Journal of Motor Learning and Development
An affiliated publication of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity and the International Motor Development Research Consortium
Indexed in: Web of Science, Scopus, ProQuest, APA PsycINFO, EBSCOhost, EBSCO A-to-Z, ERIC, Google Scholar
Print ISSN: 2325-3193
Online ISSN: 2325-3215
2023 Impact Factor: 0.8
2023 CiteScore: 2.2
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Mission
It is the mission of the Journal of Motor Learning and Development (JMLD) to advance the understanding of movement skill acquisition and expression across the lifespan.
Aims & Scope
JMLD provides a platform for theoretical, translational, applied, and innovative research related to factors that influence the learning or re-learning of skills in individuals with various movement-relevant abilities and disabilities. It publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed studies that provide insight into training or therapeutic interventions that promote motor proficiency, or reduce deficits and decline, in any age group. Research that crosses traditional divides between physical, cognitive, and social domains in motor learning and development is especially encouraged.
JMLD publishes original articles, including research notes, systematic literature reviews, target articles, and letters to the editor. Studies using experimental and non-experimental designs, as well as psychological, neuroscientific, physiological, and biomechanical analyses that provide insights into the various dimensions of movement learning and development, are particularly welcome. Special consideration is also given to research using methods appropriate for applied research, including field studies, observational analysis, and qualitative data.
JMLD publishes three issues per year: April, August, December.
Partnerships
JMLD is an affiliated publication of the North American Society for the Psychology of Sport and Physical Activity (NASPSPA) and the International Motor Development Research Consortium (I-MDRC). NASPSPA and I-MDRC members receive access to all JMLD articles as well as a 50% discount on free access publication when their research is accepted for publication.
More about the Journal
Acceptance rate (2023): 52%
No article processing fees
No submission fees
Open and free access publishing is optional
NASPSPA and I-MDRC members receive a 50% discount on free access fees
Publication Ethics
Duties of Editors
Editors are the stewards of journals. Most Editors provide direction for the journal and build a strong management team. They must consider and balance the interests of many constituents, including readers, authors, staff, publishers, and editorial board members. Editors have a responsibility to ensure an efficient, fair, and timely review process of manuscripts submitted for publication and to establish and maintain high standards of technical and professional quality.
Actions
An Editor's decision to accept or reject a paper for publication should be based on the paper’s importance, originality, and clarity, and the study’s relevance to the remit of the journal. Consideration should be given without regard to race, religion, ethnic origin, gender, seniority, citizenship, professional association, institutional affiliation, or political philosophy of the author(s).
All original studies should be peer reviewed before publication, taking into full account possible bias due to related or conflicting interests. This requires that the Editor seek advice from Associate Editors or others who are experts in a specific area and will send manuscripts submitted for publication to reviewers chosen for their expertise and good judgment to referee the quality and reliability of manuscripts. Manuscripts may be rejected without review if considered inappropriate for the journal.
Editors must treat all submitted papers as confidential. The Editor and editorial staff shall disclose no information about a manuscript under consideration to anyone other than those from whom professional advice regarding the publication of the manuscript is sought. The Editors or editorial staff shall not release the names of reviewers.
Editors should consider manuscripts submitted for publication with all reasonable speed. Authors should be periodically informed of the status of the review process. In cases where reasonable speed cannot be accomplished because of unforeseen circumstances, the Editor has an obligation to withdraw himself/herself from the process in a timely manner to avoid unduly affecting the author’s pursuit of publication.
Where misconduct is suspected, the Editor must write to the authors first before contacting the head of the institution concerned.
Editors should ensure that the author submission guidelines for the journal specify that manuscripts must not be submitted to another journal at the same time. Guidelines should also outline the review process, including matters of confidentiality and time.
Editors transmit to Human Kinetics (specifically, the journal’s managing editor) the manuscripts accepted for publication approximately three months ahead of the publication date.
Conflicts of Interest
Conflicts of interest arise when Editors have interests that are not fully apparent and that may influence their judgments on what is published.
Editors should avoid situations of real or perceived conflicts of interest, including, but not limited to, handling papers from present and former students, from colleagues with whom the Editor has recently collaborated, and from those in the same institution.
Editors should disclose relevant conflicts of interest (of their own or those of the teams, editorial boards, managers, or publishers) to their readers, authors, and reviewers.
Peer Review
Editors and peer reviewers will follow the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) Ethical Guidelines for Peer Reviewers.
Peer reviewers, who play an important role in ensuring the integrity of this scholarly journal, are external experts chosen by Editors to provide written opinions, with the aim of improving the works submitted for publication.
Suggestions from authors as to who might act as a reviewer are often useful, but there should be no obligation for Editors to use those suggested.
Editors and expert reviewers must maintain the duty of confidentiality in the assessment of a manuscript, and this extends to reviewers’ colleagues who give opinions on specific sections. There will be clear communication between the Editors and the reviewers to facilitate consistent, fair, and timely review. Editors will require that reviewers provide speedy, accurate, courteous, unbiased, and justifiable reports.
The submitted manuscript should not be retained or copied.
If reviewers suspect misconduct, they should write in confidence to the Editor.
Dealing With Misconduct
The general principle confirming misconduct is the intention to cause others to regard as true that which is not true. The examination of misconduct must, therefore, focus not only on the particular act or omission, but also on the intention of the researcher or author.
Editors should be alert to possible cases of plagiarism, duplication of previous published work, falsified data, misappropriation of intellectual property, duplicate submission of manuscripts, inappropriate attribution, or incorrect co-author listing.
In cases of other misconduct, such as redundant publication, deception over authorship, or failure to declare conflict of interest, Editors may judge what is necessary in regard to involving authors’ employers. Authors should be given the opportunity to respond to any charge of minor misconduct.
The following sanctions are ranked in approximate increasing order of severity:
- A letter of explanation to the authors, where there appears to be a genuine misunderstanding of principles.
- A letter of reprimand and warning as to future conduct.
- A formal letter to the relevant head of the institution or funding body.
- Refusal to accept future submissions from the individual, unit, or institution responsible for the misconduct, for a stated period.
- Formal withdrawal or retraction of the paper from the scientific literature, informing other editors and the indexing authorities.
Editor
Maarten A. Immink
Flinders University, Australia
Editors Emeriti
Gabriele Wulf (Founding Editor: 2012–2015)
University of Nevada–Las Vegas, USA
Daniela Corbetta (2016–2021)
University of Tennessee, USA
Executive Editors
Motor Development
Nancy Getchell
University of Delaware, USA
Sam Logan
Oregon State University, USA
Leah Robinson
University of Michigan, USA
Motor Learning
John Komar
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Matt Miller
Auburn University, USA
Data Management, Reporting, and Transparency
Keith Lohse
Washington University School of Medicine, USA
Editorial Board Members
David I. Anderson, San Francisco State University, USA
José Barela, São Paulo State University, Brazil
Lisa Barnett, Deakin University, Australia
Arnaud Boutin, Université Paris-Saclay, France
Ali Brian, University of South Carolina, USA
Laura Claxton, Purdue University, USA
Michael Duncan, Coventry University, UK
Cornelia Frank, University of Bremen, Germany
Nicola Hodges, University of British Columbia, Canada
Ryan M. Hulteen, Louisiana State University, USA
Philip Kearney, University of Limerick, Ireland
Brad King, University of Utah, USA
Neeraj Kumar, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India
Matthieu Lenoir, Ghent University, Belgium
Caterina Pesce, University of Rome "Foro Italico," Italy
Jared Porter, University of Tennessee, USA
Shikha Prashad, University of Texas at Arlington, USA
Louisa Raisbeck, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA
Harry Ramsey, University of Portsmouth, UK
Rajiv Ranganathan, Michigan State University, USA
Luís Paulo Rodrigues, Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Marit Ruitenberg, Leiden University, Netherlands
Nadja Schott, University of Stuttgart, Germany
John Shea, Indiana University, USA
Harjiv Singh, Orlando Magic Basketball Club, USA
Beth Smith, University of Southern California, USA
Breanna Studenka, Utah State University, USA
A.C.Y. Tse, Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Fotini Venetsanou, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
Kip Webster, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA
Social Media Interns
Afsar Ali, St Mary's University Twickenham London, UK
Jenna Rice, Liverpool John Moores University, UK
Human Kinetics Staff
Doug Hoepker, 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:
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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:
- Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
- Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
- Final approval of the version to be published; AND
- Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.
Conditions a, b, c, and d must all be met. Individuals who do not meet the above criteria may be listed in the acknowledgments section of the manuscript.
Authors who use artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted technologies (such as Large Language Models [LLMs], chatbots, or image creators) in their work must indicate how they were used in the cover letter and the work itself. These technologies cannot be listed as authors as they are unable to meet all the conditions above, particularly agreeing to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
Free Access and Open Access
Human Kinetics is pleased to allow our authors the option of having their articles published Free or Open Access. In order for an article to be published Free or Open Access, authors must complete and return the Request for Open Access form and provide payment for this option. To learn more and request Free and Open Access, please see our Open Access resource page.
Fee for Free Access
- Copyright assigned to Human Kinetics $2,000
- Discounted price for I-MDRC members $1,000
- Discounted price for NASPSPA members $1,000
Fees for Open Access
- Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license $2,250
- Creative Commons CC-BY-NC license $2,450
- Creative Commons CC-BY license $2,950
Manuscript Guidelines
All Human Kinetics journals require that authors follow our manuscript guidelines in regards to use of copyrighted material, human and animal rights, and conflicts of interest as specified on our author resource page.
The Journal of Motor Learning and Development (JMLD) is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research papers, reviews, and invited target articles.
Style
In preparing manuscripts for publication in JMLD, authors must closely follow the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (7th ed., 2020). Writing should be concise and direct. Avoid unnecessary jargon and abbreviations. Acronyms should be used sparingly as they can make the manuscript difficult to read. Avoid abbreviations in the title and the abstract. Formats of numbers and measurement units, and all other style matters, including capitalization, punctuation, references, and citations, must follow the Publication Manual of the APA.
Cover Letters
Upon submission, authors must upload a separate cover letter that lists (1) the title of the manuscript, (2) the date of submission, and (3) the full names of all the authors, their institutional or corporate affiliations, and their e-mail addresses. In addition to this essential information, the cover letter should be composed as described on pp. 382–383 of the Publication Manual of the APA (7th ed., 2020), including clear statements pertaining to potential fragmented publication, authorship, and other ethical considerations. If submitting to a special issue, the cover letter should briefly state how the submission complies to the call and theme of the special issue.
Manuscript
The manuscript must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document. Other file formats, including PDF documents, are not accepted for the main (text) document. The manuscript should contain no clues as to author identity, such as acknowledgments, institutional information, and mention of a specific city. Thus, information that might identify the author(s) should be omitted or highlighted in black. The first page of the manuscript should include only the title of the manuscript and date of submission. All manuscripts must include an abstract of 150−200 words and three to six keywords chosen from terms not used in the manuscript title. Line numbers should be embedded in the left margin to facilitate the review process. For studies involving humans, the participants section must include a statement certifying that the study received institutional approval and that the participants’ informed consent was obtained. Manuscripts (including references, tables, figures, etc.) should not exceed the following page limits:
- Original research articles: 30 pages
- Research notes: 15 pages
- Book reviews: 5 pages
- Letter to the Editor: 5 pages
- Systematic literature review: 30 pages
- Editorial: 10 pages
- Target articles: 30 pages
Figures and Photos
If figures are included, each figure must be numbered in consecutive numerical order. A figure should have a caption that is brief and self-explanatory, and that defines all nonstandard abbreviations used in the figure. Captions must be listed separately, on a page by themselves; however, each figure must be clearly identified (numbered), preferably as part of its filename. Artwork should be professional in appearance and have clean, crisp lines. Hand drawing and hand lettering are not acceptable. Figures may use color. Shades of gray do not reproduce well and should not be used in charts and figures. Instead, stripe patterns, stippling, or solids (black or white) are good choices for shading. Line art should be saved at a resolution of 600 dots per inch (dpi) in JPEG or TIFF format. Photographic images can be submitted if they are saved in JPEG or TIFF format at a resolution of 300 dpi. If photos are used, they should be black and white, clear, and show good contrast. Any figures or photos from a source not original to the author must be accompanied by a statement from the copyright holder giving the author permission to publish it; the source and copyright holder must be credited in the manuscript. If a photo or figure shows the face of the participant, authors must either obscure the face or obtain written permission from the participant or responsible caregiver/parents of the participant (if minor) in order to publish. See our figure guidelines for additional information.
Tables
When tabular material is necessary, it should not duplicate the text. Tables must be formatted using Microsoft Word’s table-building functions. (Using spaces or tabs in your table creates problems when the table is typeset and may result in errors.) Tables should be single-spaced on separate pages and include brief titles. Explanatory notes are to be presented in footnotes, below the table. The size and complexity of a table should be determined with consideration for its legibility and ability to fit the printed page.
Video Clips
Short video clips may be submitted to illustrate your manuscript. Files may be submitted through ScholarOne for review as part of the manuscript; each digital video file should be designated and uploaded as a “supplementary file,” and should be no larger than 15–20 MB (or 5–10 seconds, depending on compression). Video should be submitted in either .WMV or QuickTime (.mov) format with a standard frame size of 320 × 240 pixels and a frame rate of 30 frames per second. You also should indicate in the cover letter accompanying your submission that you have submitted a video file.
Digital material from a source not original to the author must be accompanied by a statement from the copyright holder giving the author permission to publish it; the source and copyright holder must be credited in the manuscript.
Human Kinetics will inspect all video submissions for quality and technical specifications, and we reserve the right to reject any video submission that does not meet quality standards and specifications.
Funding Support
Funded research should be stated in the manuscript under Acknowledgments following this format: “This research was funded by grant [indicate grant number if any] from the [indicate funding agency]”.
Remember to Anonymize Your Submission
Authors will be asked to submit an anonymized version of their article and a separate cover sheet with names, institutional affiliations, and contact information.
Before Submitting
Please review the APA checklist for manuscript submission before submitting your manuscript.
Final Revisions
Authors of accepted manuscripts must obtain and provide the managing editor all necessary permissions for reproduced figures, pictures, or other copyrighted work prior to publication. The authors also will need to complete and sign the copyright agreement, transferring copyright to Human Kinetics, Inc. Exceptions to this copyright transfer rule will be made for government employees. Additional exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis.
Manuscript Review
All manuscripts are evaluated via double anonymized peer review review by two or more reviewers. Submissions will be judged on the basis of the manuscript’s interest to the readership, theoretical and empirical contribution, adherence to accepted scientific principles and methods, and clarity and conciseness of writing. There are no page charges to authors. Manuscripts may not be submitted to another journal at the same time.
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
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