Guide for Authors
Mental Health and Physical Activity (MENPA) is an international forum for scholarly reports
on any aspect of relevance to advancing our understanding of the relationship between mental health and physical activity. Manuscripts
will be considered for publication which deal with high quality research, comprehensive research reviews, and critical reflection of
applied or research issues. The journal is open to the use of diverse methodological approaches. Reports of professional practice will
need to demonstrate academic rigour, preferably through analysis of programme effectiveness, and go beyond mere description.
Contact Details
If you wish to contact one of the Editors in Chief for any reason, (e.g. becoming a reviewer,
interest in joining the editorial board, an issue about journal policy, if your manuscript fits the scope of the journal) please use
the following contact details:
Adrian H. Taylor, PhD. School of Sport and Health Sciences, University of Exeter, Heavitree Rd, Exeter,
Devon, EX1 2LU, UK. Email address:
a.h.taylor@ex.ac.uk
Guy Faulkner, PhD. Faculty of Physical Education and Health,
55 Harbord St., University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 2W6, Canada. Email address:
guy.faulkner@utoronto.ca
Peer Review
Manuscripts will be subject to blind peer review by experts in the field of study. Authors
are requested to reasonably remove content within the submission that may reveal their identity. Typically at least 2 reviewers will
be invited to provide a review, one of whom is usually a member of the Editorial Board. Authors are invited to indicate in the cover
letter any preferred reviewer(s) or reviewer(s) who should not be approached, for whatever reason. Reviews are typically made available
to authors via the online system within 3-6 weeks.
Ethics in Publishing
For information on Ethics in Publishing and Ethical guidelines for journal publication
see
http://www.elsevier.com/publishingethics and
http://www.elsevier.com/ethicalguidelines.
Conflict of interest
All authors are requested to disclose any actual or potential conflict of interest
including any financial, personal or other relationships with other people or organizations within three years of beginning the submitted
work that could inappropriately influence, or be perceived to influence, their work. See also
http://www.elsevier.com/conflictsofinterest.
Submission declaration
Submission of an article implies that the work described has not been published previously
(except in the form of an abstract or as part of a published lecture or academic thesis), that it is not under consideration for publication
elsewhere, that its publication is approved by all authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was
carried out, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, without
the written consent of the copyright-holder.
Copyright
Upon acceptance
of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' (for more information on this and copyright see
http://www.elsevier.com/copyright).
Acceptance of the agreement will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. An e-mail will be sent to the corresponding
author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Journal Publishing Agreement' form or a link to the online version of this
agreement.
Subscribers may reproduce tables of contents or prepare lists of articles including abstracts for internal circulation
within their institutions. Permission of the Publisher is required for resale or distribution outside the institution and for all other
derivative works, including compilations and translations (please consult
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions). If excerpts
from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s)
in the article. Elsevier has preprinted forms for use by authors in these cases: please consult
http://www.elsevier.com/permissions.
Retained author rights
As an author you (or your employer or institution) retain certain rights; for details
you are referred to:
http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights.
Role of the
funding source
You are requested to identify who provided financial support for the conduct of the research and/or preparation
of the article and to briefly describe the role of the sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation
of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication. If the funding source(s) had no such
involvement then this should be stated. Please see
http://www.elsevier.com/funding.
Funding body agreements and policies
Elsevier has established agreements and developed policies to allow authors whose
articles appear in journals published by Elsevier, to comply with potential manuscript archiving requirements as specified as conditions
of their grant awards. To learn more about existing agreements and policies please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/fundingbodies.
Language and language services
Please write your text in good English (American or British usage is accepted,
but not a mixture of these). Authors who require information about language editing and copyediting services pre- and post-submission
please visit
http://www.elsevier.com/languagepolishing or our customer support site at
http://epsupport.elsevier.com
for more information. Please note Elsevier neither endorses nor takes responsibility for any products, goods or services offered by outside
vendors through our services or in any advertising. For more information please refer to our Terms & Conditions:
http://www.elsevier.com/termsandconditions.
Submission
Submission to this journal proceeds totally online and you will be guided stepwise through
the creation and uploading of your files. The system automatically converts source files to a single PDF file of the article, which is
used in the peer-review process. Please note that even though manuscript source files are converted to PDF files at submission for the
review process, these source files are needed for further processing after acceptance. All correspondence, including notification of
the Editor's decision and requests for revision, takes place by e-mail removing the need for a paper trail.
Standards in Conducting and Reporting Biomedical Research
MENPA supports initiatives to enhance how
clinical trials are conducted and reported, including appropriate registering and numbering of trials. The International Committee of
Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (
http://www.icmje.org/) defines a clinical trial as any research study involving human participants
who are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes. We recommend that where the main
purpose of the study is to understand the effects of a preventative or therapeutic physical activity intervention, authors of protocols
or reports of clinical trials, must register their trial prior to submission in a suitable publicly accessible registry. The trial registration
number should be included as the last line of the abstract of the manuscript. Related to this matter, MENPA supports the need to publish
reports on trials in which the intervention is ineffective, where the protocol was appropriate and rigorously applied.
MENPA supports
several initiatives to enhance the reporting of biomedical research. Authors are directed to checklists for a number of study designs,
including randomized controlled trials (CONSORT)(
http://www.consort-statement.org/index.aspx?o=1031), systematic reviews
(PRISMA)(
http://www.prisma-statement.org/) and how to conduct a systematic search how a search strategy (see the Cochrane
Reviewers' Handbook)(
http://www.cochrane-handbook.org/), meta-analyses (MOOSE)(
http://www.consort-statement.org/resources/downloads/other-instruments/),
and reporting of observational studies (STROBE)(
http://www.strobe-statement.org/Checklist.html). Guidance on the reporting
of qualitative studies can be found such as (RATS)(
http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/ifora/rats). Authors can also refer
to the EQUATOR network website (
http://www.equator-network.org/index.aspx?o=1032) for further information on reporting guidelines
for health research. Peer reviewers are likely to refer to these checklists when evaluating manuscripts.
Preparation
Cover letter: The cover letter accompanying the manuscript submission must include all
authors' names and affiliations to avoid potential conflicts of interest in the review process. An address, phone number, email address
and fax number should be provided for the corresponding author for possible use by the editorial office and later by the production department.
The cover letter should indicate any potential conflicts of interest (e.g., commercial sponsorship). The source of any funding that may
have contributed to the production of the research and/or manuscript should be declared in the cover letter, and if the manuscript is
accepted for publication, as an acknowledgement in the published paper.
General: Manuscripts should be prepared following
the general style guidelines described in the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition). Do
not import the Figures or Tables into your text. The Editors reserve the right to adjust style to certain standards of uniformity.
Paper
Length: All manuscripts should be presented as concisely as possible, and our preference is to receive manuscripts that are 30 A4,
double spaced pages or less (APA format), including text, references, figures, and tables. For longer manuscript, authors should contact
an Editor in Chief prior to submission with a clear justification for the need for a longer manuscript. Short Communications are also
accepted and encouraged. These are typically no more than 15 A4, double spaced pages (APA format).
Essential title page information
•
Title.
Concise and informative. Titles are often
used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and formulae where possible.
•
Author names and affiliations.
Where the family name may be ambiguous (e.g., a double name), please indicate this clearly. Present the authors' affiliation addresses
(where the actual work was done) below the names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter immediately after the
author's name and in front of the appropriate address. Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name,
and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
•
Corresponding author.
Clearly indicate who will handle
correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication, also post-publication.
Ensure that telephone and fax numbers (with country
and area code) are provided in addition to the e-mail address and the complete postal address.
•
Present/permanent
address.
If an author has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at the time, a "Present address"
(or "Permanent address") may be indicated as a footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did the work
must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic numerals are used for such footnotes.
Abstract
Papers should include a structured abstract, not exceeding 250 worlds, covering the main factual
points and statement of problem, method, results and conclusions.
Keywords
Authors
are requested to supply a maximum of 6 keywords accurately describing the contents of the manuscript. These are normally not words used
in the title.
Electronic artwork
General points
•
Make sure you use uniform lettering and sizing of your original artwork.
• Save text in illustrations as "graphics" or enclose
the font.
• Only use the following fonts in your illustrations: Arial, Courier, Times, Symbol.
• Number the illustrations
according to their sequence in the text.
• Use a logical naming convention for your artwork files.
• Provide captions
to illustrations separately.
• Produce images near to the desired size of the printed version.
• Submit each figure
as a separate file.
A detailed guide on electronic artwork is available on our website:
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions
You are urged to visit this site; some excerpts from the detailed information are given here.
Formats
Regardless
of the application used, when your electronic artwork is finalised, please "save as" or convert the images to one of the following formats
(note the resolution requirements for line drawings, halftones, and line/halftone combinations given below):
EPS: Vector drawings.
Embed the font or save the text as "graphics".
TIFF: color or grayscale photographs (halftones): always use a minimum of 300 dpi.
TIFF: Bitmapped line drawings: use a minimum of 1000 dpi.
TIFF: Combinations bitmapped line/half-tone (color or grayscale): a
minimum of 500 dpi is required.
DOC, XLS or PPT: If your electronic artwork is created in any of these Microsoft Office applications
please supply "as is".
Please do not:
• Supply embedded graphics in your wordprocessor (spreadsheet, presentation)
document;
• Supply files that are optimised for screen use (like GIF, BMP, PICT, WPG); the resolution is too low;
•
Supply files that are too low in resolution;
• Submit graphics that are disproportionately large for the content.
Color artwork
Please make sure that artwork files are in an acceptable format (TIFF, EPS or MS Office
files) and with the correct resolution. If, together with your accepted article, you submit usable color figures then Elsevier will ensure,
at no additional charge, that these figures will appear in color on the Web (e.g., ScienceDirect and other sites) regardless of whether
or not these illustrations are reproduced in color in the printed version.
For color reproduction in print, you will receive information
regarding the costs from Elsevier after receipt of your accepted article. Please indicate your preference for color in print or on
the Web only. For further information on the preparation of electronic artwork, please see
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Please note: Because of technical complications which can arise by converting color figures to "gray scale" (for the printed version
should you not opt for color in print) please submit in addition usable black and white versions of all the color illustrations.
Figure captions
Ensure that each illustration has a caption. Supply captions separately, not attached
to the figure. A caption should comprise a brief title (
not on the figure itself) and a description of the illustration. Keep
text in the illustrations themselves to a minimum but explain all symbols and abbreviations used.
Tables
Number tables consecutively in accordance with their appearance in the text. Place footnotes to tables below the
table body and indicate them with superscript lowercase letters. Avoid vertical rules. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that
the data presented in tables do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article.
References
Citation in text
Please ensure that every reference
cited in the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references cited in the abstract must be given in full.
Unpublished results and personal communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned in the text. If these
references are included in the reference list they should follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a substitution
of the publication date with either "Unpublished results" or "Personal communication" Citation of a reference as "in press" implies that
the item has been accepted for publication.
Web references
As a minimum,
the full URL should be given. Any further information, if known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.),
should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the reference list) under a different heading if desired,
or can be included in the reference list.
References in a special issue
Please ensure that the words 'this issue' are added to any references in the list (and any citations in the text) to other articles
in the same Special Issue.
Reference Style
References should be prepared
using the
Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th Edition) for style. For example:
Reference to
a book:
Morgan, W.P. (1997).
Physical activity and mental health. Washington: Hemisphere.
Reference to a chapter in an
edited book:
Courneya, K.S. (2005). Exercise and quality of life in cancer survivors. In G. Faulkner and A.H. Taylor (Eds.), Exercise,
health and mental health: Emerging relationships (pp. 114-134). London, UK: Routledge.
Reference to a journal publication:
Lawlor,
D.A. and Hopker, S.W. (2001). The effectiveness of exercise as an intervention in the management of depression: systemic review and meta-regression
analysis of randomised controlled trials.
British Medical Journal, 322, 1-8.
Supplementary material
Elsevier accepts electronic supplementary material to support and enhance your scientific research.
Supplementary files offer the author additional possibilities to publish supporting applications, movies, animation sequences, high-resolution
images, background datasets, sound clips and more. Supplementary files supplied will be published online alongside the electronic version
of your article in Elsevier Web products, including ScienceDirect:
http://www.sciencedirect.com. In order to ensure that
your submitted material is directly usable, please ensure that data are provided in one of our recommended file formats. Authors should
submit the material in electronic format together with the article and supply a concise and descriptive caption for each file. Video
files: please supply 'stills' with your files: you can choose any frame from the video or make a separate image. These will be used instead
of standard icons and will personalize the link to your supplementary information. For more detailed instructions please visit our artwork
instruction pages at
http://www.elsevier.com/artworkinstructions.
Submission
checklist
It is hoped that this list will be useful during the final checking of an article prior to sending it to the journal's
Editor for review. Please consult this Guide for Authors for further details of any item.
Ensure that the following items are
present:
One Author designated as corresponding Author:
• E-mail address
• Full postal address
• Telephone
and fax numbers
All necessary files have been uploaded
• Keywords
• All figure captions
• All tables (including
title, description, footnotes)
Further considerations
• Manuscript has been "spellchecked" and "grammar-checked"
•
References are in the correct format for this journal
• All references mentioned in the Reference list are cited in the text,
and vice versa
• Permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources (including the Web)
•
Color figures are clearly marked as being intended for color reproduction on the Web (free of charge) and in print or to be reproduced
in color on the Web (free of charge) and in black-and-white in print
• If only color on the Web is required, black and white
versions of the figures are also supplied for printing purposes
For any further information please visit our customer support site
at
http://epsupport.elsevier.com.
Use of the Digital Object Identifier
The Digital Object Identifier (DOI) may be used to cite and link to
electronic documents. The DOI consists of a unique alpha-numeric character string which is assigned to a document by the publisher upon
the initial electronic publication. The assigned DOI never changes. Therefore, it is an ideal medium for citing a document, particularly
'Articles in press' because they have not yet received their full bibliographic information. The correct format for citing a DOI is shown
as follows (example taken from a document in the journal
Physics Letters B):
doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2003.10.071
When
you use the DOI to create URL hyperlinks to documents on the web, they are guaranteed never to change.
Proofs
One set of page proofs (as PDF files) will be sent by e-mail to the corresponding author (if we do
not have an e-mail address then paper proofs will be sent by post) or, a link will be provided in the e-mail so that authors can download
the files themselves. Elsevier now provides authors with PDF proofs which can be annotated; for this you will need to download Adobe
Reader version 7 (or higher) available free from
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html. Instructions on how
to annotate PDF files will accompany the proofs (also given online). The exact system requirements are given at the Adobe site:
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/acrrsystemreqs.html#70win.
If you do not wish to use the PDF annotations function, you may list the corrections (including replies to the Query Form) and
return them to Elsevier in an e-mail. Please list your corrections quoting line number. If, for any reason, this is not possible, then
mark the corrections and any other comments (including replies to the Query Form) on a printout of your proof and return by fax, or scan
the pages and e-mail, or by post. Please use this proof only for checking the typesetting, editing, completeness and correctness of the
text, tables and figures. Significant changes to the article as accepted for publication will only be considered at this stage with permission
from the Editor. We will do everything possible to get your article published quickly and accurately. Therefore, it is important to ensure
that all of your corrections are sent back to us in one communication: please check carefully before replying, as inclusion of any subsequent
corrections cannot be guaranteed. Proofreading is solely your responsibility. Note that Elsevier may proceed with the publication of
your article if no response is received.
Offprints
The corresponding author,
at no cost, will be provided with a PDF file of the article via e-mail. The PDF file is a watermarked version of the published article
and includes a cover sheet with the journal cover image and a disclaimer outlining the terms and conditions of use. Additional paper
offprints can be ordered by the authors. An order form with prices will be sent to the corresponding author.
For inquiries relating to the submission of articles (including electronic submission
where available) please visit this journal's homepage. You can track accepted articles at
http://www.elsevier.com/trackarticle
and set up e-mail alerts to inform you of when an article's status has changed. Also accessible from here is information on copyright,
frequently asked questions and more. Contact details for questions arising after acceptance of an article, especially those relating
to proofs, will be provided by the publisher.
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