Authors
Welcome to the Author Resource Center
Please note that while this resource center provides a broad overview for authors, Human Kinetics publishes a range of journals, each with their own specific guidelines and processes. Therefore, to view more detailed information, please visit the Journals page and select the specific journal you are interested in. Authors are also encouraged to consult the following dedicated pages to learn more about specific topics:
Authorship Guidelines
The Journals Division at Human Kinetics adheres to the criteria for authorship as outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors*:
Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to:
a. Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
b. Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
c. Final approval of the version to be published; AND
d. Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Conditions a, b, c, and d must all be met. Individuals who do not meet the above criteria may be listed in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript. *http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html
Authors who use artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in their work must indicate how they were used in the cover letter and the work itself. These technologies cannot be listed as authors as they are unable to meet all the conditions above, particularly agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Manuscript Guidelines
Each journal published by Human Kinetics maintains its own manuscript guidelines. Please visit our Journals page and select the specific journal of interest to view its Author Guidelines.
Using Copyrighted Material in Your Submission
If a manuscript submission contains any previously published material (table, figure, or a quote of more than 200 words from a book or more than 5% of an article), the author (not Human Kinetics) must obtain written permission (for print and electronic rights, in the English language, for worldwide distribution) from the original publisher (or other copyright holder, if the publisher does not own or control the copyright) to reprint or adapt the material and pay any associated fees. Such documentation should be obtained before submission and must be received by Human Kinetics before the work can be published.
Human and Animal Rights
Unless noted otherwise, all Human Kinetics journals require that studies involving human subjects must include statements regarding institutional or other approval of the protocol and of obtaining informed consent. Informed consent should be obtained in written form by the participant or the participant's parent or guardian. For studies including animals, the manuscript must include a statement regarding institutional approval and compliance with applicable governmental policies and regulations regarding animal welfare.
Trial Registration
The registration of all clinical trials facilitates the sharing of information and enhances public confidence in research. It is best practice to comply with the ICMJE requirement regarding registration of all prospective clinical trial studies prior to subject enrollment (to learn more visit ICMJE Clinical Trials Registration). The ICMJE defines a trial as “any research study that prospectively assigns human participants or groups of humans to one or more health-related interventions to evaluate the effects on health outcomes.” Health-related interventions include behavioral treatments (e.g., physical activity). For a list of registries that are publicly accessible at no charge, open to all prospective registrants, and managed by a not-for-profit organization, please visit the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. Some public repositories include PROSPERO, ClinicalTrials.gov, ICMJE, and WHO.
Conflicts of Interest
Unless noted otherwise, all Human Kinetics journals require that authors must identify potential conflicts of interest in the areas of financial, institutional, and/or personal relationships that might inappropriately influence their actions or statements. Financial relationships that could form a potential conflict of interest include employment, consultancy, honoraria, and other payments. Personal conflicts of interest can relate to personal relationships, academic or sporting competition, and intellectual passion. Authors must disclose potential conflicts of interest to the subjects in the study being reported and state this explicitly in the manuscript.
Submission Process
Each Human Kinetics journal employs the use of ScholarOne for the submission process. ScholarOne will manage the electronic transfer of manuscripts throughout the article review process, providing step-by-step instructions. First-time authors will need to create an account by following the directions on the ScholarOne page. To find the ScholarOne site for the journal of interest, please visit that journal’s web page and view the Author Guidelines.
Once a manuscript has been created or submitted, you can track the status and view the details of all your manuscripts in the journal’s ScholarOne site. From the Author Center Dashboard, select the appropriate queue in the My Manuscripts section. The results will display directly below the dashboard, with the status noted on the right.
Pre-print Repositories and Servers
Human Kinetics does not consider a manuscript's availability on a pre-print server as a disqualifier for submitting to any of our journals as long as the repository or server is noncommercial (not for profit). Note that these manuscripts must still undergo the same peer review process as manuscripts that were not made available via pre-print repository or server.
Review Process
Manuscripts may be rejected without review if considered inappropriate for the journal. Manuscripts undergo peer review to establish and maintain high standards of technical and professional quality; editors and reviewers ensure an efficient, fair, confidential, and timely review process of manuscripts submitted for publication. The time the review process takes varies by topic and by journal.
Manuscript decisions include accepted, rejected, major revision, or minor revision. The Editor will be the final arbiter regarding the acceptance of papers when reviewers differ in their evaluations. The Editor has the final decision-making responsibility for the acceptance or rejection of all manuscripts submitted to the journal, and there is no appeals process. The publisher will not become involved in editorial decisions.
Please visit a journal's web page and view the Author Guidelines for more specific information regarding peer reivew. To see more about the duties of editors and reviewers, click here.
Copyright Transfer
Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication must transfer copyright to Human Kinetics unless the author has chosen to have the article published Open Access with a Creative Commons license. The full transfer of copyright form can be downloaded from the Human Kinetics ScholarOne submission site for the specific journal. To read more about copyright transfer, click here.
Open Access and Creative Commons License
Human Kinetics is pleased to allow our authors the option of having their articles published Open Access. Authors choosing to publish Open Access may either assign copyright to Human Kinetics or use a Creative Commons license. In order for an article to be published Open Access, authors must complete and return the Request for Open Access form and provide payment for this option. To learn more about Open Access and using the Creative Commons license, click here.
Production Process
Most Human Kinetics journals offer Ahead of Print (AOP) manuscript processing. For those journals, manuscripts appear online AOP within ~6 weeks of acceptance. Additionally, the time from acceptance to a manuscript’s final publication varies by journal, based on publication frequency, submission rates, and other factors. In general:
- Before published AOP, the manuscript will undergo copyediting. The article is copyedited with careful attention to adherence to the journal’s style, while still preserving the author’s voice.
- After copyediting is complete, the manuscript will undergo formatting, where the journal's layout specifications are applied.
- After copyediting and formatting are complete, the author is contacted via email to review a final proof. The author will be provided with log-in credentials to retrieve and review the proof from an author proof portal. This stage of the process is for correcting errors only, or updating anonymized text, since the article has already been through the review process.
- The author will return their proof edits via the author proof portal.
- Human Kinetics will integrate an author's edits to the article, with the exception of edits that contradict the journal's style.
- After final edits are integrated, the article is published online AOP.
- The article will be published in print and online in its final version (i.e., with assigned issue and final page numbers) when the issue is sent to print.
Promoting, Sharing, and Reusing Your Article
Human Kinetics encourages authors to responsibly promote and share their research. Authors should consider the following:
- Promotion: Presenting your work at conferences helps your research reach a broader audience. Additionally, you may find that your institution has promotion opportunities in place to help you promote your article. Utilizing social media outlets, such as Twitter, provides the opportunity to make others in the field aware when your research is published. We encourage you to mention us in your tweet so that we may retweet your work (@Human_Kinetics).
- Sharing: Sharing your research not only helps advance the research process, but enables you to reach more readers and collaborate with others. However, authors must ensure they share the appropriate version of their manuscript, whether it be online or otherwise. To learn more about responsible sharing of content—including depositing in electronic repositories, posting a manuscript on academic social networks, and more—view permission FAQs here.
- Reusing Article Content: There are certain circumstances under which Human Kinetics journal authors are not required to seek permission to reuse their own work. To learn more, please review permission FAQs here.
Archive/Deposit Embargo
Currently, Human Kinetics does not impose an embargo period for those authors that must archive or deposit their manuscript as required by a funding agency or institution.
Author Misconduct
The general principle confirming misconduct is the intention to cause others to regard as true that which is not true. The examination of misconduct must, therefore, focus not only on the particular act or omission, but also on the intention of the researcher or author. The journal editorial staff continuously remains watchful for possible cases of plagiarism, duplication of previous published work, falsified data, misappropriation of intellectual property, duplicate submission of manuscripts, inappropriate attribution, or incorrect co-author listings.
In cases of other misconduct, such as redundant publication, deception over authorship, or failure to declare conflict of interest, editors may judge what is necessary in regard to involving authors’ employers. Authors should be given the opportunity to respond to any charge of minor misconduct. The following sanctions
- A letter of explanation to the authors, where there appears to be a genuine misunderstanding of principles
- A letter of reprimand and warning as to future conduct
- A formal letter to the relevant head of the institution or funding body
- Refusal to accept future submissions from the individual, unit, or institution responsible for the misconduct, for a stated period
- Formal withdrawal or retraction of the paper from the scientific literature, informing other editors and the indexing authorities
Corrections, Retractions, and Editorial Expressions of Concern
In the event authors report errors in their work after publication, Human Kinetics will typically issue an erratum. Errata are published in the next issue of the printed journal and the original article is corrected electronically. The decision to publish an erratum is made by the editor of the journal or the Human Kinetics editorial team. Publishing an erratum is not ideal, so we urge authors to very carefully review their manuscript during the author proofing stage. If you identify an error in your article, please contact us.
A retraction serves to alert readers and other scholars to misconduct and/or unreliable results reported. A retraction will only be issued after a thorough investigation of the article in question, by Human Kinetics and the journal's editor. Misconduct or unreliable results not only damage a journal's reputation, but also mislead readers. Details regarding misconduct are noted above (Author Misconduct). An editorial expression of concern may be published on our website to alert readers of potential issues with an article. These concerns may revolve around methods, results, or content that affects a reader's understanding. A retraction may be issued after an expression of concern is stated, following an investigation of the concerns.
