Guidelines for authors

Generalities

The papers submitted to Padel Scientific Journal must be original, unpublished, and shall not be simultaneously submitted for publication to any other journal. There are NO fees for the submission of papers in PadelSciJ. Manuscripts may be submitted for review in either Spanish or English, but final publication will be solely in English.

The papers that do not conform to the format and editorial standards will be returned to their authors for adaptation and modification. Articles will be subjected to a double evaluation process. At first, the Editorial Committee will select the papers received, assessing whether they meet the requirements for quality academic publications. If the manuscript adequately fulfills the conditions defined by the Editorial Board, it will be sent on for the anonymous peer review process by at least two external reviewers. In case of disagreement between the two reviewers of the evaluated article, either a third reviewer or another assessment by the Editorial Committee will be assigned.

Once evaluated, the reviewer´s comments, and the acceptance report, acceptance with modifications or rejection, prepared by the evaluators, will be sent to the authors.

Acceptance and publication of papers: once a paper has been definitively evaluated and accepted, the corresponding author will be notified by email.

The journal establishes the following papers formats:

- Original articles.

- Literature reviews

- Practical and/or didactic experiences, with their corresponding justification and sections, including bibliographical references.

Research Involving Human Participants, Bioethics and Informed Consent

All manuscripts reporting research that involves human participants (including empirical, experimental, observational studies, physiological/biomechanical testing, performance video analysis, or surveys with athletes, coaches, or other populations) must be conducted in strict accordance with the ethical standards of the World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki.

  • Institutional Ethical Approval: Authors must explicitly state in the Materials and Methods section (and in the final declarations section) the formal name of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) / Ethics Committee that approved the research protocol, along with the official approval registration number/code (e.g., “The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of University [Name] (Approval Ref. No. XXX/202X)”). If the study received an official ethics waiver, this must be explicitly stated and justified.

  • Informed Consent: Authors must confirm that written informed consent was obtained from all participants prior to study inclusion and data collection. For studies involving minors or adolescent athletes, written informed consent from parents/legal guardians and participant assent must be explicitly documented.

  • Privacy and Data Protection: Authors must ensure total anonymity and confidentiality of the participants, avoiding any identifiable personal data or images without explicit written consent.

Manuscript Preparation and Submission Guidelines

All manuscripts must be submitted electronically via the journal’s OJS platform. Submissions require two separate files to ensure the integrity of the double-blind peer review process:

1. Title Page / Authorship Data File

A separate file named Title_Page.docx containing:

  • Article title: In both Spanish and English.

  • Authors and institutional affiliations: Full names of all authors. To avoid indexing discrepancies, it is recommended to standardize surnames. List department, faculty/school, university/institution, city, and country.

  • ORCID iD: Mandatory active URL link for all authors ([https://orcid.org/0000-000X-XXXX-XXXX](https://orcid.org/0000-000X-XXXX-XXXX)).

  • Corresponding Author: Full name, institutional affiliation, postal address, and contact email.

  • Acknowledgments and CRediT statement: Must be placed in this file during initial submission to preserve blindness.

2. Blinded Manuscript File

The main text document (Manuscript.docx) without any author details or identifying references in the text or file metadata:

  • Typography and Layout: Arial 12 pt, single line spacing, margins of 2.5 cm (top/bottom) and 2.0 cm (left/right). No paragraph indentation or blank lines between paragraphs. Continuous line numbering is mandatory across the entire manuscript to facilitate review.

  • Title, Abstract, and Keywords: Provided in both English and Spanish. Structured abstract (Objectives, Methods, Results, Conclusions) must not exceed 250-300 words. Include 3 to 6 keywords (preferably matching MeSH/DeCS terms) distinct from words in the title.

  • Main Text Structure: Consistent with manuscript type (IMRaD for Original Research, PRISMA standards for Systematic Reviews/Meta-analyses, structured Case Studies).

  • Mandatory End-Matter: Prior to the Reference list, manuscripts must provide:

    1. Authors' Contributions (CRediT Taxonomy).

    2. Funding Statement.

    3. Data Availability Statement.

    4. Conflicts of Interest.

    5. Generative AI Declaration.

  • Tables and Figures: Inserted directly into the text at appropriate locations. Tables must be in editable text format (not images). Figures, charts, and photographs must be provided in high resolution (minimum 300 dpi, .JPG or .TIFF format).

  • Statistical Notation: Use periods (.) for decimals. In accordance with APA 7th ed., omit the leading zero for values that cannot exceed 1.0 (e.g., p < .05, r = .67).

  • References: Strictly formatted according to APA 7th Edition. References must be listed alphabetically at the end and must include an active HTTPS DOI link ([https://doi.org/](https://doi.org/)...) for every indexed entry. In-text citations for three or more authors should use (First author et al., year) from the first citation.