Instructions for authors

INSTRUCTIONS FOR AUTHORS

The journal Sports and Health publishes papers in the fields of physical education and sports, as well as related biomedical, humanities, social and natural sciences. Submitted manuscripts must present unpublished results of scientific research or new empirical insights. Manuscripts that do not comply with the Instructions for Authors will be returned to the author for revision. The author assumes full responsibility for the content and language of the work. All papers are subject to peer review, and each submission undergoes plagiarism detection.

CATEGORIZATION OF WORKS

The journal accepts articles, polemics, reviews, thematic bibliographies, patents, reports and news about scientific and professional gatherings, and other relevant documents in the field of physical education and sports. The category of the manuscript is determined by the Reviewers and the Editorial Board.

Reviewed papers are classified into the following categories:

• Original scientific article,
• Review article,
• Preliminary communication,
• Article presented at a scientific/professional meeting, invited lecture, or announcement,
• Scientific critique, polemic, or review, and
• Professional article.

Submission Procedure

To create or register an account for submitting a manuscript, first-time authors must contact Computer Support at support@sportizdravlje.ues.rs.ba  and provide: first name, last name, affiliation (with link), ORCID iD, and email address. You will then receive login credentials for accessing the submission system.

The submission process includes:

• Specifying the manuscript type and completing the submission checklist
• Agreeing with the Conditions for Publication
• Entering authors, affiliations, title, abstract, keywords, and metadata
• Providing funding information, conflict of interest, ethical statements, and editor comments
• Agreeing with the Data Publishing Policy
• Uploading the manuscript and additional files (cover letter, blinded manuscript, figures, etc.)
• Confirming the automatically generated PDF review version
• Uploading supplementary files
• Final verification and confirmation

Organizing Your Submission

Before starting your submission please make sure that your manuscript is formatted in accordance with the Author Guidelines.

Manuscripts submitted to this journal must be divided into separate files (no larger than 20 MB each) to allow their processing by our software. Before attempting an online submission, please consider preparing the following file types:

1. Cover letter

This part is for the handling Subject Editor only and will not be sent to the reviewers. Please check the Author Guidelines section and follow the specific indications that apply for SPORT AND HEALTH. In case it is a mandatory requirement, please structure the cover letter accordingly.

2. Submission file

• Microsoft Word document: DOC, DOCX, RTF, or ODT
• Must not contain any indications of authorship
• Maximum file size: 80 MB

3. Additional files

High-resolution figures must be uploaded during the submission (Step 6). Accepted formats (each figure as a separate file):

• EPS, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP (maximum 20 MB per file)
• Equations must also be uploaded as separate image files if requested

4. Supplementary files (appendices)

Supplemental materials (datasets, questionnaires, multimedia, appendices) must be uploaded with metadata.
These files must not contain author names, as reviewers can access them.
Text-only appendices should be in DOC, DOCX, RTF, or ODT formats.
Submissions that do not meet these requirements will be returned without review.

For technical issues, contact: support@sportizdravlje.ues.rs.ba

Prepare Your Manuscript

English Language Editing

All manuscripts must be written in fluent English or edited by a professional English language editor before submission. Authors must confirm this by marking the appropriate checkbox:

"The text is edited by a professional English language editor, duly acknowledged in the manuscript. I am aware that non-edited manuscripts could be rejected prior to peer-review".

Main Text

The manuscript should not exceed 15 standard pages. Manuscripts not meeting formatting requirements will be returned for revision.

The article must be prepared in Microsoft Word according to the following specifications:

• Font: Cambria, size 11pt;
• Page Setup: Top: 2,21 cm, Bottom: 2,38 cm, Left: 2,54 cm, Right: 2,43 cm
• Line Spacing: double;
• First Line: 1 cm;
• Alignment: Justified

Required Sections:

• Title Page
• Abstract and Keywords
• Introduction
• Methods
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusion
• References (APA 7)
• Tables (optional)
• Figures (optional)
• Appendices (optional)

Title page (pages)

The Title page/s includes:

Title of the article (it is recommended the title of the article be short (5-10 words) and present the main topic of the study);

Abstract (English only, max 300 words) including:

• Background
• Purpose/objectives
• Methods
• Major results
• Conclusions
• Limitations (if any)
• Practical implications (if any)
• Originality/Value
• Keywords (up to 6)

Main Text

Introduction

The purpose of the introduction is to convince readers that the published research contains novelty and it is applicable. It answers the following questions:

• What is the main problem?
• Are there any existing solutions (indicates the level of study the problem at the moment)?
• What are the best solutions according to the author/s?
• What is the main limitation of the research?
• What is expected to be achieved by the author of the research?

The main text is structured into separate sections, distinguished by their titles (headings should be brief, with a clear indication of the differences between their hierarchy). The preferred format for writing the main titles is to be in bold format, and subtitles should be written in font – 11pt Cambria, Justify / First Line Indent 1cm.

The main text should include:

Purpose and objectives of the study. The purpose and objectives of the study should ensure the understanding of the publication’s focus and should justify its structure. After that, the authors should specify:

• What is the significance of the publication?
• Why is the publication important and original?
• To whom is the publication designed?

Additionally, can be discussed the potential utility of practice, the importance for future studies, detailed limitations of the study and others.

Main thesis and hypothesis of the research. Authors’ arguments about their merit are presented.

Applied methodology and methods. The author should indicate the main methods used by them in a separate title. The author(s) should demonstrate that the methodology is robust and appropriate to achieve the objectives. It is expected that the author(s) focus on the main theme, point out the main stages of their research, show the used methods and influences that determine the chosen approach by them, to give arguments why they have chosen specific examples and others.

Achieved major results. When presenting the results, it is important that authors focus on the essentials. The publication must contain only the essential facts and those with a wider meaning without giving many details of every possible statistics. If development is full of statistics, it is possible to prevail over the conclusions and after all the publication to be seen primarily as an enumeration of facts, not as a scientific study. The main thesis of the author(s) must be clearly traceable and steadily established.

When describing the results, the author(s) should seek answers to the following questions:

• Do you provide an interpretation for each of the submitted results you want?
• Are the results consistent with what other researchers have found?
• Are there any differences? Why?
• Are there any limitations?
• Does the discussion logically lead the reader to your conclusion?

When presenting the results, it is important not to make statements that go beyond what results can acknowledge.

Conclusion

The general rule is that the conclusion should not only contain a summary of the research (it can be found in the abstract). The conclusion should give answers to the set at the beginning of the publication questions and indicate opportunities for further research. It would be better to reveal how the achieved results will be applied in practice and to identify constraints in this regard. While indicating how this research can be applied and extended in future studies, it is not accepted in the conclusion to introduce new material or state the obvious. In the conclusion it should be emphasized what is different in the research results, what stands out in the design, or what is unexpected.

Notes

Notes or Endnotes should be used only if absolutely necessary and must be identified in the text by consecutive numbers, enclosed in square brackets, and listed at the end of the article.

Funding

The funding agencies, projects or institutions of the scientific research should be indicated in the Cover letter, in order to prevent a potential authors’ identity disclosure during the peer review.

Citations and References

References must follow the APA 7th edition style and should be checked for completeness, accuracy, and consistency.

In-text citations should follow these APA rules:

• One author: Narrative: Adams (2006); Parenthetical: (Adams, 2006).
• Two authors: Narrative — Adams and Brown (2006); Parenthetical — (Adams & Brown, 2006).
• Three or more authors: Adams et al. (2006) or (Adams et al., 2006). (Use et al. from the first citation.)

A reference list in alphabetical order must appear at the end of the manuscript.

For sources with up to 20 authors, list all authors. For 21 or more authors, list the first 19 authors, insert an ellipsis (...), and then add the final author.

For books	Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of the book (Edition, if applicable). Publisher. Example: Marković, S. (2018). Metodika fudbalskog treninga (2nd ed.). Akademska knjiga.
For book chapters	Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of chapter. In Initials Surname (Ed.), Title of the book (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. Example: Petrović, D. (2020). Metodika razvoja snage. In M. Ilić (Ed.), Savremene metode treninga (pp. 55–72). Sport Science Press.
For journal articles	Surname, Initials., & Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of the article. Journal Title, Volume(Issue), page–page. https://doi.org/xxxxx Example: Jovanović, N., & Kovačević, L. (2021). Effects of small-sided games on youth players. Journal of Sports Performance, 14(2), 112–120. https://doi.org/10.1234/jsp.2021.456
For conference proceedings	Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of the paper. In Initials Surname (Ed.), Title of the proceedings (pp. xx–xx). Publisher. Example: Ilić, M. (2019). Tactical preparation of U17 players. In B. Petrović (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Football Science (pp. 85–92). Faculty of Sport Studies.
For theses/dissertations	Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of the thesis (Unpublished doctoral dissertation/master’s thesis). Institution. Example: Đurić, A. (2017). Razvoj eksplozivne snage kod učenika osnovne škole (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Belgrade.
For websites	Author/Organization. (Year, Month Day). Title of page. URL Example: World Health Organization. (2023, May 10). Physical activity recommendations. https://www.who.int/activity
For datasets / software	Organization/Author. (Year). Title of dataset or software (Version) [Type]. Publisher or source. URL Example: R Core Team. (2020). R: A language and environment for statistical computing (Version 4.0) [Software]. https://www.r-project.org/
Unpublished / Submitted manuscripts	Manuscript submitted: Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of manuscript (Manuscript submitted for publication). Manuscript in preparation: Surname, Initials. (Year). Title of manuscript (Manuscript in preparation). Personal communication (do not list in References): (I. I. Ime, personal communication, 5 May 2025).

Do not place a period after a DOI or URL.

Illustrations, Figures and Tables

Figures

All Figures (charts, diagrams, line drawings, web pages/screenshots, and photographicimages) should be submitted electronically.

All Figures should be of high quality, legible, and numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals. Graphics may be supplied in color to facilitate their appearance on the online database.

• If possible, the figures should be made in graphical programs (Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe PhotoShop) or Excel. The figures should not be in Picture format. They should be numbered consecutively in order of citation in the text. Numbers and titles of the figures are placed below them. Authors should avoid many inscriptions inside the figures.
• Pictures and scanned images can be made into separate files, preferably in JPG or TIFF format, not embedded in the text. Photos must be of good quality and suitable for printing.
• If authors make a blueprint, they should use Word Equations. The numbers of formulas should be written in brackets on the left side of the page!

Tables

Tables should be typed in Word Table or Excel format. They should be numbered consecutively according to the citation in the text. Each table should have a title. Numbers and titles of the tables are placed over them. It is preferable that it fit on the page without turning widest part of the sheet horizontally. The necessary explanations are given below by means of appropriate symbols/characters.

Authorship of AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools do not meet authorship criteria and thus cannot be listed as authors on manuscripts, nor cited as authors. If AI or AI-assisted tools have been used in the preparation of a manuscript, this must be appropriately declared with sufficient details in the Materials and Methods section of the manuscript.

Supplementary Files

Online publishing allows an author to provide datasets, tables, video files, or other information as supplementary information, greatly increasing the impact of the submission. Uploading of such files is possible in Step 9 of the submission process.

The maximum file size for each Supplementary File is 20 MB.

The Supplementary Files will not be displayed in the printed version of the article but will exist as linkable supplementary downloadable files in the online version.

While submitting a supplementary file the following information should be completed:

• File format (including name and a URL of an appropriate viewer if format is unusual)
• Title of data
• Description of data

All supplementary files should be referenced explicitly by file name within the body of the article, e.g. 'See supplementary file 1: Movie 1" for the original data used to perform this analysis.

Ideally, the supplementary files should not be platform-specific, and should be viewable using free or widely available tools. Suitable file formats are:

For supplementary documentation:

• PDF (Adobe Acrobat)

For animations:

• SWF (Shockwave Flash)

For movies:

• MOV (QuickTime)
• MPG (MPEG)

For datasets:

• XLS (Excel spreadsheet)
• CSV (Comma separated values)
• ODS (OpenOffice spreadsheets)

As for images, file names should be given in the standard file extensions. This is especially important for Macintosh users, since the Mac OS does not enforce the use of standard file extensions. Please also make sure that each additional file is a single table, figure or movie (please do not upload linked worksheets or PDF files larger than one sheet).

Processing Your Manuscript

Revising Your Article

Authors must submit the revised version of the manuscript using Track Changes/Comments tools of Word so that the Subject Editor can see the corrections and additions. Authors must address all critiques of the referees in a response letter to the editor and submit it along with the revised manuscript through the online editorial system. In case a response letter is not submitted by the authors, the editor has the right to reject the manuscript without further evaluation. When resubmitting a manuscript that has been previously rejected with resubmission encouraged, authors must include the response letter to the article text file, and the pdf review version, so that it gets to the Subject Editor and the reviewers during the peer review.

Once your manuscript is accepted for publication, authors must ensure that the clean version submitted to copy and layout editing contains the full list of authors (in the correct order of appearance), as well as the Funding and/or Acknowledgement information (if any).

When submitting corrections to proofs (during the layout stage), authors must upload the latest proof (in PDF format) containing their revisions as track changes.

Manuscript Withdrawal

In some exceptional cases, authors may decide to withdraw their manuscript. The procedure to follow under such circumstances is to contact the editorial team specifying the reasons for this unanimous decision. Upon approval by the Editor-in-Chief, the submission will be archived, and the authors will be duly notified about this.

Manuscript Template

You can also download the official Manuscript Template (Microsoft Word), which provides the required structure and formatting guidelines for preparing your submission.