The Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (JCSP), a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal, addresses psychological care and clinical issues of athletes, exercisers, and other performers. Clinical sport psychology represents an integration of therapeutic strategies and mental skills training approaches for performance, health, and overall well-being.

Mission

The mission of the Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (JCSP) is to disseminate scholarly, peer-reviewed work that integrates therapeutic strategies and performance enhancement approaches to best serve athletes, exercisers, and other performers. JCSP is designed to provide practical recommendations to mental health providers and applied sport psychology practitioners, stimulate provocative discussions, promote best practices and intervention strategies, and disseminate applied research findings.

Target Audience

JCSP serves as a resource for clinicians and other professionals who work with athletes, exercisers, and performers. Articles published in JCSP also inform the work of sport and exercise psychology scholars.

Editor-in-Chief

Justine J. Reel
University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA

Associate Editor

J.D. DeFreese
University of North Carolina, USA

Editors-in-Chief Emeriti

Frank L. Gardner, Touro College, USA (Founding Editor: 2007–2013)
Don Marks, Kean University, USA (2013–2017)

Editorial Board

Mitch Abrams, Learned Excellence for Athletes, USA

Jessyca Arthur-Cameselle, Western Washington University, USA

Timothy Baghurst, Florida State University, USA

Lois Butcher, Temple University, USA

Chris Carr, St. Vincent Indianapolis Hospital, USA

Jennifer Carter, The Ohio State University, Wexner Medical Center, USA

Graig Chow, Florida State University, USA

Yongchul Chung, Sogang University, South Korea 

Jenny Conviser, Ascend Consulting, USA

Peter J. Economou, Rutgers University, USA

Edson Filho, University of Central Lancashire, UK

Leslee Fisher, The University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA

Teresa B. Fletcher, Adler University, USA

Nick Galli, University of Utah, USA 

Frank L. Gardner, Kean University, USA

Steve Gonzalez, Dartmouth College, USA

Christy Greenleaf, University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, USA

Michael Gross, Kean University, USA

Henrik Gustafsson, Karlstads Universitet, Sweden

Brandonn Harris, Georgia Southern University, USA

Hannah Hopkins, Boxwood Recovery Center, USA

Lauren Loberg, National Football League, USA 

Tobias Lundgren, Karolinska Institutet, Sweden

Charles Maher, Rutgers University, USA

Don Marks, Kean University, USA

Maya Miyairi, Utah State University, USA

Zella Moore, Manhattan College, USA

Kelli Moran-Miller, Stanford University School of Medicine, USA

Trent Petrie, University of North Texas, USA

Les Podlog, The University of Utah, USA

Tanya Prewitt-White, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA

Carrie Scherzer, Mount Royal University, Canada

Chris Selby, Husson University, USA

Kendahl Shortway, Kean University, USA

Sonya SooHoo, University of California, San Francisco, USA

Gershon Tenenbaum, Florida State University, USA

Paula Thesleff, SportFocus, Finland

Amanda Tierney, McCallum Place, The Victory Program, USA 

Max Trenerry, The Mayo Clinic, USA

J. Jordan Utley, University of St. Augustine, USA

Judy Van Raalte, Springfield College, USA

Dana Voelker, West Virginia University, USA 

Frank Webbe, Florida Institute of Technology, USA

Karin Weman Josefsson, Halmstad University, Sweden

Andrew Wolanin, Wolanin Consulting and Assessment Inc., USA

Mike Zito, Montclair State University, USA

Sam Zizzi, West Virginia University, USA

Human Kinetics Staff
Brian Moore, Senior Journals Managing Editor
Christina Johnson, Editorial Assistant

Prior to submission, please carefully read and follow the submission guidelines detailed below. Authors must submit their manuscripts through the journal’s ScholarOne online submission system. To submit, click the button below:

Authorship Guidelines

The Journals Division at Human Kinetics adheres to the criteria for authorship as outlined by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors*:

Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should be based only on substantial contributions to:

a. Conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of data; and
b. Drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and
c. Final approval of the version to be published.

Conditions a, b, and c must all be met. Individuals who do not meet the above criteria may be listed in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript. *Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals. (1991). New England Journal of Medicine, 324, 424–428.

Open Access

Human Kinetics is pleased to allow our authors the option of having their articles published Open Access. In order for an article to be published Open Access, authors must complete and return the Request for Open Access form and provide payment for this option. To learn more and request Open Access, click here.

Manuscript Guidelines

The Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology (JCSP) is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal that provides practical and clinically relevant recommendations to mental health providers and practitioners in sport and exercise psychology, stimulates provocative discussions, promotes best practices and intervention strategies, and disseminates applied research findings that clearly show clinical relevance. The journal covers a broad range of topics. Some examples of relevant topics include psychology of injury, eating disorders, exercise and mental health, and substance use disorders. This journal highlights the clinical application of research findings within direct psychological service delivery spanning a wide range of clients and settings. JCSP recognizes the importance of diverse methodologies, varied treatment approaches, and the importance of having authors represent a wide range of perspectives around sport and exercise psychology. JCSP is international in scope and submissions from around the world and with diverse populations are encouraged. 

Writing Style

All manuscript submissions should be written in accessible language, free of scientific jargon, and easily understood by a wide variety of clinicians and applied sport psychology practitioners. To align with the mission of JCSP, submissions should strive to demonstrate clinical relevance. Authors should follow the latest version of APA style, and manuscripts should be void of typos and grammatical errors. Line numbering and 12-point font should be used for the double-spaced document.

Types of Papers

1. Original research papers follow traditional format and section headings to demonstrate literature background, methods, results, and discussion. All methodologies are welcomed (e.g., quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods). To follow ethical research procedures, prior institutional review board approval is expected. Applied and clinical relevance of the project should be clearly demonstrated throughout. Authors are strongly encouraged to include a clinical implications section in their manuscript to provide practical implications for clinicians or practitioners working in this field. Including abstract (150 word maximum), tables, and references these papers should not exceed 30 pages.
2. Practice papers are applied pieces that may, for example, detail “best practice” prevention, intervention, or treatment approaches to addressing problems within sport, exercise, and performance contexts. Another option is a “lessons learned” paper that describes challenges and recommendations gleaned from implementing a program or intervention with athletes, exercisers, or performers. Papers may also use published research findings or theoretical frameworks to inform practice recommendations to clinicians, practitioners, and others working in the field. These papers should be 20 pages or less, including the abstract (150 word maximum), tables, and references.
3. Commentaries are brief papers that describe hot topics in the field or argue for a particular viewpoint, therapeutic approach or strategies for navigating challenges that may arise in research and practice for sport and exercise psychology. Although these may be viewed as “opinion papers”, authors should tie ideas to the literature and employ a professional tone to ensure a compelling scholarly argument. These papers require abstracts (150 word maximum) and should not exceed 10 pages.
4. Case illustration and therapeutic approach papers articulate a specific and in depth case to make a problem “come to life” and illustrate challenges and intervention strategies in a clinical or applied setting. If based on a real case, all identifying characteristics should be altered to protect the identity of the client(s). These papers must include a case narrative, case interpretation, and a clinical implications section with a recommended therapeutic approach supported by research. These papers require abstracts (150 word maximum) and should not exceed 7 pages. 

Questions about the journal or manuscript submission should be directed to the Editorial Assistant, Christina Johnson, at ChristinaJ@hkusa.com.  

Artwork Instructions

In figures, use black and white only, no shading or color. Resolution of digital images should be 300 dpi at full size for photos and 600 dpi for line art; color images cannot be accepted. Figures or photos should be in .jpeg or .tif files. Format tables using the “Table” function of your word processing program rather than aligning columns in text with tabs and spaces or using text boxes.

Review

The review process is blind, with manuscripts read by external reviewers. There are no page charges to contributors. Authors of manuscripts accepted for publication must transfer copyright to Human Kinetics, Inc.

Please note that papers decisioned as reject and resubmit during 2017 should no longer consider resubmitting as of August 2018. Please also be aware that while authors are welcome to submit their work that has been previously reviewed, all manuscripts will be treated as new submissions and need to adhere to current author guidelines.

Desk Rejection Policy 

Before full review, submissions are examined at the editorial level. If the Editor and an Editorial Board Member believe the submission has extensive flaws or is inconsistent with the mission and focus of the journal, the manuscript may receive a desk reject decision.

Individuals

Online Subscriptions

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