What we need to know, where we need to go

EURAPA—State of the art: In 2010, the boards of EGREPA,EURAPA (as the Official Journal of the European Group forResearch into Elderly and Physical Activity), and SpringerPublishers agreed not only to publish review papers but alsoaccept original research papers. Opening with volume 8,number 1, 2011, EURAPA announced also to accept newmanuscriptcategories[6].Sinceitsearlybeginning,thescopeof EURAPA has been defined by two lines of research:biomedical and behavioral sciences. Thus, research papershave not been limited to specific scientific disciplines. Thedifferentandstillhighlydiversifyingareasofresearchinagingare welcomed in EURAPA. With the inclusion of originalpapers, this idea was accepted by versatile scientific disci-plines.Thisopennessformanyperspectivesinagingresearchand the change in publication policy has led to an increase inpapers submitted. The range of contributions has spread fromdifferent approaches in basic to a variety of perspectives inapplied sciences. In order to concentrate and strengthen thebroad range of perspectives, the Editors-in-Chief have addi-tionally initiated special issues which seem to be of greatimportance and allow fostering topics underrepresented inthe papers submitted to or already published in EURAPA.Special issues focusing on new topics will be continued andalso be supported in the future. The editorial board welcomesproposalsfornewtopicsandapplicationsforguesteditorshipsfor future issues.Special issues: We invite colleagues active in basic sci-ence to deal not only with the aging brain—cognitive,perceptual, and energetic stimulations [5, 7]—but also withextended new topics as epigenetics and environmental in-fluences on aging, embodiment and aging, and neurophys-iological (neuroimaging), physiological, and biomechanical(especially assessment andlong-term monitoring of physicalactivity) research methods.Colleagues from behavioral and applied sciences areinvited for topics and act as guest editors dealing with testand measurement, and diagnostic instruments: developmentof new as well as evaluation, improvement, and adaptationof existing tests. This applies also to questionnaires relatedto subjectivewell-being,quality oflife,andphysicalactivitydata if we regard their use in specific groups such as de-mented people, physically handicapped, and fall-endangered people. A fall-related diagnostic paper has justbeen put online. The humanities are urgently expected tocontribute. They should offer their knowledge on methods“how to reach differentgenerations andtargetgroups”basedon psychological, pedagogical, “geragogical,” and socialknowledge.Results from basic and applied research should help toovercome still existing deficits in our knowledge on the“dose–response” relationship of physical activity for differ-ent situations and different target groups and samples. Asynopsis from an interdisciplinary point of view and the willof scientific disciplines to cooperate will in the long termcontribute to arriving at useful conclusions and will thuslead to efficient intervention programs.Special issue 1: The first special issue from the behav-ioral sciences gave attention to the “Socio-economic pat-terns of sport demand and aging” [3]. It focused on thedeterminants of physical activity and sport participation,the effects of sport expenditure, and economic determinants.For behavioral considerations and sociopolitical decisions,this perspective is strongly related to questions of how toincrease participation of elderly in physical activity andsport. Questions of how to communicate and distributenew and already existing programs are considered.Answers to the influence of environmental conditions,space, and facilities for physical activities of the elderly withtheir socioeconomic relevance are taken into account.