• education

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.