Science beyond borders: Publishing and funding in a contemporary geographical context

Science funding is crucial to progress in modern society. Without funding it becomes extremely difficult for academics to conduct high-quality original research. While commercial support has financed seminal work in the sport and exercise sciences (Evenson et al., Citation2008), much of the research in this field is publicly funded through taxpayer money. This funding exists within a contemporary geo-political context. Governments and agencies in countries such as the UK, Australia, and the United States of America (US) have been contemplating adjustments to certain aspects of research budgets (Hall & Holden, Citation2021; Ledford, Citation2025; McKie, Citation2025), putting science funding under strain. This is concerning for the Journal of Sports Sciences, which publishes seminal work from around the world. Indeed, a decade after the journal’s inception, the 196 published articles emanated from no fewer than 25 different countries (Reilly, Citation1992). Notwithstanding its global scope, recent proposed changes to funding by the US administration offer a high-profile example of this context. Researchers from the US have played a prominent role in shaping the journal’s content, leading a quarter of those first 196 studies (Reilly, Citation1992). Moreover, scientists based in the US submitted as many articles over the last year as were published during the journal’s first decade and the most cited article to date was written by US scientists (Evenson et al., Citation2008). (Cont.)