Guide for authors

Writing structure for review papers

 The writing structure of review articles should be composed of the following parts:

1. Persian and English Abstract (a summary of introduction, conclusion, and suggestion for future studies)
2. Introduction: including a brief summary of theoretical and empirical foundation in order to provide a new approach and to create or challenge a hypothesis
3. Subject priorities with respect to the coherence of content
4. Conclusion
5. Research suggestions
6. References

*In review papers at least 20% of the references should be for the corresponding author or all the authors

Principles of writing and submitting a research paper:

To prepare a paper all the following items should be considered:

• Content should be written in one column (B-NAZANIN 13 for Persian text and Times New Roman 12 for English text) with respect to the required margin (at least 2 cm on each side).
• The number of pages should not exceed 15 pages.
• Papers must comply with grammar rules and also be written in the fluent Persian language as much as possible. In addition, foreign terms, which do not have any Persian equivalent, must be avoided. If the Persian word substitute is not a term or appropriate, transliteration can be used with Persian letters and the original English word can be written in parentheses or subtitles.
• The author should also footnote the Latin equivalent of the foreign names and terms used in the text. Words or phrases that are used as abbreviations should also be mentioned completely in their first use. Of course, regarding acronyms, abbreviations, and symbols, it should be noted that only their standard items can be used and should not be used in titles and abstracts in any way.

Main Article File

First page: Persian title, abstract and keywords have to be mentioned respectively. The abstract should be in one paragraph (maximum 250 words) and purpose, method, findings, and conclusion should be stated in the body text. Past tense should be used to describe what has been done in the past and verbs should be in the present tense for the conclusion. It should be noted that no citation, acronyms, abbreviations, or symbols can be used in the abstract. Keywords should be 3-5 words and be separated by commas.

Second page:

The second page includes; English title, English abstract, and related keywords. English abstract and keywords have to exactly match the Persian abstract and Keywords.

 Body text

The body text consists of an introduction, methodology, results, discussion and conclusions, acknowledgment, and sources. All of the above should be expressed separately. Placing a ":" sign in front of the titles must be avoided.

Introduction

The introduction should explain; what is the problem? How different/related is it from the previous works? This section deals with describing the problem in two or three pages by reviewing past studies, challenges, and necessity of application of results. General and unnecessary discussion must be avoided. The introduction should not be written in such a way that only experts are able to use it.

Methodology

The methodology should be written in such a way that every reader can get the same results as he/she repeats the experience of the author. The followings should be reported in methodology: Research method details, implementation, and follow-up duration, time and place of conducting the survey, sampling and the criteria for selection, sample size, inclusion/exclusion criteria of the study, data collection, ethical standards, measurement tools (validity and reliability), statistical tests, and manufacturer of materials and devices.

• In the research method section, a section entitled "Ethical considerations" should be clearly added, in which all the ethical considerations and standards observed in conducting the research should be mentioned.
• If the intervention has been done to conduct research on subjects, whether human or animal, that there is a possibility of the slightest complication or discomfort for the subject, it is necessary to receive ethics approval (code) from a reputable center.
• The title and textual contents of the figures should be in both Persian and English and their numbers should be in English
• The table titles should be placed on top of them.
• The description of each table should be written before it.
• In qualitative tables, the title should be in both Persian and English and the numbers should be in English.
• In quantitative tables, the title and contents of the text should be in both Persian and English and its numbers should be in English.
• To insert the title of each table after the word table and its number, the dash and then the title should be mentioned.
• The title of the table should be clear so that there will be no need to refer to the text.
• The numbers in tables should have no decimals and up to two decimals if necessary.
• Abbreviations and symbols in the text of the table can be defined in footnotes.
• The numbers and contents of the table should not be repeated in the text of the paper.
• The dimensions of the tables should be adjusted to fit on one page (by length or width).
• All columns and rows must-have titles.
• Using a table is allowed when the information obtained (result) can not be easily defined in the text. The title of the table should be clear so that the text does not need to be referenced.

Discussion 

Finding highlights, importance, limitations, a comparison with other studies' results, explaining and interpreting common and controversial issues, and suggesting a possible application of findings are discussed in this part. In the end, a brief discussion on what they already knew about the subject and what new information has been added to the scope of the study is recommended. Results should not be repeated in this part, however, new results that are not mentioned should be discussed.

Message: At the end of papers, an achievement message should be expressed in one or two sentences.

Acknowledgments

The name of the source or sources of financial supports is to be noted. All individuals or groups who have helped and cooperated are appreciated in this part.

Citation

Using APA Style

• Citations within the text of your paper are identified with a number in round brackets. Example: Jones (8) has argued that…
• References are numbered consecutively in the order they are first used in the text. The full citations will be included in the Reference List at the end of your document, with matching numbers identifying each reference.
• When multiple references are cited together, use a hyphen to indicate a series of inclusive numbers. Use commas to indicate a series of non-inclusive numbers. A citation with these references (4, 5, 6, 7, 14, and 19) is abbreviated to (4-7, 14, and 19). Example: Multiple clinical trials (4-6, 9) show…
• The original number used for a reference is reused each time the reference is cited. Example: “…the theory was first put forward by Lee (7) in 1999, but there was disagreement (3, 5, and 8) over its importance.”
• Include the page number for any direct quotes or specific ideas. Example: “…has been proven demonstrably false.” (4, p23)
• The citation in brackets is placed after any commas and periods, and before any colons and semi-colons. Example: …a new definition. (13, p111-2) …this option is preferred (11).

• At least 30 articles in research articles and at least 10 articles in review articles from valid sources of the last 10 years should be mentioned as research resources.

•  In-text references should be fully consistent with the resources at the end of the paper.
•  The end-of-paper resources should be hyperlinked to the original paper.

How to mention resources

Article: Surname and author's name should be given to the first six people in full and more than six people using the term et. al. Title. Journal’s Name. Year; Course Number (Journal Number): Page Number.

E.g.: Schmidt  R A, Wulf G. Continuous concurrent feedback degrades skill learning: Implications for training and simulation.  Hum Factors. 1997 Dec;39(4):509-25.

• Translation book: surname and author name (s). Book title. Name and surname of translator/translators. Print or edit number. City of publication: Publisher; Year of publication. Page number.

Compiled Book: Surname and Name of Author (s). Book title. Printing number. City of printing: Publisher; Year of publication. Page number.

E.G:  Schmidt RA, Lee TD. Motor control and learning. 4thed. Champaign. IL: Human Kinetics; 2005. p. 21-5.

• Article from the Internet or information on CDs: Last name and first name of the author (s). Content title. Place of publication: name of publisher or publisher; Date Received. URL or CD name.
• Thesis, dissertation, and research projects: Surname and name of the executor (s). Thesis, dissertation or research title (mention the term master's thesis, doctoral dissertation, or research project). Place of publication: University or sponsoring organization; Year of publication
• Proceedings of scientific conferences: surname and name of the author (s). Title. Conference title; Conference time; Conference Venue: Publisher Name; publication date. Page number.

Submitting Extended Abstract is necessary at the acceptance phase

 Long abstracts should be submitted via the journal website in order to issue acceptance letters. Based on the vision of the department of research journals of Sport Sciences Research Institute of Iran, in line with the objective of qualifying and indexing the institutes' publications in internationally validated databases and in order to increase position and validation of the journal in national and international scientific references as well as official rating and validation systems, the English long abstract (1000 words) must be provided in the latest revised version of the manuscript emphasizing on materials, methods, and results.  If literary editing of the long abstract will be needed, the corresponding author himself is responsible to send it to the translation office.

Guide for Authors (Extended Abstract)

1-      Manuscript's Title

2-      Authors' names

3-      Authors' Affiliation

4-    Background and purpose(150 words)

5-    Methodology (300 words)

6-     Results (400 words)

7-    Discussion (150 words)

8-     Keywords (3-10 keywords)

9-    References (at least 8 references should be hyperlinked)

It should be added that extended abstract is allowed to be contained of just one table or chart. Keywords, references, charts, and tables are not included in 1000 words. References related to the "Objectives" and "Materials and Methods" sections should be cited with numbers and listed at the end of the extended abstract based on the Vancouver method.

 In addition to the above, the manuscript will be reviewed based on the following conditions:

• If the corresponding author does not make the changes requested by the reviewers and experts of the journal within 15 days, the article will be removed from the review process.
• It should be noted that if the paper will be accepted, provided that the researcher makes corrections, the necessary explanations about all the questions should be provided in the form of a letter at the beginning of the paper and the corrections made should be marked in a different color (for each reviewer with a specific color). It is better to do these actions in a version of the paper in which the reviewer provides explanations and these explanations will not be deleted so that the reviewer can review the necessary changes.
• Submitted papers should not have previously been published in any domestic or foreign journal. If this issue is observed, the article will be removed from the reviewing process of this journal, and not only the author's non-commitment will be reflected in other scientific journals in the country, but also the authority of the journal will not review other papers of that author.
• The author should undertake not to submit the paper to other domestic and foreign journals until he/she has received the final answer (acceptance or rejection) of his / her paper.
• Having the approval of a reputable translation agency for the English abstract of the article, will accelerate the process of issuing the acceptance letter of the manuscript.

Finally, the author is requested to read the instruction carefully and submit his/her paper through the system.