Peer review process

Editorial board

The editorial board of the STAPS journal includes the editor-in-chief and associate editor of the journal, as well as 17 main editors for the different sections (“Anthropology/Ethnology”, “Didactics/Intervention”, “Epistemology/Philosophy”, “History”, “Sociology”, “Management, Economy and Politics”, “Psychology”, “Work in Progress”, “Carte blanche to...”, “Scientific Watch”). These section editors are recognized international experts in the aforementioned fields. Each submitted manuscript is assigned to the editor of the corresponding section.

 

Choosing reviewers

Section editors choose reviewers on the basis of their expertise on the topic dealt with. Reviewers are always - save in exceptional cases where a very specific expertise is required - statutory lecturers (university lecturers or professor-researchers), from France or other countries, with accreditations to direct research, for more than half of them. In general, some sixty reviewers are called upon every year by the editorial board of the STAPS journal.

 

Peer review process and publishing

All the traditional steps of a double-blind peer review process are strictly observed:

1- The editorial board reads the submitted manuscript

2- The manuscript is anonymized

3- Editors of the corresponding section(s) choose reviewers

4- The anonymized manuscript is sent to reviewers

5- The handling editor considers all the reviews

The initial recommendations are given to the author(s):

1- Acceptance

2- Provisional acceptance (conditional on making minor revision with proofreading by the scientific editor).

3- Major revision requested (follow-up review required)

4- Rejection

6- The manuscript is sent back and forth between reviewers and authors, when necessary, via section editors until it is accepted or rejected

7- The title, abstract and keywords of the accepted articles are sent to translators (German, Spanish and Italian)

8- The editor-in-chief of the journal proofreads every article and drafts the issue

9- The De Boeck editorial team proofreads the issue

10- The final draft is proofread by the editor-in-chief of the journal and authors (with possible requests of amendments on the form)

11- Final edits by the De Boeck editorial team and final modifications until print approval.

International scope of the journal

Due to its high level of requirement, rigor and expertise, the STAPS journal can legitimately claim to national and international scientific recognition. Regular publication of articles in English, as well as the translation in five languages of the abstracts of all research papers, bear evidence to the desire to be a journal of international scope.

 

Acceptance rate of manuscripts

For the varia issues as for the special issues, the acceptance rate is consistent with the rigor of expertise required by the STAPS journal:

- between 1997 and 2002: 33% (350 accepted manuscripts out of 1,100 reviewed)

- between 2008 and 2012: 42% (121 accepted manuscripts out of 286 reviewed)

- 2013 : 38% (27 accepted manuscripts out of 71 reviewed)

- 2014 : 40% (33 accepted manuscripts out of 80 reviewed)

- 2015 : 48% (27 accepted manuscripts out of 56 reviewed)

Planning issues

Since 2013, the STAPS journal has alternated between special issues and varia issues. The editorial team of the STAPS journal fully embraces this choice, made by numerous international sports sciences journals today, to satisfy self-imposed scientific rigor. Apart from day-to-day management of submitted manuscripts and matters related to editorial, administrative and financial aspects of the STAPS journal, the role of the editorial board is to define the scientific policy of the journal and plan future issues (usually between 6 to 8 volumes are prepared in advance, so 18 months to 2 years prior publication). In order to do so, the STAPS journal encourages its members to contribute to special, thematic issues in keeping with very precise specifications. It also organizes miscellaneous articles within variaissues, by imagining a dynamic and coherent coordination within the issues.