Peer Review Process

The Journal of Leadership in Sport and Management (JLSM) uses a double-anonymised peer-review process for research articles and review articles. The identities of authors and reviewers are not disclosed to one another during the review process.

All submissions first undergo an initial editorial assessment. The Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor evaluates whether the manuscript fits the journal’s aims and scope, meets basic scholarly and ethical standards, and is sufficiently developed to proceed to external review. Manuscripts may be rejected at this stage without external peer review if they are clearly outside the journal’s scope, methodologically inadequate, ethically problematic, or otherwise unsuitable for publication.

Manuscripts that proceed to external review are normally evaluated by at least two independent reviewers with relevant expertise. Reviewers are expected to assess the scientific quality, originality, methodological validity, clarity of presentation, appropriateness of analysis, interpretation of results, ethical aspects of the research, relevance of the literature, and overall contribution of the manuscript.

Reviewers must disclose any potential conflict of interest before accepting a review assignment. A reviewer who has a personal, professional, financial, institutional, or other relationship that could reasonably affect the independence of the review should decline the invitation.

Reviewer recommendations are advisory. The final editorial decision remains the responsibility of the Editor-in-Chief or a designated editor and may include acceptance, minor revision, major revision, additional review, or rejection.

Authors invited to revise a manuscript are expected to submit a revised version together with a point-by-point response explaining how each reviewer and editor comment has been addressed. Revised manuscripts may be returned to the original reviewers when further external assessment is considered necessary.

When reviewer recommendations differ substantially, the editor may seek an additional independent review before making a final decision.

Editors, Editorial Board members, and other individuals involved in the management of JLSM may submit manuscripts to the journal. In such cases, the submitting individual has no involvement in the editorial assessment, reviewer selection, peer-review process, or final decision. Responsibility for the manuscript is assigned to an independent editor with no relevant conflict of interest.

Submitted manuscripts, reviewer reports, and editorial correspondence are treated as confidential. Editors and reviewers must not disclose or use unpublished information obtained through the peer-review process for personal or professional advantage.

Reviewers are expected to provide objective, constructive, evidence-based, and respectful comments. Personal criticism of authors is inappropriate. Suspected plagiarism, duplicate publication, data fabrication or falsification, inappropriate image manipulation, ethical concerns, or other potential publication misconduct should be reported confidentially to the editor.

Manuscripts submitted for peer review are confidential documents. Reviewers and editors must not upload manuscripts, manuscript excerpts, figures, tables, supplementary files, or other confidential submission materials to publicly accessible generative artificial intelligence systems or external tools where confidentiality and data protection cannot be assured.

Authors may appeal an editorial decision if they believe that a significant factual, procedural, or scientific error affected the outcome. Appeals should clearly state the grounds for reconsideration and provide a reasoned response to the relevant editorial and reviewer comments. Appeals are considered by the Editor-in-Chief or, where appropriate, by another editor who was not directly responsible for the original decision.

Concerns relating to publication ethics or research integrity that arise during peer review may result in the editorial process being suspended while the matter is investigated. JLSM follows recognized principles of publication ethics and, where applicable, guidance from the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).