What’s in a Name? Reflections at a Milestone Moment in African Safety Promotion

Abstract

The year 2020 marked 19 years since African Safety Promotion: A Journal of Injury and Violence Prevention (ASP) was launched. In this reflective account, I describe selected aspects of the journal’s reach and published contents, with reference to the founding impulse and aims that shaped its vision and trajectory over almost two decades. Even though ASP was successful in its aim of attracting contributions that support the development of public health-oriented injury and violence prevention science, it did not gain the requisite traction with respect to its intention to serve as an Africa-centred dialogical space. Several factors appear to have influenced ASP’s substantive trajectory, identity and progression, and the subsequent decision to change its name.