Insert catchy title here: engaging readers and improving health with stylish academic editorials

If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Analogous to this familiar philosophical thought experiment, an editorial needs to be sensed (ie, read) to provoke a reaction—to have impact. To paraphrase the late Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley, editorials deliver the science behind ideas, while other journal sections deliver the science behind the experiments and analyses.1 We believe editorials should: (1) stimulate discussion around a specific topic or new study (eg, recent editorials about acute:chronic workload ratios2 3), (2) propose new theories or challenge the existing dogma (eg, whether sports medicine screening adds any value4 5) or (3) deliver a call to action (eg, addressing the myth that obesity is caused by physical inactivity as opposed to a bad diet6). Here, we provide tips for writing an editorial for the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) and encourage your input on this ‘meta’ discussion. Following the teachings of Sinek,7 editorials need to get straight to the point by starting with why. Why write the editorial? What is the motivation? The opening statement is critical to setting the scene. It may take the form of the principal finding/s from the study/ies being …