographic and socioeconomic factors, including age, sex, race, ethnicity, puberty, household income, and IQ. The authors found that children in the sports group showed advantages across several areas of physical health and cognitive function. At a time when many children are not meeting physical activity guidelines, this paper reinforces the value of accessible after-school sport and physical activity opportunities and reminds us that the benefits of movement should not depend on family resources, transportation, or community infrastructure.
Supporting Authors Through APC Assistance
ESM remains committed to reducing barriers to publication for high-quality research. Through the ESM Student APC Assistance Fund, qualifying student authors may receive $1,000 in APC assistance. This initiative reflects the journal’s investment in student scholarship and the next generation of researchers. ESM also offers APC discounts for ACSM members, helping support authors across all career stages who are contributing important work to exercise, sport, and movement. Click here for more information.
ESM Ambassador Program
We are excited to continue building the ESM Ambassador Program, which connects motivated graduate students and early-career researchers with our Digital Editorial team to expand the visibility and impact of research published in ESM. Through the program, ESM Ambassadors help create and share digital content that translates published research for broader audiences and strengthens engagement across the field.
This program reflects an important goal of the journal: to make research more accessible, discoverable, and useful. Scientific impact depends not only on publishing rigorous work, but also on helping that work reach the people who can learn from it, apply it, and build on it. We encourage interested students and early-career researchers to consider joining this growing community. Learn more below.
Looking Ahead
We encourage readers and contributors to explore ESM’s growing body of work, participate in our editorial initiatives, and consider joining our community as authors, reviewers, ambassadors, and advocates for open science.
Thank you for being part of the ESM community. We look forward to continuing to publish research that advances understanding, informs practice, and helps move the field of exercise, sport, and movement from insight to impact.
Jennifer J. Heisz, PhD
ESM Editor-in-Chief
McMaster University
Marnie K. McLean, Angela J. Fong, Jacob M. Haus, Catherine Kim, Lyndsey E. DuBose, Abbi D. Lane
Takao Mise. Miwako Suzuki-Yamanaka, Yuiko Matsuura
Nicole Crofton, Amy Skaria
The ESM editors recognize that the cost of publishing open access (the article processing charge, or APC) is often a burden for authors. To help address this burden, the ESM editors are proud to announce the launch of the ESM Student APC Assistance Fund on July 1, 2025.
The ESM Digital Editor team has launched the ESM Ambassador Program to enhance community engagement with the journal. Ambassadors will facilitate meaningful interactions with ESM content by encouraging its discussion and amplifying its relevance for a wide variety of audiences.
Students, early-career researchers, and others interested in ESM content who would like to help extend the journal’s reach can apply. Applications will be reviewed by the ESM Digital Editors and Ambassadors will be chosen based on the following criteria:
Ambassadors will be recognized on the journal website, in the journal newsletter, and at the ACSM Journals Symposium at the ACSM Annual Meeting.
East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina, USA
Deakin University
Victoria, Australia
University of Maryland
College Park, MD
McMaster University
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Malone University
Canton, Ohio, USA
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
Auburn University
Auburn, Alabama, USA
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado, USA
Stanford University
Stanford, California, USA
University of Pennsylvania, Perelman School of Medicine
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Haverford, Pennsylvania, USA
Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles, California, USA
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
Los Angeles, California, USA
2025 Paper of the Year: “Benefits of After-School Sports: A Global Analysis of Pediatric Physical Health and Cognitive Function,”
View collections of ESM articles on select topics.
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