‘Notes for contributors’ section analysis of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Spanish Journals

Abstract

‘Notes for Contributors’ is a section of research journals that recently has receive more attention from journals editors. It is a crucial section for standardization, articles data bases introduction, and orientation for potential contributors. Finally, it is important for improving the whole journal quality. The purpose of this paper is to study ‘notes for contributors’’ section in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences Spanish research periodicals. Particularly, we analyze the inclusion of this section, its content, standardization style, and selection papers policy. Main results show that ‘notes’ section appears in twenty-eight journals (82.35%), and ten of them (29.41%) declare to follow a certain standardization style. Selection papers policy is mentioned by twenty-five periodicals (73.53%), independently of their detailed information. Among them, thirteen journals mention an anonymous peer-review system, four a peer-review with no mention to anonymity, five refer to the advisory board as responsible for paper selection, one to the editor, and two publications mention an undefined system of papers selection. KEY WORDS: Physical Activity and Sport Sciences; scientific journals; instructions for authors; standardization.