Journal of Sports Medicine and Allied Health Sciences: Official Journal of the Ohio Athletic Trainers Association

Journal Administrator

Upon submission of your manuscript, the journal administrator will review for any identifying information, format concerns, and general journal requirements. Next, if all is in line, the journal administrator will enter your manuscript into the system and forward to the managing editor.

Managing Editor

The managing editor will review the manuscript in much the same way as the journal administrator. If there are issues or concerns, the managing editor will contact the author. Next, the managing editor will test the manuscript for copyright infringement. If it passes this test, the managing editor will assign an associate editor as the main editor for the manuscript.

Associate Editor

The associate editor will now review the content of the manuscript and determine the appropriate reviewers. Next, the associate editor will send requests to no less than 2 reviewers. Once reviewers have agreed to review the manuscript, the status of the manuscript will change to "Out for Review."

Reviewers

Reviewers are blinded to the author’s information. Authors are also blinded to the reviewer information. Reviewers are hand selected as experts in one or more areas of the manuscripts content. The reviewer has 21 days to review the manuscript and in certain cases, longer. Once the manuscript is reviewed, the review board member will upload their review in to the manuscript system.

Once all reviews are in, the associate editor will determine the appropriate decision. An email will be generated and sent to the author. In this email, links will be provided to allow the author to review comments made by each reviewer if any. The author has 60 days to return the revised manuscript. Failure to return the manuscript within 60 days may lead to rejection of the manuscript and removal of the manuscript record.

Re-Submission

If changes are required, you will be instructed to address concerns and resubmit. Upon re-submission, this process starts from the beginning.

Copyedit

Once the associate editor is satisfied with the overall manuscript, the status changes to provisionally accepted and you will be sent a provisional acceptance letter.

The manuscript is now sent to the first of two copyeditors (also 2nd and 3rd level review). Copyeditors look at the manuscript with fresh eyes. They have not seen the manuscript until this point. Once the first copyeditor reviews the manuscript for copyright, references, and legal concerns, he/she will change the status to "copy edit complete, publication pending," then send to the second copy editor. Second level copy editing involves grammar, punctuation and general readability as well as additional checks for legal concerns, etc. Should any concerns arise at either level, the manuscript will be held and the copyeditor will contact the author. Keep in mind, it is possible for a manuscript to be rejected during the two level review. Not until the board approves the manuscript will it be published.

Once the copyeditors have completed their review and are satisfied that the manuscript is ready for publication, they will change the status to copy edit complete, publication pending. It is important to note that either copyeditor may hold a manuscript until they are satisfied all issues raised have been addressed by the author.

Formatting/Typsetting

The manuscript then formatted by the Managing Editor to mimic ATEJ & JAT. Following format, the author will be contacted to review the manuscript. Any required corrections will be made at this point and the author will be asked for approval.

Editorial and Manuscript Review Policy and Procedure

When a manuscript is received in the office of the Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, it is sent to Managing Editor for Initial Review. It is then assigned to an Associate Editor (Editorial Board Member) for review and assignment to reviewers with general or specific expertise in the subject matter of the article. Reviewers have 21 days to complete their review and will recommend one of the following:

• Accept submission
• Accept submission with minor changes
• Major revisions required for acceptance
• Reject submission

Any disagreement between reviewers will be resolved by the Assigned Associate Editor and Managing Editor. If the manuscript is considered publishable with changes, a secure link to the reviewer’s comments will be sent to the author for further comment or revisions. Also at this time, the comments of all reviewers will be available to those who reviewed the manuscript to allow one reviewer to read the comments of the other reviewer on the manuscript. Authors will be given 60 days to complete any suggested revisions and return to the editor.

At that time, the author's revised manuscript will be returned to the primary reviewers. The reviewers are given a second 21 days for further review. This process will be repeated up two 4 times as necessary. All final decisions will be made by the associate editor assigned to the manuscript as overseen by the managing editor. All decision letters are reviewed by the managing editor prior to being sent to the author. Once accepted, the manuscript will be scheduled for copy edit and publication. Issue placement of the manuscript is at the discretion of the managing editor and editorial board and can be based, number of manuscripts accepted, content and other similar considerations. No author shall be published in more than 1 manuscript in the same issue.