Author Guidelines

RPD Subject matter mission and types of manuscripts
Revista de Psicología del Deporte ("RPD") publishes works of a scientific nature which are carried out with methodological rigour and which make a contribution to progress in the area of Sports Psychology. Theoretical, experimental, empirical and occupational works are accepted with preference given to those presenting current issues of scientific relevance and discussing polemic ideas. In addition, interdisciplinarity in the field of Physical and Sports Activities is one of RPD's aims.
RPD has various Sections to which submitted manuscripts may be addressed. The one for Articles publishes works about Physical Activities and Sports Psychology. Methodology publishes new methodological approaches, experimental, psychometric and observational research or analyses or changes to pre-existing methods. The Physical Activity, Sports and Health Sciences Section - in line with RPD's multidiscipline statement - publishes articles with content about physical activity and sports sciences (education, training, health, notational analysis, etc), although there must be a link to the psychosocial part of studies on people. The Professional Practice Section publishes articles on practical work and psychological intervention and there are specific rules to be taken into account for their submission (see rpd-online.com). The Review Section includes theoretical, historical or systematic review articles, including meta-analysis, aimed at updating, preferably critically, a specific subject.
Finally, there is the option for proposals to be made to RPD for Monographs (a group of manuscripts grouped together by subject) and Supplements (a group of manuscripts related to a Conference or Seminar, for example). In both cases the specific request (see rpd-online.com) must be sent to the Director of RPD.

Conditions for submitting manuscripts

  • – They must be unpublished, not published in their entirety or partially, nor in the process of being published by another magazine;
  • – They must be a maximum of 5,000 words long, including all sections (summaries, Annexes and references). Review manuscripts may be a maximum of 6,500 words long;
  • – They may be written in either Spanish, Portuguese or English;
  • – The authors and their affiliation are identified on the RPD web platform and not on the first page of the manuscripts, which must be anonymous;
  • – The pages and lines of the manuscript must be numbered;
  • – The file must be in Microsoft Word format (with the ".doc" extension and not "docx").

Manuscript submission
RPD only accepts manuscripts sent via the rpd-online.com platform and submissions sent by post or E-mail will be ignored.
Because of this, you must register as an author on the platform and this will allow you to submit the manuscript and track it during the editorial process (you can see the flow chart for the process on rpd-online.com).

Letter to the editor
All manuscripts submitted to RPD must be accompanied by a Letter to the Editor in Chief, signed by the authors, which includes:

  • – A brief description of the subject matter and its relevance to RPD's editorial policy;
  • – If it is aimed at a specific Section, the basic reasons and grounds for this;
  • – That the manuscript is original and has not previously been published, or is not in the process of being published, by another magazine;
  • – If any part or preliminary version of it has been presented at Conferences or equivalents;
  • – If any public or private financing was given to carry out the all or part of the work for the manuscript;
  • – That all the authors have read the text and are jointly responsible for it, sharing co-authorship;
  • – That, when carrying out the research and in the actual submission of the manuscript to RPD, ethical and deontological principles in relation to the people taking part in the study and handling the data obtained were complied with.  The co-authors must declare that there is no conflict of interest;
  • – The address, telephone numbers and E-mail address of the author who will correspond with RPD's Editors about the manuscript.

APA and specific RPD Rules
Manuscripts must, in general, be written stylistically according to the latest possible edition of the "Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association" (English version, 6th Edition).  The following specific RPD rules must also be taken into account (please see the summary check list at rpd-online.com):

  • – Use "y", "e" and/or "and" instead of "&" in references;
  • – Do not use a "comma" before "y, e, and" in the names of authors cited or referred to;
  • – Use "dot" instead of "comma" for decimals;
  • – Use italics for words in a different language to the text (do not use "inverted commas");
  • – Do not use bold except for headings in Annexes and in general Sections of the text;
  • – Do not use grey fill in Figures (please remember that RPD is published in B/W, not colour);
  • – Specific location of Legends in Tables and Figures;
  • – Do not use Footnotes or notes outside the text;
  • – Only use standard Latin abbreviations in brackets:
    o    “cf” = compare
    o    “i.e.,” = that is
    o    “e.g.” = for example
    o    “viz.,” = that is to say
    o    “etc.” = etcetera
    o    “vs.” = against

Manuscript review
Authors can view the RPD editorial process flow chart purely for information purposes (rpd-online.com).

Pre-review
All manuscripts submitted to RPD will be reviewed initially by the Online Editor to check that they meet the conditions indicated in the paragraphs above. At this stage the manuscripts will be editorially proofread to check that their content meets the methodological, content and subject matter level required by RPD and its Sections. In addition, the possibility of multi-submission, pre-publication and/or plagiarism will be taken into account during this stage.
If amendments or additions are required, the authors will have a maximum of 15 days to make them. If the authors do not respond, it will be understood that they have decided not to continue with RPD's editorial process. New versions of the manuscript created at this stage and also at the Peer review stage must be uploaded to the RPD platform using the "Add additional file" option within the same submission (that is to say, authors must not generate a new submission each time).

Review
If the manuscript passes the Pre-review stage it will be given a reference number which must always be used in correspondence between the authors and editors and will be assigned to a specific Section of the magazine. The Editors will then assign the manuscript to (at least) two anonymous reviewers in the first round.
The review process, which may consist of various rounds of checks and amendments, normally takes four to six months.
If the manuscript is accepted for publication, the authors will receive a formal Acceptance letter which will state the RPD Volume and Number in which it will be published, although it may be published earlier as a Pre-print on the RPD web site.

In whatever case, we are at your service to help with any doubts or queries in this respect.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  1. The manuscript has not been published previously and has not been sent and/or will not be sent to another journal.
  2. The authors are identified in the metadata.
  3. The sent file is in Microsoft Word format (with filename extension .doc, make sure it is NOT .docx), with a filename that does not identify the authors of the same.
  4. The text complies with all of the bibliographic and style requirements indicated in the APA 6.0 standards. Likewise, it considers the RPD’s own specifications (e.g., location of the legend for tables; format for references). If in doubt, please check recent editions of the journal.
  5. The pages and lines are correctly numbered in order to facilitate review and editing.
  6. The manuscript is no longer than 5000 words, including the abstract, all sections and references.
  7. The publication process is accompanied by a letter to the editor of the RPD, which has been signed by all of the authors (see publication standards "Submission of manuscripts" section, 3rd paragraph)