Falls in the elderly.

Several months ago members were asked whether ISCAIP and Injury Prevention should include intentional injuries. Some phrased the question, " Should we have violence in the journal? " My answer was a quick and emphatic " no " because I had visions of the editorial board engaged in sumo wrestling. But it later became clear that what was being asked was whether material dealing with violence had a home in the journal. The issue arose again when it was decided that the ISCAIP meeting would be enlivened by a debate on this topic. The question was something along the lines of " Resolved: intentional injuries should be viewed differently from unintentional injuries ". With some reluctance I agreed to speak in favour of the motion but made it clear that in doing so I would try to behave like the witty, provocative debaters whose oratorical skills I envy; skills that permit them to defend any position, including those with which they passionately disagree. Accordingly, at the outset, I announced that I did not fully believe in the position I was assigned to defend, and, more importantly, that whatever I said was not the oYcial view of the journal. I reminded the audience, as I now remind readers, that our policy has always been to welcome papers dealing with intentional injury (violence or suicide) just as warmly as we do those addressing the prevention of unintentional injury. There is no major disagreement among the editorial board with this policy. Unless we reverse ourselves the door of Injury Prevention will remain wide open to papers addressing suicide and violence prevention. Although my team lost, the debate was fun, and some serious points were made. In the debate I noted that the main reason we have hitherto published so little on this topic is simply that we have had few contributions. I suggested that this may reflect the fact that the disciplines most heavily involved in violence prevention may be more comfortable publishing in social science journals rather than in one that is widely perceived as a " health " journal. But our intentions remain honorable and we hope more authors will consider Injury Prevention as a suitable venue for their findings The present issue includes several excellent contributions on violence: three original articles, two guest editorials , and a special feature. Nevertheless, it is still reasonable to ask why there has not …