Peer Review Process

The Journal of Physical Education, Sport, and Human Performance (JPESHP) is committed to maintaining high standards of academic quality, integrity, and transparency in scholarly publishing. All manuscripts submitted to the journal undergo a rigorous peer review process to ensure their originality, scientific quality, methodological soundness, relevance, and contribution to the fields of physical education, sport science, exercise science, and human performance.

1. Initial Editorial Screening

All submitted manuscripts are initially screened by the Editor-in-Chief or a designated member of the Editorial Board. At this stage, the manuscript is evaluated for its relevance to the journal’s aims and scope, compliance with the author guidelines, overall academic quality, originality, and adherence to ethical standards.

Manuscripts that do not meet the journal’s scope, formatting requirements, minimum scientific standards, or publication ethics may be rejected without external peer review (desk rejection). Manuscripts that successfully pass the initial screening will proceed to the peer review stage.

2. Plagiarism and Originality Check

Before being sent for external review, manuscripts may undergo an originality and similarity check using appropriate plagiarism-detection software. Authors are responsible for ensuring that their manuscripts contain original work and that all sources are properly cited and acknowledged.

Manuscripts containing plagiarism, excessive similarity, duplicate publication, data fabrication, data falsification, or other forms of research misconduct may be rejected in accordance with the journal’s publication ethics policies.

3. Double-Blind Peer Review

JPESHP applies a double-blind peer review system. The identities of the authors are concealed from the reviewers, and the identities of the reviewers are not disclosed to the authors. This process is intended to promote objective, independent, and unbiased evaluation of submitted manuscripts.

Each manuscript that passes the initial editorial screening is normally reviewed by at least two independent reviewers who have relevant expertise in the subject area of the manuscript.

Reviewers are selected based on their academic qualifications, research expertise, publication record, and absence of conflicts of interest with the authors or the submitted work.

4. Review Criteria

Reviewers are requested to evaluate manuscripts based on several key criteria, including:

relevance to the aims and scope of the journal;
originality and significance of the research;
clarity and relevance of the research problem and objectives;
appropriateness and rigor of the research methodology;
accuracy and clarity of data analysis and presentation;
validity of the results and interpretation;
quality and depth of the discussion;
consistency between the results and conclusions;
relevance and adequacy of references;
contribution to knowledge and/or professional practice in physical education, sport, exercise science, and human performance; and
overall organization, academic writing quality, and scientific presentation.

Reviewers are also expected to identify potential ethical concerns, methodological weaknesses, unsupported claims, or other issues that may affect the scientific reliability of the manuscript.

5. Reviewer Recommendations

After evaluating the manuscript, reviewers may provide one of the following recommendations:

Accept Submission – The manuscript is suitable for publication without substantial revision.
Revisions Required – The manuscript requires minor revisions before it can be considered for publication.
Resubmit for Review – The manuscript requires substantial or major revisions and should undergo another round of peer review.
Decline Submission – The manuscript does not meet the journal’s scientific, methodological, ethical, or editorial standards and is not suitable for publication.

Reviewer recommendations serve as important considerations for editorial decisions; however, the final decision regarding publication remains the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief and/or the responsible editor.

6. Revision by Authors

When revisions are requested, authors are expected to carefully address all comments and recommendations provided by the reviewers and editors. Authors should submit a revised manuscript together with a detailed response to reviewers, explaining how each comment has been addressed.

If an author disagrees with a reviewer’s recommendation, the author should provide a clear, respectful, and scientifically justified explanation.

Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers for further evaluation, particularly when major revisions are required. Additional rounds of revision may be requested until the manuscript meets the journal’s scientific and editorial standards.

7. Editorial Decision

The final editorial decision is based on the reviewers’ reports, the authors’ responses and revisions, the scientific quality of the manuscript, compliance with publication ethics, and its relevance to the journal.

The possible editorial decisions include acceptance, revision, resubmission for further review, or rejection. In cases where reviewers provide substantially conflicting recommendations, the editor may invite an additional reviewer or make an editorial decision based on the available assessments.

The Editor-in-Chief has the final authority regarding the acceptance or rejection of manuscripts.

8. Confidentiality

All manuscripts submitted to JPESHP are treated as confidential documents. Editors and reviewers must not disclose, distribute, discuss, or use information contained in submitted manuscripts for personal or professional advantage before publication.

Reviewers are expected to maintain the confidentiality of the manuscript and the peer review process. Information obtained through peer review must not be used for purposes unrelated to the evaluation of the manuscript.

9. Conflict of Interest

Editors and reviewers must disclose any potential conflicts of interest that could influence their evaluation of a manuscript. A reviewer should decline a review invitation if there is a personal, professional, institutional, financial, or academic relationship that may compromise the objectivity and independence of the review process.

When a conflict of interest is identified, the journal will assign another qualified reviewer whenever necessary.

10. Publication Ethics

JPESHP is committed to maintaining integrity and ethical standards throughout the peer review and publication process. Authors, reviewers, and editors are expected to follow internationally recognized principles of publication ethics.

Any allegations or indications of plagiarism, duplicate publication, fabricated or falsified data, inappropriate authorship, undisclosed conflicts of interest, unethical research practices, or other forms of misconduct will be investigated by the editorial team. Appropriate editorial action will be taken based on the nature and severity of the issue.

11. Peer Review Timeline

The journal strives to conduct the peer review process efficiently while maintaining the quality and integrity of scientific evaluation. The duration of the review process may vary depending on reviewer availability, the complexity of the manuscript, and the extent of revisions required.

Authors will be informed of editorial decisions and revision requests through the journal’s online submission system.

12. Final Publication

Once a manuscript has successfully completed the peer review process, fulfilled all required revisions, and received final acceptance from the editor, it will proceed to the copyediting, proofreading, layout, and publication stages.

Acceptance following peer review does not exempt authors from responding to editorial or production-related corrections required before final publication.

Through this rigorous peer review process, the Journal of Physical Education, Sport, and Human Performance (JPESHP) seeks to ensure that all published articles meet appropriate standards of scientific quality, academic integrity, methodological rigor, and relevance to the advancement of knowledge in physical education, sport science, exercise science, and human performance.