Overview on The Open Sports Science Journal (TOSSJ)

The editor and the editorial office share the same view and philosophy from the day of being associated with The Open Sports Science Journal (TOSSJ) in 2013. Our aim is to publish sport sciences related content based on its innovative nature and quality. We are focused on providing our authors an outlet to share their research findings with the rest of the world as much as possible, aiming to reach the academics, researchers, teachers and/or practitioners. In this regard, we have published, in the past years, innovative forward-thinking studies both as regular manuscripts and also as part of special thematic issues that evidenced progress on various research fields.

We are working towards the aim of having TOSSJ, a peer reviewed journal, better accepted as an important and reliable source of current information on developments in the field. The emphasis on publishing quality articles rapidly and freely available worldwide in all areas of sports sciences is a must for us (e.g. biomechanics, physiology, pedagogy, psychology, as well as design of analysis systems, sports equipment, research into training, modelling and predicting performance). The journal is indexed in relevant repositories with the recent inclusion of Scopus® being a very worthy achievement.

For any researcher or academic, publishing is of paramount importance for career advancement. Whether you are just completing your degree, are a new post-graduate or an experienced academic, understanding why publishing is important and how to effectively approach is fundamental to success. This approach has never prevented us from our mission of accepting only the studies that our reviewers accepted as valuable. Therefore, to the authors of each manuscript, we offer our deepest gratitude for contributing to growth of the journal. Without their knowledge and commitment, it would not be possible to keep the standard of TOSSJ rising. We would also want to thank the reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the accepted manuscripts. They are a cornerstone of scientific publishing and, even anonymously, share their time and expertise, which is vital for the overall quality of the journal.

Even though there are evident benefits of publishing in TOSSJ, and the journal guidelines follow the traditional criteria used by others, a number of well-defined steps must be taken to pursue a publication idea. These include the process of well conceptualizing the publication proposal, all the topics related to the manuscript elaboration and, finally, correctly understanding how to use the online submission system, perceiving the publishing workflow and handling the peer review process. The digital transformation has dramatically changed most of our everyday lives and there is now an enormously diverse range of information available. For publishing, this is also true but some steps are mandatory to follow, particularly when preparing an outline that is, probably, the most important step in the process of producing a manuscript for publication in a journal.

So, before beginning to write your manuscript, divide the composition of the paper into a number of smaller tasks, organizing the various topics and arguments in logical form. Even if there is no single best way to prepare a scientific manuscript, authors should follow at least the following steps: (i) write down the central message of the manuscript; (ii) establish the material and methods; (iii) summarize the aim(s) and hypothesis(es); (iv) point out the principal findings and results; (v) describe the conclusions and, eventually, the practical implications; (vi) describe the main study limitations and their implications on the results; and (vii) identify the most relevant bibliographic references that pertain to each manuscript section. Then, as you keep on developing the manuscript, please assure that: (i) the journals’ specific guidelines are carefully followed; (ii) the language, specifically the grammar, is of sufficient quality (if any doubts subsist consider sending the manuscript to an expert in English editing and academic writing); (iii) the text is presented in a consistent and succinct form; and (iv) prior work is properly and fully cited. The Editorial Board and administrative personnel of TOSSJ will always be available to help authors through the challenge of having their work published allowing the journal readers to find interesting and appealing results in the area.