Dr Bashir Appointed JNSP Editor-In-Chief

The National Executive Council of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Bashir Kaka, PT as the new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy. 

In this Editorial, read as Dr. Kaka introduces himself, describes some of the journal’s attributes, and shares his vision and targets for its future

When invited by the current president of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy, Dr. Nina Nnenna Chigbo to become the Editor-in-Chief of the JNSP sometime ago, I was reluctant due to my hectic schedule. When re-invited this year, I decided to leap into the breach. I am delighted and truly appreciate the opportunity to address this editorial to our teeming readers. I appreciate the immediate past editor-in-chief Prof Sokunbi for his glowing contributions to the JNSP. To our publisher and host, the Academic Journals, and all the past editors-in-chief and editorial board members I say, thank you. Let me use this opportunity to tell you a bit about my background. I am a physiotherapist specializing in Orthopaedics.  I obtained my first degree in Physiotherapy from Bayero University Kano, Nigeria in 2003, Masters and PhD in Physiotherapy from the premier university, the University of Ibadan, Nigeria in 2011 and 2015 respectively. The first to start Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy in Zamfara State in 2006, during the period new scheme of services was approved for physiotherapists in the state.

Presently, I work as a Senior Lecturer and Deputy Provost Administration, College of Health Sciences, Bayero University, Kano/Dean Faculty of Allied Health Science where I had served as a former head of the Department of Physiotherapy. Honorary Research Fellow School of Health Sciences, Discipline of Physiotherapy, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Postdoctoral research fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2017, Visiting Researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, the United Kingdom in 2019, and Honorary Physiotherapist at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital Kano.

As a Researcher and Clinician, I have published widely in musculoskeletal physiotherapy, health outcome research, and Disability, and supervised many Undergraduate and Postgraduate Students. I currently have three ongoing Research Projects, one with International Collaboration. I have attended many international and local conferences and reviewed high-impact Journals in my niche research area while serving in some journals as a member of the editorial board. 
Recently, I was awarded a National Research Fund grant to conduct a research titled “Development of Rehabilitation protocol for Community Reintegration following spinal cord injury” by the Tertiary Education Trust Fund. Other grants received include the EUROQOL Research Foundation Award for the Translation of EQ-5D-5L Paper Self-Complete and EQ-5D-5L Interviewer administration into Hausa Language, Travel grants from ISPRM, and a Bursary from the International Diabetic Epidemiology Group. I have received a national recognition award from the Nigerian Society of Physiotherapy for the support and mentorship of young academics. I am also an active member of the International Society for Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM).

There are many reasons to decide to submit to the Journal of the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy. The journal operates a fully open access publishing model, which ensures maximum visibility, disseminating authors’ research to a wide audience. Authors that publish with JNSP also retain the right to grant anyone the opportunity to reproduce and disseminate their research. There are also free slots every year ensuring publishers do not need to pay for the publication of their manuscripts. I hope as many authors as possible will take advantage of this. My vision for JNSP is to make it financially independent and to work closely with relevant indexing databases including but not limited to African journals online, Scopus, PubMed, and Embase to ensure articles published in JNSP are made available in them. I also hope to work along with a sound editorial board with international recognition in order to make the journal consistently publish at least one issue per year and have published special issues for the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy’s annual conferences.
In conclusion, I hope my appointment as the editor-in-chief along with the changes to further improve the journal, motivates authors in the fields of physiotherapy, pain, ergonomics, health promotion, community rehabilitation, and Disability to submit their research HERE.