Recreational Sports Journal: Guidelines for Authors

An official publication of the NIRSA Foundation

Use the following information when submitting a manuscript to the Recreational Sports Journal. Theoretical, practical, technical, historical, philosophical, creative, or controversial manuscripts are suitable.

Writing Style

1. Recreational Sports Journal’s readership includes personnel from: recreational sports, intramurals, fitness and wellness practitioners; and parks and recreation.
2. Spell out the implications of the article for the recreational sports field.
3. Use a simple, clear, and direct writing style. Avoid passive verbs; chose active tense for reader clarity.
4. Avoid the use of first person pronouns, and repeated references to one’s institution.
5. Philosophical and historical backgrounds are not usually necessary unless these are the primary purposes of the manuscript.
6. Quoted materials and historical sources should be cited as references.
7. When reporting research results, try to maintain non-technical language and to avoid complex tables that do not relate directly to the text. Avoid extensive discussion of methodologies and statistical techniques unless they are clearly unique. Concentrate on theoretical framework, reasons for conducting the research, discussion, and applications to the field.

Common Reasons for Rejection

1. Inappropriate subject matter; repetition of previously published material; topic too narrow or already common knowledge; poor documentation; poor writing. Check the RSJ web page for a list of recent table of contents.
2. No simultaneously submitted or previously published manuscripts should be submitted.

Manuscripts

1. A manuscript will be acknowledged, but not returned. It may take up to six months to be reviewed and the Recreational Sports Journal is published in May and November.
2. The Editorial Board performs “blind reviews” and submits confidential evaluations to the Editor who makes the decision regarding acceptance/rejection/revision.
3. Author(s) will receive acknowledgement of any editorial decision. Recreational Sports Journal accepts submitted materials as a professional contribution with no remuneration. There are no page charges to authors.  Each author receives a complimentary issue.

Technical Criteria

Online submission of manuscripts to the Recreational Sports Journal is a step-by-step process and follows the order listed below:

1. Submitting author should create an account in Manuscript Central (link opens in new window) and enter information in the required fields. This would include, but not be limited to complete names, titles, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, and e-mail addresses for all authors.
2. Submitting author then enters the “Author Center” portion where the “Author Dashboard” will appear.  Click on “Submit a New Manuscript”.
3. Submitting author will then be asked to provide the type of manuscript, the title, and no more than a 150-word abstract.
4. Next, submitting author will enter three “keywords” in the manuscript attributes section.
5. The submitting author will then be asked to list the names, e-mail addresses, institution, city, and country of all authors.
6. The next step is to enter a cover letter (it can be uploaded and pasted) and any figures and/or tables, or other attachments.  Author(s) are asked to verify that the manuscript has not been submitted to another journal
7. Submitting authors are then asked to upload the manuscript. Manuscripts should adhere to the latest version of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association. As a reminder:
   1. Text: Full title should appear at the top of page one.  Double space, indent paragraphs one-fourth inch, use one side of 8.5” x 11” paper and one-inch margins on all sides.  Number pages consecutively in the upper right-hand corner and carry a running head (partial title) just below the page number.
   2. Long quotations should be single spaced with a hanging indentation.
   3. Articles should be “letter perfect” in grammar, spelling, and punctuation.
   4. Submit the tables in a separate document from the text to avoid the loss of formatting.
   5. Microsoft Word (all versions) is preferred. If using WordPerfect (any version), please save your document to RTF (rich text format).
   6. Illustrations: Use black ink on white paper and make camera-ready.
   7. Figures and Tables (limit of three): Use only where appropriate but not duplicated in text. Figures should be no larger than 5” x 7,” professional in appearance, with clean, crisp lines; hand drawing are not acceptable. Shaded areas should use stripe patterns or solids; color in figures is not acceptable. Figures can be submitted as .TIF or .PDF files.
   8. References: Use APA style and list only if cited in the text.
8.  Galley proofs are sent to the lead author and are to be returned immediately, but no later than one week after receiving them.  Only minor corrections are acceptable on the galley proofs.  No major additions, deletions, or revisions are permitted at this stage in the publication process.