Guidelines for authors

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AUTHOR GUIDELINES

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

e-balonmano Com, Journal of Sports Science publishes original and unpublished manuscripts in the field of sport sciences, physical activity and physical education. Submitted manuscripts must not have been previously published or be under simultaneous evaluation by another journal.

Manuscripts must present a clear scientific contribution, be written with academic rigor and comply with the journal’s editorial standards. Manuscripts with relevant formal errors, writing problems, failure to comply with submission requirements, major methodological weaknesses, or lack of fit with the journal’s aims and scope may be rejected during the initial editorial screening, without being sent for external review.

The journal promotes the use of inclusive, precise and non-sexist language. Texts containing discriminatory content based on sex, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, ethnic origin, nationality, religion, ideology or any other personal or social condition will not be accepted.

When relevant, authors should consider sex/gender analysis in the study design, methodology, results, discussion, limitations and future lines of research.

Manuscript submission

Manuscripts must be submitted exclusively through the journal’s OJS platform. To submit a manuscript, authors must first register in the system as authors.

During the submission process, authors must complete all metadata requested by the platform, including title, abstract, keywords, authorship details, affiliations, ORCID, corresponding author email address, references and supplementary files, where applicable.

REQUIRED FILES FOR SUBMISSION

The submission must include the following files:

  1. Anonymised manuscript

The main manuscript must be prepared using the journal’s official template and following the current APA standards [Download Template]. This file will be sent for peer review and must therefore be fully anonymised.

It must not include:

  • authors’ names;
  • institutional affiliations;
  • email addresses;
  • ORCID identifiers;
  • identifying acknowledgements;
  • funding information that may reveal the authors’ identity;
  • project number or project name that may reveal the research group;
  • ethics committee details that may identify the institution during the review stage;
  • authorship contributions;
  • self-citations written in a way that reveals the authors’ identity;
  • file metadata containing names, institutions or any identifying information.

Insufficient anonymisation may result in technical return or editorial rejection before external review.

  1. Identification document

A separate file must be submitted containing the complete authorship information. Authors should use the first page of the template without the rest of the manuscript. This document must include:

  • manuscript title;
  • full name of all authors;
  • complete institutional affiliation;
  • country;
  • email address;
  • ORCID;
  • corresponding author;
  • acknowledgements, where applicable;
  • funding sources;
  • specific contribution of each author;
  • conflict of interest statement.
  1. Letter addressed to the Editorial Board

Authors must attach a letter addressed to the Editorial Board requesting evaluation of the manuscript. This letter must include:

  • title of the manuscript;
  • confirmation that the manuscript is original and unpublished;
  • statement that the manuscript is not being evaluated by another journal;
  • brief justification of the scientific contribution of the manuscript;
  • statement on the use of artificial intelligence tools, where applicable;
  • explanation of the manuscript’s fit with the journal’s aims and scope;
  • authorship declaration and confirmation that all authors have approved the submitted version;
  • transfer of rights or acceptance of the journal’s editorial conditions, where applicable;
  • signature of all authors or of the corresponding author on behalf of the author team.
  1. Similarity or anti-plagiarism report

The journal recommends attaching a similarity report generated using anti-plagiarism software. Regardless of whether authors provide such a report, all manuscripts accepted for publication may be subjected to similarity checking by the editorial team.

Plagiarism, self-plagiarism, redundant publication, citation manipulation, substantial duplication of content or inappropriate use of previously published material may lead to rejection of the manuscript or to the corresponding editorial measures.

MANUSCRIPT STRUCTURE

The manuscript must be prepared using the journal’s official template and comply with the current APA standards [Download Template].

The first page of the anonymised manuscript must include [See template]:

  • title in Spanish;
  • title in English;
  • title in Portuguese, where applicable;
  • abstract in Spanish;
  • keywords in Spanish;
  • abstract in English;
  • keywords in English;
  • resumo and palavras-chave in Portuguese, where applicable.

The title must be clear, concise and representative of the manuscript content. An approximate length of 12 to 15 words is recommended.

The abstract must not exceed 200 words and must accurately reflect the study objective, method, main results and conclusions. Between 3 and 5 keywords must be provided, preferably different from the terms included in the title and, whenever possible, taken from recognised thesauri in the field.

Organisation of the text

Original empirical research articles should preferably be structured into the following sections:

  • Introduction;
  • Method;
  • Results;
  • Discussion;
  • Conclusions;
  • Practical applications;
  • References.

The Method section must accurately describe the study design, participants or sample, inclusion and exclusion criteria, instruments, procedure, ethical considerations, statistical analysis or qualitative analysis procedure, as appropriate.

In quantitative studies, authors are encouraged to report, where applicable, the justification of sample size, power analysis, confidence intervals, effect sizes, statistical assumptions, handling of missing data and significance criteria used.

In qualitative studies, authors must describe the methodological approach, sampling strategy, context, data collection techniques, analysis procedure, criteria of rigor and reflexivity of the research team.

In mixed-methods studies, authors must justify the integration of quantitative and qualitative components, as well as the mixed-methods design used.

Research design and reporting guidelines

Authors must explicitly and accurately identify the type of study and research design used. The definition of the design must be consistent with the objectives, methodology, data collection procedure and analyses performed.

To guide this identification, the journal recommends consulting specific methodological works on research designs in sport sciences, including:

Ibáñez, S. J., & Feu, S. (2026). Research designs in Sports Science. e-balonmano Com, Journal of Sports Science, 22(1), 1–44. https://doi.org/10.17398/1885-7019.22.1

Where applicable, manuscripts must comply with the appropriate international reporting guidelines for each type of study, including:

  • PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
  • CONSORT for randomised controlled trials;
  • STROBE for observational studies;
  • COREQ or SRQR for qualitative studies;
  • TIDieR for interventions;
  • COSMIN for studies involving the development, adaptation or validation of instruments;
  • CHERRIES for online surveys.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must include the PRISMA statement and, where applicable, prior protocol registration in a recognised platform. The absence of a clear search strategy, selection criteria, methodological quality assessment or reproducible analysis may be grounds for editorial rejection.

Narrative reviews and theoretical essays are not a priority article type for the journal, since their scientific contribution is more difficult to assess. They will only be considered exceptionally when they address an emerging, highly relevant and insufficiently developed topic in sport sciences; provide a solid conceptual contribution; are supported by a transparent and justified bibliographic search strategy; and offer clear implications for future research and professional practice.

Ethical considerations

Studies involving human participants must indicate that they were conducted in accordance with the ethical principles applicable to scientific research and with current regulations on data protection, informed consent and confidentiality.

When required by the study, approval by an ethics committee or bioethics committee must be indicated. During the double-blind review stage, this information must be anonymised in the main manuscript and provided in full in the identification document.

Authors must declare that participants were informed of the objectives of the study and gave informed consent where appropriate. In research involving minors or vulnerable groups, the procedure followed to obtain consent from legal representatives and assent from participants, where applicable, must be indicated.

References, citations and APA style

In-text citations, the reference list, tables, figures and the presentation of results must comply with the current APA standards.

Authors must carefully check that all citations included in the text appear in the reference list and that all listed references have been cited in the manuscript. Whenever possible, the DOI of cited publications must be included.

The journal recommends prioritising current, international and relevant scientific literature related to the object of study. References must be sufficient and pertinent, avoiding both the omission of key studies and the inclusion of unnecessary citations or citations not directly related to the manuscript.

Tables, figures and supplementary material

Tables and figures must be inserted in the approximate place where they should appear within the manuscript. They must be presented with consecutive numbering, a clear title and explanatory notes when necessary, following the current APA format.

Images, graphs, diagrams or photographs must be submitted with sufficient quality for publication. A minimum resolution of 300 dpi is recommended for static images.

The journal accepts supplementary files that help document, reproduce or better understand the research presented. These materials must be properly identified and, where applicable, anonymised.

Supplementary materials may include:

  • Supplementary data: anonymised databases or datasets that support the results of the study. Formats such as .ods, .xlsx, .csv, .sav or .rda are accepted. Authors may also use recognised institutional or thematic repositories, linking them from the article.
  • Analysis codes: scripts or syntax files used for data processing, statistical analysis or qualitative data analysis.
  • Instruments and protocols: questionnaires, observation sheets, assessment instruments, intervention protocols, teaching materials or methodological documents needed to understand or reproduce the study.
  • Images, diagrams and infographics: supplementary graphic materials that summarise, illustrate or expand the content of the article. Formats such as .jpg, .png or .tiff are accepted, with a recommended minimum resolution of 300 dpi.
  • Videos: short recordings illustrating procedures, interviews, teaching experiences, interventions, analysis techniques, presentation of results or any other content relevant to the research. Formats such as .mp4 or .mov are accepted, with a recommended maximum resolution of 720p and web-optimised compression.
  • Other materials: .pdf documents or .zip compressed files when they group several supplementary materials relevant to the transparency of the study.

Data availability and transparency

The journal recommends that authors provide access, whenever ethically and legally possible, to the data, materials, codes or protocols needed to understand and reproduce the results of the study.

Authors may use recognised institutional or thematic repositories, indicating the corresponding link in the manuscript or in the supplementary materials. When data cannot be shared for ethical, legal or confidentiality reasons, this must be expressly stated.

Practical applications

Manuscripts must include, where relevant, a section on practical applications. These must derive directly from the study results and be formulated in a concrete, realistic and useful way for researchers, teachers, coaches, health professionals, sport managers or other stakeholders in the field of sport sciences.

Generic practical applications or applications not supported by the study results will not be accepted.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TOOLS

The use of artificial intelligence tools or AI-assisted technologies must be transparently declared when they have been used in the preparation of the manuscript, for example, to support writing, translation, language revision, analysis or the generation of materials.

Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors of the manuscript. Responsibility for the originality, accuracy, integrity, scientific quality, citations, data and conclusions lies exclusively with the authors.

Authors must critically review any AI-generated or AI-assisted content and ensure that it has not introduced false information, non-existent references, plagiarism, bias or unjustified interpretations.

INITIAL EDITORIAL EVALUATION

All manuscripts will undergo a preliminary editorial evaluation before being sent for external review. At this stage, the following aspects will be assessed:

  • fit with the journal’s aims and scope;
  • originality and scientific contribution;
  • compliance with the author guidelines;
  • formal quality and academic writing;
  • correct anonymisation;
  • adequacy of the research design;
  • methodological soundness;
  • compliance with ethical principles;
  • quality of references and compliance with APA standards;
  • relevance of practical applications.

Manuscripts that do not meet the minimum requirements may be rejected without external review. Passing this initial evaluation does not guarantee acceptance of the manuscript, but only progression to the peer-review process.

PEER REVIEW

Manuscripts that pass the initial editorial evaluation will be sent for peer review through a double-blind procedure. The identity of authors and reviewers will remain concealed throughout the evaluation process.

Authors must respond to editorial and reviewer comments in a detailed, respectful and documented manner when revisions are requested. Revised versions must be submitted together with a response letter indicating the changes made.

AUTHORS’ RESPONSIBILITY

Submission of a manuscript implies that all authors have read and approved the submitted version, accept the journal’s rules and take responsibility for the scientific integrity of the work.

The editorial team reserves the right to request additional information, ethical documentation, supplementary data, similarity reports or methodological clarifications whenever deemed necessary.