Authors should ensure that the manuscript clearly fits the aims and scope of JOSEP. Submissions should make an identifiable contribution to one or more of the following broad areas:

• Exercise physiology and metabolism
• Sports performance and training adaptation
• Biomechanics and movement analysis
• Motor control, cognition, and neurophysiology in sport
• Recovery, fatigue, and monitoring
• Data analytics, wearable technology, and sport informatics
• Applied sport science and coaching science
• Physical activity, health, and exercise interventions
• Esports performance science where grounded in scientific methodology

Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published in substantially the same form and must not be under consideration by another journal, publisher, or conference proceedings outlet at the time of submission.

Posting on a non-peer-reviewed preprint server may be acceptable, provided this is disclosed at submission and does not conflict with journal policy or copyright arrangements. Authors should disclose any prior dissemination of the work, including conference abstracts, posters, theses, dissertations, or repository versions.

All research involving human participants, personal data, human biological material, or animals must have been conducted in accordance with applicable institutional, national, and international ethical standards. The manuscript must include the name of the approving ethics committee or institutional review board, approval number where applicable, and a statement regarding informed consent. Please also review the references provided here. "https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-declaration-of-helsinki/" & "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39425955/"

All listed authors must have made substantial scholarly contributions to the work and must approve the submitted and revised versions. Individuals who contributed but do not meet authorship criteria should be acknowledged appropriately.

Manuscripts must be written in clear, grammatical, academic English. Authors who are not native speakers are strongly encouraged to have their manuscripts reviewed by a proficient English speaker or a professional editing service prior to submission. Language editing does not guarantee acceptance.

• Main manuscript: .doc or .docx preferred
• Tables: may be included in the manuscript file and, if needed, uploaded separately
• Figures: TIFF, JPEG, PNG, EPS, or high-quality PDF
• Supplementary files: XLSX, CSV, DOCX, PDF, ZIP, MP4, or other standard scholarly formats as appropriate

Please also review the references provided here. "https://si-digital-framework.org/" & "https://www.bipm.org/en/publications/si-brochure"

• Use a standard, readable font such as Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri.
• Recommended font size: 11 or 12 pt.
• Use double spacing throughout the manuscript, including references, figure legends, and tables.
• Use continuous line numbering.
• Include page numbers.
• Do not use multiple columns in the main manuscript file.
• Use standard margins of at least 2.5 cm (1 inch).
• Avoid footnotes where possible; integrate essential information into the main text.

• Manuscripts must be submitted in English.
• Define abbreviations at first mention and use them consistently thereafter.
• Use SI units throughout.
• Report species names in italics where relevant.
• Use accepted scientific and technical nomenclature in your discipline.

• Full manuscript title
• Short running title (recommended)
• Full names of all authors
• Institutional affiliations for all authors
• ORCID iDs where available
• Name, affiliation, and email address of the corresponding author
• Word count for the main text (optional but recommended)
• Number of tables, figures, and supplementary files
• Article type

• The title should be specific, informative, and concise.
• Avoid unexplained abbreviations in the title.
• Where relevant, identify the study design in the title or subtitle.
• Catchy titles are acceptable as long as a balanced and not overly promotional language is used.

(pls see EQUATOR-Network - https://www.equator-network.org/)

If JOSEP uses blinded peer review for your submission category, do not include author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, funding identifiers, or other directly identifying information in the anonymized manuscript file. Remove identifying metadata from the document properties where possible.

Original Research Articles should include a structured abstract of approximately 200-300 words. Recommended subheadings are:

• Background or Purpose
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusions

Review Articles, Short Communications, and Case Studies may use either structured or unstructured abstracts, depending on article type and editorial preference.

• The abstract must accurately reflect the content of the manuscript.
• Avoid citations, unexplained abbreviations, and excessive statistical detail unless essential.
• Do not include claims not supported by the data in the manuscript.

Provide 4-8 keywords immediately below the abstract. Keywords should not simply repeat words already used in the title and should enhance searchability and indexing.

The Introduction should present the scientific context, summarize the most relevant literature, identify the knowledge gap, and clearly state the aims, objectives, research questions, and/or hypotheses.

The Methods section must be sufficiently detailed to permit evaluation, replication, and, where applicable, reproducibility. Authors should describe:

• Study design
• Participants, sampling, recruitment, and eligibility criteria
• Sample size determination or justification
• Setting and timing of the study
• Interventions, procedures, or training protocols
• Instrumentation and devices, including manufacturer details where relevant
• Outcome measures and operational definitions
• Data collection procedures
• Reliability/validity information for tests and instruments where appropriate
• Statistical analyses

When standard methods are used, provide appropriate references and explain any modifications clearly. Novel methods should be described in sufficient detail to enable reproduction.

• Present findings logically and without unnecessary interpretation.
• Do not duplicate all numerical data in text, tables, and figures simultaneously.
• Report exact p values where practical, confidence intervals where appropriate, and effect size measures whenever relevant.
• Clearly distinguish pre-specified analyses from exploratory analyses.

• Interpret the principal findings in relation to the study aims and existing literature.
• Explain the scientific and practical relevance of the findings.
• Discuss strengths and limitations transparently.
• Avoid overstating implications beyond the data.

Conclusions should be concise, evidence-based, and directly supported by the findings. Authors may include implications for practice, policy, coaching, training, or future research where justified.

• Describe all statistical methods clearly and completely.
• State the software used, including version number.
• Report assumptions checks where relevant.
• Provide exact p values unless extremely small.
• Report effect sizes alongside significance testing wherever appropriate.
• Include confidence intervals where relevant.
• Clarify how missing data were handled.
• Distinguish confirmatory from exploratory analyses.

• Provide sample size justification or power analysis when appropriate.
• Avoid relying solely on null hypothesis significance testing.
• Report measurement reliability and typical error where relevant.
• For repeated-measures, multilevel, or longitudinal designs, describe model structure transparently.
• When using machine learning, provide training, validation, test procedures, and performance metrics clearly.

• Tables must be editable, not embedded as images.
• Number tables consecutively in the order cited in the text.
• Provide a concise title for each table.
• Explain all abbreviations and symbols in table footnotes.
• Do not duplicate information already fully shown in figures.

• Number figures consecutively in the order cited in the text.
• Provide a separate figure legend for each figure.
• Ensure high resolution and readability.
• Axes, labels, units, legends, and symbols must remain clear after reduction.
• Avoid unnecessary decorative effects and excessive color use.

Images must accurately reflect the original data. Inappropriate manipulation is not permitted. Adjustments to brightness, contrast, or color balance should be applied uniformly and must not misrepresent the underlying data.

Supplementary files may include extended methods, additional tables/figures, datasets, code, multimedia, protocols, questionnaires, or technical appendices. Supplementary material should be clearly labeled and cited in the main text.

JOSEP recommends the use of APA 7th edition reference style unless a different format is specified by the editorial office for a special issue or article type. Authors must ensure consistency, completeness, and accuracy in all references.

• All references cited in the text must appear in the reference list, and vice versa.
• References should be current and relevant.
• Verify spelling of author names, year, title, journal name, volume, issue, page range, and DOI.
• Include DOI links where available.
• Avoid excessive citation of inaccessible, unpublished, or non-scholarly sources.

• Single author: (Smith, 2023)
• Two authors: (Smith & Jones, 2023)
• Three or more authors: (Smith et al., 2023)

Journal article
Author, A. A., Author, B. B., & Author, C. C. (2024). Title of the article. Journal Title, 12(3), 145-158. https://doi.org/xx.xxxx/xxxxx

Book
Author, A. A. (2022). Title of the book. Publisher.

Book chapter
Author, A. A. (2021). Title of chapter. In B. B. Editor & C. C. Editor (Eds.), Book title (pp. 10-28). Publisher.

Web resource
Organization Name. (2024). Title of page. URL

Authors should describe allocation, intervention details, timing, adherence, blinding where applicable, outcome measures, adverse events, and statistical handling of repeated or clustered observations. Use recognized reporting guidance appropriate to the design.

Authors publishing in this section are strongly encouraged to adhere to the “Equator Network Guidelines.”

Cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies should clearly report participant selection, exposures, outcomes, covariates, confounding control, and limitations related to observational inference.

• State the review question clearly.
• Describe databases searched, search dates, and search strategy.
• Report eligibility criteria and screening process.
• Describe risk-of-bias assessment.
• For meta-analysis, report pooling model, heterogeneity, sensitivity analyses, and publication bias methods where applicable.
• A flow diagram is strongly recommended.

Qualitative submissions should provide methodological orientation, participant selection, data collection procedures, reflexivity where appropriate, analytic approach, credibility strategies, and representative supporting quotations or evidence.

Case-based manuscripts must explain the scientific relevance of the case, methods of assessment, intervention or observation details, outcomes, and limitations regarding generalizability. Written informed consent for publication should be obtained when individuals may be identifiable.

• Clearly describe hardware/software versions and configurations.
• Report algorithmic methods, preprocessing steps, and validation procedures.
• Provide reproducible computational details whenever possible.
• Indicate whether code, models, or scripts are publicly available.

Manuscripts involving human participants must state that the study was approved by an appropriate ethics committee or institutional review board and conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki or equivalent relevant standards. Authors must indicate whether informed consent was obtained from participants or their legal guardians.

Additional safeguards should be described where appropriate. Authors should explain assent/consent procedures, guardian permission, risk mitigation, and privacy protections.

Animal research must comply with recognized ethical and welfare standards. The manuscript must identify the approval body, protocol number where applicable, and steps taken to minimize harm and distress.

If authors use generative AI or other automated tools for language support, coding assistance, image generation, or content development, this should be disclosed transparently where relevant. Authors remain fully responsible for the accuracy, originality, legality, and integrity of all submitted content. AI tools must not be listed as authors.

JOSEP does not accept plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, image manipulation, citation manipulation, or other forms of publication misconduct. Submissions may be screened using similarity-detection tools and may be rejected or referred for further investigation if concerns arise.

All submissions must include a Data Availability Statement. Authors should indicate whether data are:

• publicly available in a repository, with accession number, DOI, or URL;
• available from the corresponding author on reasonable request;
• restricted due to privacy, ethics, legal, or contractual reasons, with a clear explanation.

Please also review the “FAIR principles.” https://www.go-fair.org/fair-principles/ & https://www.nature.com/articles/sdata201618 

Where analysis scripts, software, or code are central to the study, authors are strongly encouraged to deposit them in an appropriate repository and provide version information, dependencies, and documentation.

Custom questionnaires, protocols, processing pipelines, intervention manuals, or analytical workflows that are essential for interpretation should be shared whenever feasible, either in the manuscript, supplement, or a repository.

Authorship should be limited to individuals who made substantial scholarly contributions to the conception or design of the work; acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; drafting or critically revising the manuscript; approving the final version; and agreeing to be accountable for the work.

Authors should provide a contribution statement describing each author’s role. Use of the CRediT taxonomy is encouraged, where applicable, including roles such as Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Writing – Original Draft, Writing – Review & Editing, Visualization, Supervision, and Project Administration.

Requests to add, remove, or rearrange authors after submission must be justified in writing and approved by the editorial office. All authors may be required to confirm the change.

Individuals or institutions who contributed to the work but do not meet authorship criteria may be acknowledged, subject to their permission where appropriate.

Authors must disclose all sources of financial support for the study and manuscript preparation. Include grant numbers where applicable and identify the role of the funder in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript drafting, and publication decisions.

All authors must disclose any financial, professional, personal, institutional, or intellectual relationships that could be perceived as influencing the work. If no competing interests exist, state: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

If commercial sponsors, teams, clubs, manufacturers, device companies, software providers, or governing bodies were involved in the study, this must be disclosed transparently.

JOSEP is an open-access journal. Upon acceptance, articles are published under the journal’s applicable open-access terms and license. Authors should ensure that they have the right to publish all included content.

If figures, tables, questionnaires, photographs, or other materials have been previously published or are owned by third parties, authors must obtain written permission where required and provide appropriate credit lines.

Authors must not include identifiable participant images, videos, or personal information unless explicit written permission for publication has been obtained and publication is ethically justified.

Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal’s online submission system. Authors should upload all required files and metadata carefully, including title, abstract, keywords, author information, manuscript file, figures, supplementary material, and required declarations.

A cover letter is recommended. It should briefly explain the significance of the work, why it fits JOSEP, and disclose any special considerations such as related manuscripts, prior dissemination, or data restrictions.

Authors may be invited to suggest qualified peer reviewers and may identify individuals with conflicts of interest who should not review the manuscript. The editors retain full discretion over reviewer selection.

Submissions undergo an initial editorial assessment for scope, scientific quality, ethical compliance, completeness, language clarity, formatting, and adherence to journal policy. Manuscripts may be returned for technical revision or declined before peer review if they are clearly unsuitable.

Suitable manuscripts are sent for peer review. The journal may use single-anonymized, double-anonymized, or editor-mediated review procedures depending on editorial policy, article type, and operational requirements. The editorial decision is based on reviewer reports, editorial assessment, and the journal’s scientific standards.

Possible decisions include:

• Accept
• Minor revision
• Major revision
• Reject with invitation to resubmit
• Reject

When submitting a revision, authors should provide:

• a clean revised manuscript;
• a marked or tracked-changes version where requested;
• a detailed point-by-point response letter explaining how each reviewer and editor comment was addressed.

Responses should be respectful, specific, and evidence-based. If authors choose not to implement a suggestion, they should explain the reason clearly and professionally.

Accepted manuscripts enter production. The corresponding author may receive page proofs for final checking. Proof corrections should be limited to typographical and factual errors unless otherwise authorized by the editorial office.

Authors are responsible for carefully reviewing proofs and responding promptly to production queries. Delays in proof correction may delay publication.

This study was approved by the [full name of ethics committee/institutional review board] (approval no. [number]). All procedures were conducted in accordance with the relevant ethical standards and the Declaration of Helsinki. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants [or participants’ legal guardians where applicable].

This research was supported by [funder name] under grant number [xxxx]. The funder had [no role / the following role] in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, or the decision to publish.

Publicly available data:
The data supporting the findings of this study are openly available in [repository name] at [DOI/URL/accession number].

Available on request:
The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Restricted access:
The data are not publicly available due to [privacy/ethical/legal] restrictions but may be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and subject to approval by [relevant authority].

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Conceptualization: A.A., B.B.; Methodology: A.A., C.C.; Formal Analysis: A.A.; Investigation: A.A., B.B., C.C.; Writing – Original Draft: A.A.; Writing – Review & Editing: B.B., C.C.; Supervision: B.B.