In 2006, the late I. Barry Pless, then editor-in-chief of Injury Prevention, pleaded that ‘Promoting the international arms trade’ (was) ‘incompatible with medical publishing’s values’1; this editorial was triggered by revelations regarding the involvement of a major publisher with the arms industry. The question of the concordance of our values with the promotion of violence determinants might still be raised regarding our support to the recurrent World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, of which the abstracts have been published as a supplement of Injury Prevention since 2002.

This conference is logically organised in countries where the injury prevention and research community are strong. For instance, the 2024 edition was hosted jointly by four WHO Collaborating Centres, including three in the country where the conference is held. Notably, the three local centres, by their numerous publications, contribute to the visibility of the host country’s role in injury prevention and safety promotion. In my opinion, this contribution in itself justifies …