Submissions

Author Guidelines

In addition to reports of original research, the Journal publishes review articles, reports (including case studies, short communications, theoretical or practical reflections),  invited commentaries, editorials and target articles.

Target articles are by invitation only and are usually encouraged and coordinated by a Section Editor, a Guest Editor or the Editor-in-Chief. They typically focus on: (A) the report and discussion of empirical research that may have broad scope and implications for sport science; (B) an unusually significant theoretical article that formally models or systematises a body of research; or (C) a novel interpretation, reflection, or critique of existing experimental or theoretical work. Topics dealing with social or philosophical aspects of sport sciences will also be considered. Authors with ideas for an interesting Target topic may suggest this by getting in touch with the Editor-in-Chief.

CISS prefers to receive files in Word's .docx format; however, we accept pdf-format, but please consider that you might be asked for a resubmission with highlighted changes in your manuscript after reviewing. 

This journal has a double-blind review policy (if reviewers do not decide for an open review). Therefore, we require authors to submit an anonymous version of the article file. Please upload the anonymous manuscript file and separately the cover sheet. Include your tables and figures (max. 8 in total) in the manuscript document, following APA guidelines. Please adhere to the latest version of the APA style, i.e. 7^th edition; there have been several changes to former styles (e.g., doi-format). Be prepared to submit the figures as individual graphic files (.jpg, .png or .gif format) once the article has been accepted for publication. The main text body of an article (i.e., not including title page, abstract, key words, acknowledgments, references, tables, figures and captions) should not exceed 5,000 words.

For your submissions, please download our Word templates provided here:

CISS cover page template

CISS article template

CISS target article/comment template

Please note that articles which are not in accordance with our formal guidlines (templates) might be rejected without scientific review.

Conflict of Interests

Reviewers, authors and editors must disclose any and all possible financial or non-financial conflict of interest in regard to the manuscript. If unsure, the journal editor should be contacted.

Authorship

We follow authorship guidelines provided by APA. Authorship credit should reflect the individual’s contribution to the study. An author is considered anyone involved with initial research design, data collection and analysis, manuscript drafting, or final approval. However, the following do not necessarily qualify for authorship: providing funding or resources, mentorship, or contributing research but not helping with the publication itself. The primary author assumes responsibility for the publication, making sure that the data are accurate, that all deserving authors have been credited, that all authors have given their approval to the final draft; and handles responses to inquiries after the manuscript is published.

If you are asked to resubmit, please submit an anonymous version of the article file in which your changes are highlighted along with a point to point reply to the reviewers queries. Please upload ONLY one anonymous manuscript file. Include your tables and figures in these document, following APA guidelines.

If you do not resubmit within a period of 1 month from the decision, your article will be formally rejected and archived based on failure to observe the time-limit.

Peer review process

Plagiarism

CISS is committed to publish only original material that has not already been published or reviewed elsewhere. Any manuscript that raises concerns about plagiarism will be checked and cases of plagiarism will be sanctioned.

Addressing post-publication issues

We are committed to maintaining the integrity of the scientific record and thoroughly investigate concerns that are directly raised with us by authors and readers.  Authors are always given an opportunity to respond to the concerns raised. We may request original unprocessed data, and consult with experts in the course of an investigation. Depending on the seriousness of the issues, the following outcomes may ensue:

● If the manuscript is still under consideration, it may be rejected and returned to the author.

● If the article has already been published online, depending on the nature and severity of the issues:

• a correction or Addendum may be issued
• an Editor’s Note or Editorial Expression of Concern may be issued; these are typically followed by a second notification once the investigation concludes
• the article may be retracted

● The author’s institution may be informed if we identify potentially serious issues.

We aim for transparent notification to readers; however, our primary goal is to ensure the integrity of the published record rather than to sanction individuals and as such, we will not use these statements to attribute responsibility to specific named individuals. We may refer readers to the reports of institutional investigations if these reports are publicly available. While we are committed to addressing post-publication issues and correcting the record swiftly, investigations typically take some time to reach resolution given the complexity of the discussions and the need to obtain original data and consult with experts. We will issue Editor’s Notes and/or Editorial Expressions of Concern to alert our readership when we become aware of concerns with published material.

Corrections & Retractions

CISS will issue corrections, retraction statements and other post-publication updates including Editor’s Notes and Editorial Expressions of Concern on published content if necessary.  

The following are categories of corrections and post-publication updates to peer-reviewed primary research and review-type articles and certain kinds of non-peer reviewed article types. Substantial errors to Supplementary Information and Extended Data are corrected in the same manner as amendments to the main article. All categories below are bi-directionally linked to the original article and indexed.

Author Correction: An Author Correction may be published to correct an important error(s) made by the author(s) that affects the scientific integrity of the published article, the publication record, or the reputation of the authors or the journal.  

Author Name Change: An author who has changed their name for reasons such as gender transition or religious conversion may request for their name, pronouns and other relevant biographical information to be corrected on papers published prior to the change. The author can choose for this correction to happen silently, in which case there will be no note flagging the change on either the pdf or the html of the paper, or alternatively they may do so by a formal public Author Correction.

Publisher Correction: A Publisher Correction may be published to correct an important error(s) made by the journal that affects the scientific integrity of the published article, the publication record, or the reputation of the authors or of the journal.

Addendum: An addendum is generally published when significant additional information crucial to the reader’s understanding of the article has come to light following publication of the article.

Editor's Note: An Editor's Note is a notification alerting readers if the journal has initiated an inquiry in response to concerns raised about a published article. It is an online-only update, made only to the HTML version of record of the published article. It is not indexed.

Editorial Expression of Concern: An Editorial Expression of Concern is a statement from the editors alerting readers to serious concerns affecting the integrity of the published paper. EEoCs are published online and are bidirectionally linked to the published paper. They receive a DOI and are indexed in major scholarly databases.  

Publishing an Editor’s Note or EEoC is recommended by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) as a means of keeping readers updated while a potentially lengthy research integrity investigation is underway. Editor’s Notes and EEoCs are typically superseded by publishing another amendment―such as a correction or retraction―once the investigation is complete.

Retraction: An article may be retracted when the integrity of the published work is substantially undermined owing to errors in the conduct, analysis and/or reporting of the study. Violation of publication or research ethics may also result in a study’s retraction. The original article is marked as retracted but a PDF version remains available to readers, and the retraction statement is bi-directionally linked to the original published paper. Retraction statements will typically include a statement of assent or dissent from the authors.

When making corrections to articles, in the majority of cases the original article (PDF and HTML) is corrected and is bi-directionally linked to and from the published amendment notice, which details the original error. For the sake of transparency, when changes made to the original article affect data in figures, tables or text (for example, when data points/error bars change or curves require redrawing) the amendment notice will reproduce the original data. When it is not possible to correct the original article in both HTML and PDF versions (for example, articles published many years before the error is raised) the article will remain unchanged but will contain bi-directional links to and from the published amendment notice.

Removal of published content

In exceptional circumstances, CISS reserves the right to remove an article, chapter, book or other content from the CISS website. Such action may be taken when (i) CISS has been advised that content is defamatory, infringes a third party’s intellectual property right, right to privacy, or other legal right, or is otherwise unlawful; (ii) a court or government order has been issued, or is likely to be issued, requiring removal of such content; (iii) content, if acted upon, would pose an immediate and serious risk to health. Removal may be temporary or permanent. Bibliographic metadata (e.g. title and authors) will be retained, and will be accompanied by a statement explaining why the content has been removed.

Publishing malpractices

In cases of alleged or proven scientific misconduct, fraudulent publication or plagiarism, the publisher, in close collaboration with the editors, will take all appropriate measures to clarify the situation and to amend the article in question. This includes the prompt publication of an erratum, clarification or, in the most severe case, the retraction of the affected work.  The publisher, together with the editors, shall take reasonable steps to identify and prevent the publication of papers where research misconduct has occurred, and under no circumstances encourage such misconduct or knowingly allow such misconduct to take place.