American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance - AAHPERD

Contributor Guidelines

JOPERD is a peer-reviewed professional journal, with a 28% acceptance rate, intended to meet the needs of physical education, recreation and dance educators and to serve as a forum for socioeconomic, educational, and ethical issues. Manuscripts submitted to JOPERD must not be submitted to other publications simultaneously. To ensure that topic and treatment are appropriate for JOPERD, authors should submit an e-mail query (joperd@aahperd.org) before preparing the manuscript. Original data-based research is generally not published in JOPERD. Manuscripts with practical implications for educators at all levels are given priority. Manuscript acceptance is based on originality of material, significance to the physical education, recreation, and dance professions; validity; and adherence to the prescribed submission requirements stated below.

Manuscript Preparation

Prepare the manuscript in an electronic format, using an 8.5-by-11-inch page set-up with 1-inch margins. Double-space the entire manuscript, including references and quotations, and number the pages and lines throughout. Do not list author names, affiliations, or contact information on the manuscript; this information should be given in an accompanying letter. Do not use footnotes or endnotes, and do not submit the text in an editing-program format or with "track changes" in the text. Save the manuscript in either a native word-processing format (e.g., Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, Macwrite), or text (ASCII) format.

Manuscript Submission

Manuscripts must be submitted as e-mail attachments (joperd@aahperd.org). "Manuscript Submission" should be placed in the subject line of the e-mail. Manuscripts sent as e-mail text will not be read. All submissions must include a cover letter (which may be sent as e-mail text) that references the title of the manuscript and gives the names, academic degrees, positions, and institutional affiliations of all the authors, as well as the corresponding author's mail address, telephone number, and e-mail address. Manuscript receipt is acknowledged only by e-mail.

Manuscript Content

Tie manuscript length to the scope of the content, generally limiting articles to between 7 and 16 pages. Simple, straightforward writing—concise, logical, and clear—is best. Focus the manuscript, use examples, capture readers' interest, and stimulate their thinking. Avoid educational jargon and passive voice, vary sentence structure, and keep paragraphs short. The JOPERD Editorial Board encourages authors to have colleagues review manuscripts before submission.

• Abstracts. Include an abstract of 250 words or less. The abstracts for accepted articles will appear on the JOPERD web site after the article has been published.
• References. Check all references; authors are responsible for accuracy. Printed references are preferred over web references. For reference style, follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th ed.).
• Illustrations. Submit tables, charts, drawings, and graphs in one or more files separate from the text file.
• Photographs. JOPERD encourages authors to submit clear, sharp, well-composed color photographs or slides to illustrate their articles. Tape the photographer's name and a brief description of the activity on the back of each print. Digital photos should be saved at 300 dpi or with the largest possible dimensions. Do not paste digital photos into the text file.

Review Process

The editor reviews all manuscripts for appropriateness of topic and conformance to JOPERD writing style. If the topic and style are deemed appropriate, manuscripts are sent to at least three reviewers with expertise in the topic area. Allow from 12 to 16 weeks for the review process.

Publication

Manuscripts are printed in the earliest appropriate and available issue following acceptance. Authors receive two complimentary copies of the issue in which their article appears.

• Copyright: All authors of accepted manuscripts must sign a copyright release form. Authors transfer all copyright ownership of manuscripts to the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.
• Reprinting: Upon request, authors receive permission to reprint their own articles. However, JOPERD prohibits the free posting of articles on web sites.

Penalty for Plagiarism

If it is determined that an article incorporates plagiarized material, the following actions will be taken: (1) the author will receive a formal reprimand from JOPERD and from his or her association; (2) a copy of the reprimand will be sent to the author's institution or place of employment; and (3) the author will be precluded from submitting articles to JOPERD for two years following the infraction.