News

Human Kinetics Update: NIRSA's Recreational Sports Journal Goes "Super" High Tech

NIRSA announces exciting news regarding its publications. First, beginning with the next (Fall/Winter 2005) issue of the Recreational Sports Journal (RSJ), NIRSA's premier scholarly journal will be facilitated with new cyberspace technology. Second, through its partnership with international publishing giant Human Kinetics, Inc., several new publications are currently in the works and others are planned.

Human Kinetics, Inc. will now publish and promote the RSJ on its journals' Web site along with twenty other popular sport and recreation publications. From manuscript submission through issue printing, the journal will be produced using digital and Web-based technologies.

Authors will submit manuscripts via ManuscriptCentral, a Web-based application licensed by ScholarOne, the leading provider of online manuscript submission and review technology. Using ManuscriptCentral, RSJ Editor Dr. Paul Milton and the members of the editorial board will conduct the peer-review process and digitally transmit the articles selected for publication to a managing editor at Human Kinetics. Each issue of the RSJ will be printed and sent to NIRSA members and subscribers, but the complete journal will also be available online as a PDF. Using a Web-based search program, members will be able to do a key word search of all articles. The RSJ site will house digital versions of all issues of RSJ published over the past five years. Limited advertising is also planned.

"The international exposure that our scholarly publication will receive is phenomenal," reports NIRSA Executive Director Dr. Kent Blumenthal, CAE, and CRSS. "This new technology, ScholarOne, successfully supports more than 500 systems and includes more than a million users spanning dozens of disciplines. The NIRSA Recreational Sports Journal will be up there in the big leagues where it should be."

In related NIRSA publishing news, during a recent week-long annual meeting, Dr. Gayle Kassing, HK Acquisition's Editor, and NIRSA's Editor, Sarah Hubert, discussed several new and revised publications on the horizon.

New marketing publications include The Essentials of Recreational Sports Marketing [working title], based on information garnered from NIRSA marketing institutes and updated with new materials, and the Recreational Sport, Fitness and Wellness Curriculum/Career Guide [working title], which focuses on student development, necessary industry-degree coursework, and career choices. Several new online courses are also in the works.

Revisions and updates are planned for two popular NIRSA publications. The Special Events Manual, first published in 1992 and a consistent bestseller, will incorporate members' submissions of event procedures and photographs. The ten-year-old Instructional Programs will be reissued with new information.

Three additional titles are being prepared for publication.

• The Essentials of Campus Recreation [working title] for 2006: A comprehensive publication for academic classes and professional reference, this book includes a CD.
• Facilities Planning Guidelines, for 2008, with CD: Because NIRSA annually receives a substantial number of inquiries on building specifications for new or renovated construction projects, the primary purpose of this book is to serve as an industry standard for facility specifications. Chapters written by NIRSA Associate Members (architects and contractors) teamed with Recreational Sports Directors feature construction standards and procedures for both indoor and outdoor recreation facilities. HK and NIRSA believe that Facilities Planning Guidelines has a high marketable value, both as a planning guide and as a textbook for recreational sports and architecture.
• Facilities Management, for 2008: This book is based on NIRSA's 1999 title, Managing the Collegiate Recreational Sports Facility. To date, seven of the fourteen planned chapters have been assigned. Members who are interested in writing a chapter may email NIRSA Editor Sarah Hubert.