About the Journal

Focus and Scope

Thematic areas related to physical activity, sport, rehabilitation, nutrition, and health:

initial and continuing education, physical education, play, body expression, physical activities in natural environments, special educational needs, assessment, children's motor skills, school sports, sports training, physical conditioning, sports management, physical activity, quality of life, physiology, biomechanics, ergonomics, sports psychology, gender, leisure and recreation, cross-cutting themes, sports medicine, physiotherapy, functional rehabilitation, nutrition, health.

PUBLISHMENT TOPICS

-Scientific articles: basic and/or applied research. We will prioritize randomized empirical studies and those that present multivariate analyses.

-Articles on didactic experiences developed and researched with empirical work.

-Quantitative systematic reviews and/or meta-analyses, as a priority.

The concepts and opinions expressed in each work are the sole responsibility of the author, without necessarily being endorsed or supported by the editorial staff.

FREQUENCY AND REJECTION RATE

Since March 2024, the journal has been published monthly, with one issue released at the beginning of each month.

The goal is to achieve a rejection rate of 75% or higher in the medium term.

Peer Review Process

Articles are evaluated anonymously by our reviewers, either from the Scientific Committee or from our Reviewer Database, which includes previous reviewers for the journal Retos. This database is updated and published periodically. In the event of a clear disagreement among reviewers, a new reviewer will be sought.

The Editorial Team commits to ensuring that the period from final acceptance does not exceed two months, except in cases beyond its control.

Once the article is received, the author(s) will be notified of its receipt by the journal's editorial team. All submissions will be reviewed by the Editorial Team of the journal "Retos," who will decide whether they meet the necessary conditions to proceed to the peer review process. This includes whether they align with the journal's editorial focus and the sections it covers, whether they are of interest to readers, whether they comply with the journal's requirements, and whether they meet the various formal aspects outlined in the author guidelines. A reference code will be assigned and communicated to the authors. Articles rejected in this initial review will be returned to the author with an explanation of the reasons for rejection. Similarly, authors of submissions that pass this initial screening but do not meet the formal requirements outlined in these guidelines will be asked to correct the identified deficiencies as soon as possible. During this time, the manuscript will be held in trust, and the author may request its return if they wish.

Once this initial stage is completed, all manuscripts will be reviewed anonymously by reviewers from the Scientific Committee or from our Reviewer Database. These reviewers, selected by the Editorial Team, are experts in the subject matter of the original work and are of recognized standing with no institutional affiliation to the journal. They are external to the journal and independent, and will assess the suitability of the manuscript for publication and, if necessary, suggest appropriate revisions. The review process is double-blind (anonymity of both author and reviewers), with a member of the Editorial Team responsible for liaising between them.

The manuscript and the experts' reports are confidential documents and should not be discussed with colleagues. Only the journal editor and/or the responsible member of the Editorial Team will have access to them. The final report, containing all comments from the relevant thematic area members who reviewed the article, will be sent anonymously to the author(s). In other words, the report sent to the author(s) will include the reasons for the acceptance, revision, or rejection of the manuscript, as well as the original or revised opinions issued by the reviewers, so that the author(s) can respond to, reply to, or accept them.

The Editorial Team will conduct periodic reviews of the quality and usefulness of the evaluation reports submitted by the reviewers in order to refine the external evaluation policy, remove reviewers from the Scientific Committee and the Reviewer Database, and redesign the forms and instructions sent to reviewers.

Authors may indicate individuals they do not wish to be involved in the review process of their work for various reasons. Likewise, the author(s) may suggest the names of experts (from the Scientific Committee or not) suitable for evaluating their manuscripts, regardless of whether or not these names are ultimately used for this purpose by the journal, once the proposal has been reviewed by the Editorial Team.

After considering the reviewers' suggestions, the outcome of the evaluation process may be:

1. Acceptance of the article.

2. Rejection of submissions deemed unsuitable.

3. Conditional acceptance subject to necessary revisions.

The Editorial Team will send any of these reports to the authors via the journal's platform and reserves the right to negotiate with them some changes to the originals to adapt them to the schedule of each issue. From the moment this second phase of article evaluation begins, within a period not exceeding three months, barring unforeseen circumstances, the authors will receive notification via the journal's platform, at the email address provided, of the article's evaluation results and, if accepted without the need for revisions, an approximate publication date. The Editorial Team commits to ensuring that the period from final acceptance does not exceed two months. All accepted articles will be published in the journal's digital format. Authors can track the evaluation process of their article at https://revistaretos.org/index.php/retos/index, specifically in the article status section, where the date of receipt, submission to reviewers, acceptance, and publication are indicated.

Once an article is accepted for publication, it is sent to Editing for all necessary formal, spelling, typographical, and grammatical corrections to ensure it is perfect in every aspect. Under no circumstances may the text content approved by the reviewers be altered, nor may bibliographic references be changed, without the editor's express authorization. This applies even if the authors, in their final review, deem it necessary to add or remove information. Similarly, adding or removing authors from the platform is strictly prohibited from the moment of submission, and even more so once it has been accepted. In any case, authors must request authorization from the Editor and indicate the requested changes in the text. After this stage, the text is sent to Production for final layout and galley proofs. The author(s) will receive the galley proofs for final review and possible corrections. Once the corrected text is received, it will be published. If the authors identify any errors, they must inform the editor immediately for correction.

Authors must ensure that all citations and references correspond to the article text and do not include references unrelated to the article's topic or the context in which they are cited. Any such references detected after publication will result in the article's retraction. Similarly, it is necessary to verify that the reference links are functional and correspond to the referenced article. If a violation is reported and verified, the article will be retracted from the journal for poor practices.

Open Access Policy

This journal provides immediate open access to its content based on the principle that making research freely available to the public fosters a greater global exchange of knowledge.