Diversity In Aquatics (DIA) is a 100% volunteer-led member organization. Its diverse leadership collaborates to promote water safety and drowning prevention education in historically marginalized communities. The organization approaches water safety and drowning prevention through the lens of social justice, education, and public health to address the impacts of race, socioeconomic circumstances, and cultural stereotyping on the global community. Through its membership of researchers, athletes, and advocates, Diversity In Aquatics works collaboratively with grassroots and national organizations, to educate, promote, and support culturally competent and historically accurate programs, to change the current statistics in drowning rates, participation, and leadership in aquatics. The mission of Diversity in Aquatics is focused on efforts to eliminate the drowning disparity among historically underrepresented populations. Drowning is a “global epidemic” and since being founded in 2006, the organization has defined excellence through programming developed to educate, promote, and support collaborative community engagement efforts among diverse aquatic professionals and national aquatic stakeholders. Further information about DIA can be found at https://www.diversityinaquatics.org/
Special Issue Information
This Diversity In Aquatics (DIA) special issue of the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education (IJARE) is dedicated to articles that that provide insights into the ways that social determinants of health (SDOH) (Healthy People 2030, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion 2024), affect aquatic access, aquatic literacy, drowning, and health equity in historically marginalized and under-resourced communities (Diversity In Aquatics: IJARE Special Issue, 2018; 2020; 2023; Clemens, Moreland, & Lee 2021; Moreland, Ortmann, & Clemens, 2022). Nationally, philanthropic and national initiatives and efforts to prevent drowning in the United States have been initiated to support swim instruction and strengthen data collection to better understand the circumstances of drowning incidents (Bloomberg Foundation, 2024, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2024, United States National Water Safety Action Plan, 2023)
The theme of this special issue is “Building a Community of Champions” highlighting and promoting a civic engagement perspective which engages, advocates, and supports communities of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) in addressing the national, regional, and local evolving health-related issue of drowning. Aquatic Settings have been a pivotal focal point of social justice, water safety, and public health not only in the past but our present (Beale-Tawfeeq, Quash, et al, 2023 and Waller and Miller, 2023). DIA’s work will continue to strive to positively impact the field of aquatics through programs and projects that will foster vibrant and sustainable efforts nationally and in communities anchored by its leadership and membership to provide diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives focused on addressing health disparities among underserved communities and to provide innovative ways that social, economic, and political factors affect health and health equity, research on innovations to address these factors, with new ideas about what can be done to address the gaps, and to strengthen, diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in aquatic settings and the field of aquatics.
The special issue will provide a platform to share findings from empirical research (including quantitative, qualitative, intervention, or community-based studies), theoretical papers, educational articles, research notes, and critical essays. Analyses of aquatic sports, water safety education policy, and practices from diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives are encouraged. Submissions concerned with aquatic sports, water safety education and drowning prevention policy and practices, aquatic physical activities, and culture as related to race, socio-economics, policy, youth, gender, sexuality, and under-represented communities from both domestic and international perspectives are especially welcome.
Peer Review Policy
All submitted manuscripts to IJARE will undergo editorial screening and double-blind peer review.
Author Guidelines for Abstract and Manuscript Submission
To review the guidelines for developing and submitting a manuscript go to http://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/ijare/ and click on the specified tabs located on the left-hand side of the page. All manuscripts must be developed using the writing style specified in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed.).
Submission Details & Requirements
The deadline for manuscript submission is October 18, 2024. For this special issue, a required 200-word (max) abstract must be submitted inclusive of the statement manuscript submission for the Diversity In Aquatics Special Issue. The following types of manuscripts will be accepted for review:
- Original Research: A manuscript that is authentic research written by the authors who conducted the study; the researchers describe their hypothesis or research question and the purpose of the study; the researchers detail their research methods; the results of the research are reported; the researchers interpret their results and discuss possible implications. The manuscript cannot exceed 8,000 words.
- Educational Article: A manuscript that examines historical, educational, policy, and learning processes and the human attributes, interactions, organizations, and institutions that shape educational outcomes. Articles may be small-scale or large-scale (i.e. introducing diverse teaching, learning methods, or national initiatives). The articles should not exceed 4,000 words and should adhere to the research paper instructions regarding citation and bibliographic information.
- Research Note: Research notes are not full academic papers but are discussion notes, seeking to advance a new idea, theoretical perspective, research program, or methodological approach in examining a problem. These condensed papers cannot exceed 4,000 words and adhere to the research paper instructions regarding citation and bibliographic information.
- Voices From The Field: Features not full academic papers that examine specific practical teaching and/or coaching lessons that can be applied in community, learning, and team environments. The focus of this writing should contain an introduction, explanation of application (i.e. key steps for success), conclusion, and references. These condensed papers cannot exceed 1,500 words (approximately 5 pages double-spaced). A summary of this manuscript will be required for consideration.
- Scientific/Literature Review: Scientific literature reviews examine evidence-based literature that reports on original empirical and theoretical work in the field of aquatics. Reviews should serve to examine current policies, practices, programming, and issues, and can be designed to provide guidance and/or recommendations. The review should contain the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Body, Discussion, and References. Manuscripts cannot exceed 8,000 words.
The designated limits for each of the defined types of submissions include tables, references, figure captions, footnotes, and endnotes.
Timeline
- Call for papers released July, 15-17 2024
- Manuscript submission deadline – October 18, 2024
- Reviews completed – December 13, 2025
- Decision letters returned to authors January – 15, 2025
- Final Manuscript due February 15, 2025
- Issue release date February 28, 2025
Editorial Information
Founding Editor: Stephen Langendorfer, Bowling Green State University (slangen@bgsu.edu)
Guest Editors:
- Angela K. Beale-Tawfeeq, Ph.D., Rowan University (bealetawfeeq@rowan.edu)
- Steven N. Waller, Ph.D., University of Tennessee (swaller2@utk.edu)
- Tiffany Monique Quash, Ph.D., American University (tmquash@american.edu)
