AUTHOR’S GUIDELINES
GENERAL INFORMATION
Journal of Applied Sports Sciences accepts for review articles (original articles, reports, discussions, studies, editorial materials) in any of the following research areas: sport, sports excellence, sports medicine, sports physiology, biomechanics, nutrition, sports education, sports psychology, sports management, and sports training, applied health and medical sciences related to the sports practices, social dimensions of sport and European dimensions in organizing modern sport.
The Journal of Applied Sports Sciences does not charge authors a fee for submitting or publishing their articles.
The volume of the articles should not exceed 20 standard pages. Publications in the Journal of Applied Sports Sciences should be written in English language.
Submissions to the Journal of Applied Sports Sciences are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts, the online submission and peer review system. Registration and access is available directly at https://mc04.manuscriptcentral.com/jasportssciences
Full information and guidance on using Scholar One Manuscripts is available at the Emerald ScholarOne Manuscripts Support Centre: http://mchelp.manuscriptcentral.com/gethelpnow/training/author/.
Registering on ScholarOne Manuscripts
If you have not yet registered on ScholarOne Manuscripts, please follow the instructions below:
- Please go to: https://journal.nsa.bg. On the left side, you will see the “Send your manuscript here” button.
- The system will offer you to enter your Account or to Create an Account. You may enter with your e-mail and password if you already have a registration.
- If you are going to create an account, please follow the on-screen instructions, filling in the requested details before proceeding
- Your username will be your email address, and you must input a password of at least 8 characters in length and containing two or more numbers
- Click Finish, and your account has been created.
MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSION PROCESS
The proposed papers are submitted to the Editorial team of the Journal of Applied Sports Sciences. Article submissions should be only made through the electronic submission module. To submit a paper for publication in the journal, the submitting author should log in to the ScholarOne Manuscripts platform. We kindly request authors to carefully read the Instructions &Forms before submitting their articles for review. Once logged in, the author can see a chronology of submitted manuscripts and send a new one through “Start New Submission” => “Begin Submission”. The process of sending a new manuscript includes 7 basic steps:
Step 1: Select the type of manuscript, and fill in the title and abstract in English.
Step 2: File Upload. Here you may upload the Main Document, Title page, files with tables and figures. Remember that the Main document should be anonymous. If you are submitting a revision, please include only the latest set of files. If you have updated a file, please delete the original version and upload the revised file.
Please, fill out the following PLAGIARISM DECLARATION and attach the file in the system when submitting your manuscript as “Supplemental file NOT for review”.
Step 3: Attributes. Write and/or choose keywords. (The number of keywords should not exceed 5 words).
Step 4: Authors & Institutions. Enter your co-authors’ information by searching each of their email addresses below. If they have an existing account, their information can be easily imported into the submission. If necessary, you may add a co-author as a new user in the system by clicking “Create New Author”.
Step 5: Reviewers. To suggests a reviewer or request the exclusion of a reviewer, click the Add Reviewer button below and enter their information along with the desired designation.
Step 6: Details and Comments: The submitting author may enter or paste a cover letter text into the “Cover Letter” box. The cover letter may also be attached. Answer any remaining questions appropriately.
Step 7: Review & Submit. Review the information below for accuracy and make changes as needed. After reviewing the manuscript proofs at the foot of this page, you MUST CLICK ‘SUBMIT’ to complete your submission.
The received manuscripts are reviewed in accordance with Author’s Guidelines by a member of the Editorial Team. Manuscripts that do not comply with the requirements shall be returned to the authors for revision. Manuscripts that meet the requirements shall be admitted for review.
For each of the submitted and approved articles, the Editorial Team shall assign minimum two reviewers. Reviews shall be made in terms defined by the Editorial Team and in accordance with its requirements to the reviewers.
Reviewing of articles shall be done in accordance with the standards for the evaluation of manuscripts through the double-blind peer review system. The reviewers give their assessment of the manuscripts in terms of the following criteria: scope of the research, novelty of the examined issues, originality, accuracy and clarity of the abstract describing the main text, logical structure and sequence of the submission, relevance of the methodology, validity of the results, proving the thesis, applicability of the results, validity of findings and conclusions, propriety and relevance of citations, accuracy and clarity of language.
The Editor-in-Chief commits the final decision for publication based on the conclusions of the reviewers. The decision can be: publish it without revisions, publish it after revision in accordance with the recommendations made in reviews, refuse to publish. If the Editor-in-Chief commits a decision to publish the manuscript after revision upon recommendations, authors should review and answer to the Editorial e-mails. The authors have to revise their manuscripts and present a report of the revisions they made in terms defined by the Editor-in-Chief, upon which a decision whether to publish it or refuse to publish the manuscript will be made.
If there are contradictions of the reviews, the Editor-in-Chief may determine an additional reviewer (reviewers).
SUBMISSION AND STRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS OF THE ARTICLES
The article submissions shall be provided in Microsoft Word format as follows:
- Font: Times New Roman 12;
- Format of the pages: Page Setup: Top: 2,5 cm, Bottom: 2,5 cm, Left: 2,5 cm, Right: 2,5 cm
- Line Spacing: 1,5 lines; First Line: 1,5 cm; Paper Size: A4.
- The main structure of the article shall include:
- First page;
- Introduction
- Main text
- Conclusions
- References
Title page (pages)
The Title page/s includes:
Title of the article (it is recommended the title of the article be short (5-10 words) and present the main topic of the study);
Abstract. The abstract should be only in English. It should be clear and concisely contain the following elements:
- Introduction (“background” of the study) (required);
- Purpose and objectives of the study (required);
- Applied methodology (“staging of the research”) (required)
- Achieved major results (required)
- Leads (conclusions) (required);
- Limitations of the research and consequences (if any)
- Practical implications (if any);
- Originality/Value (required);
The maximum length of the abstract should not exceed 300 words.
Keywords (specify up to 5 keywords in English).
Article Classification. Authors must categorize their paper as part of the ScholarOne submission process.
Main Text
Introduction
The purpose of the introduction is to convince readers that the published research contains novelty and it is applicable. It answers the following questions:
- What is the main problem?
- Are there any existing solutions (indicates the level of study the problem at the moment)?
- What are the best solutions according to the author/s?
- What is the main limitation of the research?
- What is expected to be achieved by the author of the research?
The main text is structured into separate sections, distinguished by their titles (headings should be brief, with a clear indication of the differences between their hierarchy). The preferred format for writing the main titles is to be in bold format and subtitles to be written in italics. font – Times New Roman 12, capitals, left alignment).
The main text should include:
Purpose and objectives of the study. The purpose and objectives of the study should ensure the understanding of the publication’s focus and should justify its structure. After that, the authors should specify:
- What is the significance of the publication?
- Why is the publication important and original?
- To whom is the publication designed?
Additionally, can be discussed potential utility of practice, the importance for future studies, detailed limitations of the study and others.
Main thesis and hypothesis of the research. Authors’ arguments about their merit are presented.
Applied methodology and methods. The author should indicate the main methods used by him in a separate title. The author(s) should demonstrate that the methodology is robust and appropriate to achieve the objectives. It is expected by the author to focus on the main theme, to point the main stages of his research, to show the used methods and influences that determine the chosen approach by him, to give arguments why he has chosen specific examples and others.
Achieved major results. When presenting the results, it is important that authors focus on the essentials. The publication must contain only the essential facts and those with a wider meaning without giving many details of every possible statistics. If development is full of statistics, it is possible to prevail over the conclusions and after all the publication to be seen primarily as an enumeration of facts, not as a scientific study. The main thesis of the author must be clearly traceable and steadily established.
When describing the results author should seek answers to the following questions:
- Do you provide an interpretation for each of the submitted results you want?
- Are the results consistent with what other researchers have found?
- Are there any differences? Why?
- Are there any limitations?
- Does the discussion logically lead the reader to your conclusion?
It is important when presenting the results not to make statements that go beyond what results can acknowledge.
Conclusion
The general rule is that the conclusion should not only contain a summary of the research (it can be found in the abstract). The conclusion should give answers to the set at the beginning of the publication questions and to indicate opportunities for further research. It would be better to reveal how the achieved results will be applied in practice and to identify constraints in this regard. While indicating how this research can be applied and extended in future studies, it is not accepted in the conclusion to introduce new material or state the obvious. In the conclusion it should be emphasized what is different in the research results, what stands out in the design or is unexpected.
Notes
Notes or Endnotes should be used only if absolutely necessary and must be identified in the text by consecutive numbers, enclosed in square brackets, and listed at the end of the article.
Funding
The funding agencies, projects or institutions of the scientific research should be added in Step 6 of the submission process on the ScholarOne system.
Figures
All Figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, web pages/screenshots, and photographic images) should be submitted in electronic form.
All Figures should be of high quality, legible, and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Graphics may be supplied in color to facilitate their appearance on the online database.
- If possible, the figures should be made in graphical programs (Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe PhotoShop) or Excel. The figures should not be in Picture format. They should be numbered consecutively in order of citation in the text. Numbers and titles of the figures are placed below them. Authors should avoid many inscriptions inside the figures.
- Pictures and scanned images can be made into separate files, preferably in JPG or TIFF format, not embedded in the text. Photos must be of good quality and suitable for printing.
- If authors make a blueprint, they should use Word Equations. The numbers of formulas should be written in brackets on the left side of the page!
Tables
Tables should be typed in Word Table or Excel format. They should be numbered consecutively according to the citation in the text. Each table should have a title. Numbers and titles of the tables are placed over them. It is preferable that it fit on the page without turning widest part of the sheet horizontally. The necessary explanations are given below by means of appropriate symbols/characters.
Human and animal rights
In accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 and 2008, all authors should consider the following:
Manuscripts describing procedures involving humans or animals must include an explicit and easily identifiable statement pointing out that the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration. If any doubt exists as to whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must, in primis, explain the rationale for their approach and then demonstrate that the institutional ethical committee explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. If the authors report experiments in which animals were included, authors must indicate that the institutional and national guidelines for the care and use of laboratory animals were followed.
The journal will not accept advertising for products or services known to be harmful to health (e.g., tobacco and alcohol products).
References
References to other publications must be in APA style and carefully checked for completeness, accuracy, and consistency.
The cited authors should be presented in any of the following ways:
- Surname and year of publication (ex. Adams, 2006)
- Citing both names of two and the year of publication (ex. Adams, Brown, 2006)
- When there are more than three authors, it is typed the surname of the first author
and the year of publication (ex. Adams et al., 2006)
A reference list in alphabetical order should be supplied at the end of the paper.
For books |
Surname, Initials. (year). Title of Book, Publisher, Place of publication. Example: Harrow, R. (2005). No Place to Hide, Simon & Schuster, New York, NY. |
For book chapters |
Surname, Initials. (year). Chapter title, Editor’s Surname, Initials, Title of Book, Publisher, Place of publication, pages. Example: Calabrese, F.A. (2005). The early pathways: theory to practice – a continuum, in Stankosky, M. (Ed.), Creating the Discipline of Knowledge Management, Elsevier, New York, NY, pp. 15-20. |
For journals |
Surname, Initials. (year). Title of article, Journal Name, volume, number, pages. Example: Capizzi, M.T. and Ferguson, R. (2005). Loyalty trends for the twenty-first century, Journal of Consumer Marketing, Vol. 22 No. 2, pp. 72-80. |
For published conference proceedings |
Surname, Initials (year of publication), Title of paper, in Surname, Initials (Ed.), Title of published proceeding which may include place and date(s) held, Publisher, Place of publication, Page numbers. Example: Jakkilinki, R., Georgievski, M. and Sharda, N. (2007). Connecting destinations with an ontology-based e-tourism planner, in Information and communication technologies in tourism 2007 proceedings of the international conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia, 2007, Springer-Verlag, Vienna, pp. 12-32. |
For unpublished conference proceedings |
Surname, Initials. (year). Title of paper, paper presented at Name of Conference, date of conference, place of conference, available at: URL if freely available on the internet (accessed date). Example: Aumueller, D. (2005). Semantic authoring and retrieval within a wiki, paper presented at the European Semantic Web Conference (ESWC), 29 May-1 June, Heraklion, Crete, available at: http://dbs.uni-leipzig.de/file/aumueller05wiksar.pdf (accessed 20 February 2007). |
For working papers |
Surname, Initials. (year). Title of article, working paper [number if available], Institution or organization, Place of organization, date. Example: Moizer, P. (2003). How published academic research can inform policy decisions: the case of mandatory rotation of audit appointments, working paper, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, 28 March. |
For encyclopedia entries (with no author or editor) |
Title of Encyclopedia (year). Title of entry, volume, edition, Title of Encyclopedia, Publisher, Place of publication, pages. Example: Encyclopaedia Britannica (1926). Psychology of culture contact, Vol. 1, 13th ed., Encyclopaedia Britannica, London and New York, NY, pp. 765-71. (For authored entries please refer to book chapter guidelines above) |
For newspaper articles (authored) |
Surname, Initials. (year). Article title, Newspaper, date, pages. Example: Smith, A. (2008). Money for old rope, Daily News, 21 January, pp. 1, 3-4. |
For newspaper articles (non-authored) |
Newspaper (year). Article title, date, pages. Example: Daily News (2008). Small change, 2 February, p. 7. |
For archival or other unpublished sources |
Surname, Initials. (year). Title of the document, Unpublished Manuscript, collection name, inventory record, name of archive, location of archive. Example: Litman, S. (1902). Mechanism & Technique of Commerce, Unpublished Manuscript, Simon Litman Papers, Record series 9/5/29 Box 3, University of Illinois Archives, Urbana-Champaign, IL. |
For electronic sources
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If available online, the full URL should be supplied at the end of the reference, as well as a date that the resource was accessed. Example: Castle, B. (2005). Introduction to web services for remote portlets, available at: http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/ws-wsrp/ (accessed 12 November 2007). Standalone URLs, i.e. without an author or date, should be included either within parentheses within the main text, or preferably set as a note (roman numeral within square brackets within text followed by the full URL address at the end of the paper).
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За източници на български език:
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For each source quoted in Cyrillic – in Bulgarian language should be given the same source, written in the regulations of the transliteration. Example: Ерхард, Л. (1993). Благоденствие за всички, София, УИ “Стопанство”. Erhard, L. (1993). Blagodenstvie za vsichki, Sofia, UI „Stopanstvo“. |