Preliminary evaluation. Received manuscripts are first examined by Editors according to Physical Activity Review ‘technical’ requirements and policy. Incomplete packages or manuscripts not prepared in the advised style will be sent back to author(s) with suggestions for correction. The authors are notified with the reference number upon manuscript registration at the Editorial Office. The Editor-in-Chief or Section Editor reads every manuscript received and assigns a general priority level:
(a) manuscripts sent to reviewers immediately;
(b) manuscripts returned to authors with suggestions for the correction of data presentation;
(c) rejected manuscripts.
Editors read the revised manuscript. If the manuscript is improved adequately, it is sent to two (or more) reviewers for review and to the Statistical Editor, if it contains numerical data. The preliminary evaluation process usually takes 1-3 weeks.
Authorship Statement. Upon the receipt of the submission, authors will receive the Authorship Statement form, which should be filled in, signed and returned to the Editor. In this way, the authors confirm the originality of the report, validity of authorship, copyright transfer and assert compliance with the review process, i.e., that they would not withdraw the manuscript. The filled authorship statements have to be send back promptly otherwise the editorial processing of the manuscript may be delayed.
Conflict of interests. Authors should disclose at the time of submission any financial arrangement they may have. Such information will be held in confidence while the paper is under review and will not influence the editorial decision, but if the article is accepted for publication, the editors will usually discuss with the authors the manner in which such information is to be communicated to the reader.
Because the essence of reviews and editorials is selection and interpretation of the literature, Physical Activity Review expects that authors of such articles will not have any financial interest in a company (or its competitor) that makes a product discussed in the article. Journal policy requires that reviewers, associate editors, editors, and senior editors reveal in a letter to the Editor-in-Chief any relationships that they have that could be construed as causing a conflict of interest with regard to a manuscript under review. The letter should include a statement of any financial relationships with commercial companies involved with a product under study.
Published Statement of Human and Animal Rights. When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national) and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2000 (5). If doubt exists whether the research was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration, the authors must explain the rationale for their approach, and demonstrate that the institutional review body explicitly approved the doubtful aspects of the study. When reporting experiments on animals, authors should be asked to indicate whether the institutional and national guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.
Copyright transfer. Physical Activity Review require written exclusive assignment of copyright transfer from all authors at the time of manuscript submission. Manuscript will not enter the peer-review process until the copyright transfer is completed, signed and sent to the Editorial Office. Once an article is accepted for publication in Physical Activity Review, the information therein is embargoed from reporting by the media until the mail with date of online publishing.
Upon acceptance all published manuscripts become the permanent property of the owners of the Physical Activity Review and may not be published elsewhere without written permission.
Review process. The registered manuscripts are sent to independent experts for scientific evaluation. We encourage authors to suggest up to five potential reviewers (excluding co-authors, collaborators and professionals from the same center or of the same nationality), but we reserve the right of final selection. One to three months after submission of the manuscript, the authors will receive the reviews. The comments and suggestions made by the reviewers should be addressed and closely followed.
The purpose of the review is to provide an expert opinion regarding the quality of the manuscript. The review supply authors with feedback on how to improve their manuscript so that it will be acceptable for publication. Although confidential comments to the editors are respected, any remarks that might help to improve the paper should be directed to the authors themselves.
Corrections. Author’s response letter accompanying the revised version of the manuscript. The authors should state clearly and precisely every step taken in accordance with the reviewers’ requests. The description should be listed on a numbered basis, in the order of reviewers’ comments. Altered paragraphs in the new version of the manuscript should be specified using page and paragraph numbers or alternatively marked in yellow color.
Patients’ Rights and Informed Consent. When reporting experiments on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013 (concerning the ethical principles for the medical community and forbidding releasing the name of the patient, initials or the hospital evidence number) and with the ethical standards of the responsible committee on human experimentation (institutional and national). Information regarding the ethical committee approval for conducting the research and the informed consents of patients for participating in the studies should be included in the methods section of those articles, in which the diagnostic intervention or the treatment result from non-routine procedures.
The authors presenting case studies are obligated not to disclose patients’ personal data. Regarding photographs, in case of any doubt the picture inadequately protects the patient’s anonymity his consent is required for publication. Articles describing animal studies should contain information of being in accordance with local regulations (institutional and national).
Proofs. Authors will receive a proof from an Assistant Editor. That proof should be corrected and returned within 48 hours, preferably by e-mail. If the Publisher receives no response from the authors after 7 days, it will be assumed that there are no errors to correct and the article will be published.
Open Access policy. Physical Activity Review provides free, immediate and permanent online access to the full text of all articles distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and is otherwise in compliance with the license.