Submission Guidelines
Manuscript Formats
Manuscript Preparation
Text : Maximum recommended text length is usually 8 pages, or 4,500 words. The Journal for Human Performance in Athletics follows the American Medical Association (AMA) Manual of Style. Use generic names of drugs. If a particular brand was used in a study, insert the brand name along with the name and location of the manufacturer in parentheses after the generic name. The name and location of equipment manufacturers also should be included in parentheses behind the name of the product.
Reports on surgery, except in rare instances, require a minimum follow-up of two years.
P values should be reported in 3 digits, such as 0.05, < 0.01, 0.25, etc. P values reported differently will be edited to this format.
Any material that is submitted with an article (eg, tables and figures) that has been reproduced in another source must conform to the current copyright regulations. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain written permission for reproduction of copyrighted material and to provide that documentation to the editorial office before publication. Download a permission form here.
Case Reports
Case reports should have no more than 1200 words, inclusive of the abtract, text, any relevant figure legends, and references. Abstracts should be unstructured. Case reports should not include tables but rather relevant figures with legends describing what is being shown. If anything provided within the case report (images or text) makes the patient identifiable, then you must include a statement confirming that permission was granted by the patient, family, or parent/guardian to publish the case report.
Authorship and Acknowledgment
References
References must be retrievable. Do not include in the reference list presentations from meetings that have not been published. Data such as presentations and articles that have been submitted for publication but have not been accepted must be put in the text as unpublished data immediately after mention of the information (for example, “Smith and Jones (unpublished data, 2000) noted in their study …”).
- Emery CA, Meeuwisse WH. Injury Rates, Risk Factors, and Mechanisms of Injury in Minor Hockey. Am J Sports Med. 2006 Jul 21; [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 16861577.
- It is imperative that authors double-check their references and assure that they are correct and complete!
Tables
For tables, the system accepts most common word processing formats, but WORD and PDF are preferred. Tables should be included at the end of the manuscript text file so that they are included in the PDF used by reviewers. Tables should be numbered consecutively and have a title. Please be sure the title describes the content and purpose of the table. Tables should enhance, not duplicate, information in the text. Simple tables that repeat textual material will be deleted. It is the author’s responsibility to submit permission to reproduce any tables that have been published previously. Download a permission form here.
Figures and Illustrations
Figures for papers accepted for publication must meet the requirements of the publisher, Sage Publications. Files for line drawings should be created at 1200 dpi, for color photographs at 600 dpi, and for black and white photographs at 300 dpi. Please remember that many image formats are not acceptable for reproduction. Please ensure the quality of your figures match the guidelines provided.
Examine all figures carefully to ensure that the data are presented with the greatest possible clarity. Likewise, determine if a figure would communicate the information more effectively than lengthy narrative. It is the author’s responsibility to obtain and submit signed permission to reproduce any copyrighted figures that have been published previously. Download a permission form here.
All photographs of patients must conceal their identity unless it is necessary not to. If the patient’s identity is not concealed, a signed release must accompany the submission. Download an audio-visual likeness release here. If this is not provided, the patient’s eyes must be occluded to prevent recognition.
The backgrounds of photographs should be as simple and free of distractions as possible. Authors may be asked to provide new images if the photos have “busy backgrounds.”
**If an identifier is needed on an image with multiple parts (eg, a, b, c), please provide the image with a lowercase letter (NO PARENTHESES) on the bottom right corner in size 10 pt font. Identifiers are only used when there is a grouped legend. If the image can be presented by itself (has its own legend) no identifier is needed on the image. In addition, any other text used on the image (including arrows, asterisks, etc) should be provided in a separate layer from the base image.
**Charts/graphs should have axes labeled using title capitalization (eg, Mean Follow-up for Athletes). In addition, units should be provided for all axes when necessary and set aside from the table in parentheses.