Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport

Contributors are invited to submit their manuscripts in English to the Editor for critical peer review. The Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport considers for publication manuscripts in the categories of:
- Original Research
- Review Article

The manuscripts must be in one of the following sub-disciplines relating generally to the broad sports medicine and sports science fields: sports medicine, sports injury (including injury epidemiology and injury prevention), physiotherapy, podiatry, physical activity and health, sports science, biomechanics, exercise physiology, motor control and learning, sport and exercise psychology, sports nutrition, public health (as relevant to sport and exercise), and rehabilitation and injury management. Manuscripts with an interdisciplinary perspective with specific applications to sport and exercise and its interaction with health will also be considered.

Only studies involving human subjects will be considered.

Authors must declare that manuscripts submitted to the Journal have not been published elsewhere or are not being considered for publication elsewhere and that the research reported will not be submitted for publication elsewhere until a final decision has been made as to its acceptability by the Journal.

PLEASE NOTE that papers will NOT be assigned for peer review until they are formatted as outlined in the Guide for Authors. In particular:
- Ensure that English is of good standard
- Ensure Ethics Committee details are as complete as possible
- Ensure all headings and subheadings conform to the Guide for Authors
- References, both in-text and reference list, must be formatted according to the Guide for Authors
- Provide the Figure Legends as part of the text file, at the end of the manuscript
- Include Acknowledgements – this is mandatory

The review process will consist of reviews by at least two independent reviewers. Contributors must suggest the names and full contact details of 3 possible reviewers. The reviewers must not be from the same institutions as the authors, and one must be from a country different to any of the authors. The Editor may, at his or her discretion, choose no more than one of those suggested. The reviewers will be blinded to the authorship of the manuscript. The Editor will make a final decision about the manuscript, based on consideration of the reviewers' comments.

The journal receives an ever-increasing number of submissions and unfortunately can only publish a small proportion of manuscripts. The journal's Editorial Board does not enter into negotiations once a decision on a manuscript has been made. The Editor's decision is final.

Papers accepted for publication become the copyright of Sports Medicine Australia. Authors will be asked to sign a transfer of copyright form, on receipt of the accepted manuscript by Elsevier. This enables the publisher to administer copyright on behalf of the authors and the society, while allowing the continued use of the material by the author for scholarly communication.

PREPARATION OF MANUSCRIPTS
- Microsoft Word is the preferred software program. Use Arial or Times New Roman font, size eleven (11) point.
- Manuscript is double-spaced throughout (including title page, abstract, text, references, tables, and legends).
- Margins are 1 inch or 2.5 cm all around
- Include page and line numbers for the convenience of the peer reviewers.
- Number the pages consecutively, beginning with the title page as page 1 and ending with the Figure legend page.
- All headings (including the Title) should be in sentence-case only, not in capital letters.
- Sub-headings are generally not accepted. Incorporate into the text if required.
- Footnotes are not acceptable.
- Keep the use of tables, figures and graphs to a minimum.
- See notes on Tables, Figures, Formulae and Scientific Terminology at the end.

WORD COUNT LIMITS
Original Research papers
- 3000 word count limit (excluding title, abstract, tables/figures, figure legends, Acknowledgements, and References)
- Maximum number (combined) of tables and figures is 3
- Long tables should only be included as supplementary material and will be made available on-line only
- Maximum number of references is 30
- A structured abstract of less than 250 words (not included in 3000 word count) should be included with the following headings: Objectives, Design, Method, Results, and Conclusions

Review articles
- 4000 word count limit (excluding title, abstract, tables/figures, figure legends, Acknowledgements, and References)
- Maximum number (combined) of tables and figures is 3
- Long tables should only be included as supplemental files and will be available online only
- Maximum number of references is 60
- A structured abstract of less than 250 words (not included in 4000 word count) should be included sticking as closely as possible to the following headings: Objectives, Design, Method, Results, and Conclusions

SUBMISSION OF MANUSCRIPTS
All manuscripts, correspondence and editorial material for publication should be submitted online via the Elsevier Editorial System at http://www.ees.elsevier.com/jsams.

Authors simply need to "create a new account" (i.e., register) by following the instructions at the website, and using their own e-mail address and selected password. Authors can then submit manuscripts containing text, tables, and images (figures) online. The entire peer-review process will be managed electronically to ensure timely review and publication. Authors can expect an initial decision on their submission within 8 weeks.

Following registration, enter the "Author area" and follow the instructions for submitting a manuscript, including the structured Abstract, suggested reviewers, Cover letter, Tables, Figures, and any supplementary material.

If you wish to publish colour figures and agree to pay the "colour charge", tick the appropriate box. Colour illustrations incur a colour charge of 312 US dollars for the first page and 208 US dollars for every additional page containing colour. Figures can be published in colour at no extra charge for the online version. If you wish to have figures in colour online and black and white figures printed, please submit both versions.

The entire peer-review process will be managed electronically to ensure timely review and publication. Authors can expect an initial decision on their submission within 6 weeks.

Note: the online manuscript submission program requires separate entries of some information that also appears in the manuscript. These separate entries are needed to manage processing and review of your manuscript and correspondence.

Regulatory requirements
- Research protocol: Authors must state that the protocol has been approved by the appropriate ethics committee. Name the committee.
- Human investigation: The Ethical Guidelines followed by the investigators must be included in the Methods section of the manuscript.

STRUCTURE OF THE MANUSCRIPT (in order):

1. Cover Letter - Every submission, regardless of category must include a letter stating:
- the category of article: Original Research or Review article
- the sub-discipline: sports medicine, sports injury (including injury epidemiology and injury prevention), physiotherapy, podiatry, physical activity and health, sports science, biomechanics, exercise physiology, motor control and learning, sport and exercise psychology,sports nutrition, public health (as relevant to sport and exercise), rehabilitation and injury management, and others having an interdisciplinary perspective with specific applications to sport and exercise and its interaction with health.
- Sources of outside support for research (including funding, equipment and drugs) must be named.
- Financial support for the project must be acknowledged, or "no external financial support" declared.
- The role of the funding organisation, if any, in the collection of data, their analysis and interpretation, and in the right to approve or disapprove publication of the finished manuscript must be described in the Methods section of the text.
- When the proposed publication concerns any commercial product, either directly or indirectly, the author must include a statement (1) indicating that he or she has no financial or other interest in the product or distributor of the product or (2) explaining the nature of any relation between himself or herself and the manufacturer or distributor of the product.
- Other kinds of associations, such as consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interests or patent-licensing arrangements, also must be disclosed. Note: If, in the Editor's judgment, the information disclosed represents a potential conflict of interest, it may be made available to reviewers and may be published at the Editor's discretion; authors will be informed of the decision before publication.
- The Ethical Guidelines that have been followed must be stated clearly. Provide the Ethics Committee name and approval number obtained for Human investigation.
- Authors must declare that manuscripts submitted to the Journal have not been published elsewhere or are not being considered for publication elsewhere and that the research reported will not be submitted for publication elsewhere until a final decision has been made as to its acceptability by the Journal.

Permission from the publisher (copyright holder) must be submitted to the Editorial Office for the reproduction of any previously published table(s), illustration(s) or photograph(s) in both print and electronic media or from any unmasked participants appearing in photographs.

2. Title Page (first page) should contain:
a. Title. Short and informative
b. Authors. List all authors by first name, all initials and family name
c. Institution and affiliations. List the name and full address of all institutions where the study described was carried out. List departmental affiliations of each author affiliated with that institution after each institutional address. Connect authors to departments using alphabetical superscripts.
d. Corresponding author. Provide the name and e-mail address of the author to whom communications, proofs and requests for reprints should be sent.
e. Word count (excluding abstract and references), the Abstract word count, the number of Tables, the number of Figures.

3. Manuscript (excluding all author details) should contain: (in order)

a. Abstract - must be structured using the following sub-headings: Objectives, Design, Methods, Results, and Conclusions. Avoid abbreviations and acronyms.

b. Keywords - provide up to 6 keywords, with at least 4 selected via the Index Medicus Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) browser list: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/authors.html. These keywords should not reproduce words used in the paper title.

c. Main body of the text.

For Original Research papers, text should be organised as follows:

i. Introduction - describing the (purpose of the study with a brief review of background

ii. Methods - described in detail. Include details of the Ethics Committee approval obtained for Human investigation, and the ethical guidelines followed by the investigators. This section is not called Materials and Methods, and should not include subheadings. Do not use the term "subjects" - use terms such as "participants", "patients" or "athletes", etc.

iii. Results - concisely reported in tables and figures, with brief text descriptions. Do not include subheadings. Use small, non-italicized letter p for p-values with a leading zero, e.g. 0.05; Measurements and weights should be given in standard metric units. Do not replicate material that is in the tables or figures in the text.

iv. Discussion - concise interpretation of results. Cite references, illustrations and tables in numeric order by order of mention in the text. Do not include subheadings.

v. Conclusion

vi. Practical Implications - 3 to 5 dot (bulleted) points summarising the practical findings derived from the study to the real-world setting of sport and exercise - that can be understood by a lay audience. Avoid overly scientific terms and abbreviations. Dot points should not include recommendations for further research.

vii. Acknowledgments - this section is compulsory. Grants, financial support and technical or other assistance are acknowledged at the end of the text before the references. All financial support for the project must be acknowledged. If there has been no financial assistance with the project, this must be clearly stated.

viii. References - authors are responsible for the accuracy of references.

ix. Tables - may be submitted at the end of the text file, on separate pages, one to each page.

x. Figure Legends - must be submitted as part of the text file and not as illustrations.

4. Figures - must be submitted as one or more separate files that may contain one or more images.

5. Supplementary material (if any) - tables or figures to be viewed online only



REFERENCES

- References should be numbered consecutively in un-bracketed superscripts where they occur in the text, tables, etc, and listed numerically (e.g. "1", "2") at the end of the paper under the heading "References".

- For Original Research papers, no more than three references should be used to support a specific point in the text.

- All authors should be listed where there are three or fewer. Where there are more than three, the reference should be to the first three authors followed by the expression "et al".

- Book and journal titles should be in italics.

- Conference and other abstracts should not be used as references. Material referred to by the phrase "personal communication" or "submitted for publication" are not considered full references and should only be placed in parentheses at the appropriate place in the text (e.g., (Hessel 1997 personal communication). References to articles submitted but not yet accepted are not encouraged but, if necessary, should only be referred to in the text as "unpublished data".

- Footnotes are unacceptable.

- Book references:
Last name and initials of author, chapter title, chapter number, italicised title of book, edition (if applicable), editor, translator (if applicable), place of publication, publisher, year of publication.

Example:
Wilk KE, Reinold MM, Andrews JR. Interval sport programs for the shoulder, Chapter 58, in The Athlete's Shoulder, 2nd ed., Philadelphia, Churchill Livingstone, 2009

- Journal references:
Last name and initials of principal author followed by last name(s) and initials of co-author(s), title of article (with first word only starting in capitals), abbreviated and italicised title of journal, year, volume (with issue number in parenthesis if applicable), inclusive pages.

For guidance on abbreviations of journal titles, see Index Medicus at www.nlm.nih.gov/tsd/serials/lji.html.

Example:
Hanna CM, Fulcher ML, Elley CR et al. Normative values of hip strength in adult male association football players assessed by handheld dynamometry. J Sci Med Sport 2010; 13(3):299-303.

- Internet references should be as follows:
Health Care Financing Administration. 1996 statistics at a glance. Available at: http://www.hcfa.gov/stats/stathili.htm. Accessed 2 December 1996.

- Articles in Press are cited using a DOI: http://www.doi.org. The correct format for citing a DOI is as follows: doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2009.10.104.

TABLES
- Tables should be part of the text file, placed on separate sheets (one to each page) after the References section. Do not use vertical lines.
- Each table should be numbered (Arabic) and have a title above. Legends and explanatory notes should be placed below the table.
- Abbreviations used in the table follow the legend in alphabetic order.
- Lower case letter superscripts beginning with "a" and following in alphabetic order are used for notations of within-group and between-group statistical probabilities.
- Tables should be self-explanatory, and the data should not be duplicated in the text or illustrations.

FIGURE LEGENDS
- Figure legends should be numbered (Arabic) and double-spaced in order of appearance, beginning on a separate page.
- Identify (in alphabetic order) all abbreviations appearing in the illustrations at the end of each legend.
- All abbreviations used on a figure and in its legend should be defined in the legend.
- Cite the source of previously published (print or electronic) material in the legend.
- Figure legends must be submitted as part of the text file and not as illustrations.

FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
- Images or figures are submitted online as one or more separate files that may contain one or more images.
- Within each file, use the figure number (e.g., Figure 1A) as the image filename.
- The system accepts image files formatted in TIF and EPS. PowerPoint (.ppt) files are accepted, but you must use a separate PowerPoint image file for each PowerPoint figure.
- Symbols, letters, numbers and contrasting fills must be distinct, easily distinguished and clearly legible when the illustration is reduced in size.
- Black, white and widely crosshatched bars are preferable; do not use stippling, gray fill or thin lines.
- Written permission from unmasked patients appearing in photographs must be obtained by the authors and must be surface mailed or faxed to the editorial office once the manuscript is submitted online.

FORMULAE, Equations and Statistical Notations
- Structural formulae, flow-diagrams and complex mathematical expressions are expensive to print and should be kept to a minimum.
- Present simple formulae in the line of normal text, where possible. Use a slash (/) for simple fractions rather than a built up fraction. Do not use italics for variables.
- In statistical analyses, 95% confidence intervals should be used, where appropriate. Experimental design should be concisely described and results summarised by reporting means, standard deviations (SD) or standard errors (SE) and the number of observations. Statistical tests and associated confidence intervals for differences or p-values should also be reported when comparisons are made. Only use normal text for statistical terms: do not use bold, italics or underlined text.

SCIENTIFIC TERMINOLOGY
- To enable consistency, authors should generally follow the technical guidelines of Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, unless otherwise stipulated in these Instructions.
- Following are some examples of the Journal style in the most basic cases and some general SI unit guidelines.

- Mass: 10 g, 2 kg
- Temperature: 20 o C
- Distance: 10 cm, 4 m, 20 km
- Time: 10 s, 20 min, 2 hr, 5 wk, 1 y
- Power: 10 W
- Energy: 400 J, 10 kJ.

- The centigrade scale (C) and the metric units (SI) must be used, except in the case of heart rate (beats per min: bpm), blood pressure (mmHg) and gas pressure (mmHg).
- When opening a sentence, numbers should be expressed in words, e.g.: Forty-seven patients were contacted by phone.
- The 24-hour clock should be used.