Author Guidelines

Authorship. Each author should have made sufficient scientific contribution to the article in order to take public responsibility for the content. Authorship credit should be assigned only on substantial input to:

• conception and design of the study;
• analysis and interpretation of data;
• writing a major portion of the paper;
• critically revising the paper and
• final approval of the version to be published.

Authors are listed in the byline. Individuals who do not meet the criteria for authorship may be listed in the acknowledgements section of the manuscript. Such contributions may include funds collection, recruiting participants, collecting or entering the data, etc.

Duplicate publication policy. Manuscript should not have already been published in whole or in substantial part in any journal or other citable form. Manuscript, or substantial parts of it, must not be submitted to any other journal at the same time. Authors uncertain of what constitutes prior publication should consult with the editor.

Submission.

When submitting their work to EQOL authors should enclose:

• Cover Letter
• Manuscript.

Cover Letter. Includes (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 list specific details about the manuscript (length, number of tables and figures) and provide information about any prior presentation of the data (e.g., at a scientific meeting) and/or potential fragmented publication. Include the statement "This manuscript represents results of original work that have not been published elsewhere (except as an abstract in conference proceedings). This manuscript has not and will not be submitted for publication elsewhere until a decision is made regarding its acceptability for publication in “Exercise and Quality of Life”. If accepted for publication, it will not be published elsewhere. Furthermore, if there are any perceived competing interest related to the research reported in the manuscript, I/we (the author/s) have disclosed it in the Author's Notes." If some copyrighted material is used in the manuscript, a copy of permission granted for reproduction or adaptation should be enclosed. Also, a clear statement concerning authorship and ethical standards adherence should be provided. The sample available on pp. 411–412 of the APA Publication Manual (5th ed., 2001) could be useful in preparing the Cover Letter.

Manuscript. The manuscript should be prepared in accordance with the Publication Manual of the American Psychology Association (5th ed., 2001). It must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document. Use the 12-pt Times Roman font and double-spacing throughout the manuscript. Adjust margins to 1 inch on all sides of every page. Number all pages, except artwork for figures, in arabic numerals in the upper right-hand corner. Indent the first line of every paragraph by using the tab key, which should be set at ½ inch. Type the remaining lines of the manuscript aligned left. Exceptions to these requirements are (a) the abstract, (b) block quatations, (c) titles and headings, (d) table titles and notes, and (e) figure captions. Manuscripts should be written in first person using the active voice. Writing should be concise and direct. Avoid unnecessary footnotes, jargon and abbreviations. If use of acronym or abbreviation makes manuscript more readable, the full wording should precede the first use of an acronym/abbreviation. Formats of numbers, metrication, tables, figures, quatations and all other style matters, including capitalization and punctuation, must follow the APA Publication Manual, 5th edition. Articles should not exceed a total of 28 pages including references, tables, and figures.

Order of the manuscript elements:

1. Title page (separate page, numbered page 1)
2. Abstract and keywords (separate page, numbered page 2)
3. Text (start on a separate page, numbered page 3)
4. References (start on a separate page)
5. Appendixes (if any, start each on a separate page)
6. Author’s note (if any, start on a separate page)
7. Footnotes (if any, list together starting on the separate page)
8. Tables (if any, start each on a separate page)
9. Figure captions (if any, list together, starting on a separate page)
10. Figures (if any, place each on a separate page).

Title page. The title page includes: running head for publication, title, author’s name and institutional affiliation, and the address of the corresponding author. The title page is removed before sending the manuscript to external review. Running head. Short version of title should be typed in all uppercase letters and consists of no more than 50 characters, punctuation and spaces. Title. Concise and informative. Avoid abbreviations and formulae in the title. Recommended length for a title is 10 to 12 words. Use the uppercase and lowercase letters and centered the title in the upper half of the page. Author’s name and affiliation. Type the author’s first name, initial(s) of middle name and surname. List the names of all authors in the order of their contribution to the article. Affiliation should be typed centered on the line below the author’s name. Adress of the corresponding author. Clearly indicate who will handle correspondence at all stages of reviewing, publication and post-publication. Provide the complete postal address, as well as telephone and fax number, and the e-mail address of corresponding author.

Abstract and qeywords. Abstract should be comprehensive, concise and specific. The length of abstract should not exceed 150 words. Type the label Abstract in uppercase and lowercase letters, centered, at the top of the page. Format the abstract as a single paragraph without paragraph indentation. An abstract of a original research report should delineate the main problem, the participants, the procedures, the findings (including statistical significance levels), the conclusions and the implications. An abstract for a review article should delineate the topic, the purpose, the structure of the article, the sources used and the conclusions. Designate 3 to 5 qeywords, preferably not already used in the manuscript title. Type the qeywords on the line bellow the abstract using lowercase letters.

Text. Text of the manuscript should contain no indications of author identity, such as referring to previous work, acknowledgments, institutional information, and mention of a specific city. The title of the manuscript should reappear on the first page of the text. The sections of the text for research articles are as follows: Introduction, Method, Results and Discussion.

References. List of references cited in text should be prepared in accordance with the Publication Manual of the American Psychology Association (5th ed., 2001). First line of each reference should be aligned left, with subsequent lines indented by ½ inches. Arrange references alphabetically, then sort them chronologically if needed. If there is more than one reference from the same author(s) published in the same year, each reference should be identified by the letters "a", "b", "c", etc., put in the brackets after the publication year. 

Examples: 
Reference to a journal article:

Biddle, S. J. H., Gorely, T., Marshall, S. J., Murdey, I., & Cameron, N. (2004). Physical activity and sedentary behaviours in youth: issues and controversies. Perspectives in Public Health, 124(1), 29-33.

Reference to a book:

Harter, S. (1999). The construction of the self: a developmental perspective. New York: The Guilford Press.

Reference to a chapter in an edited book:

Malina, R. M. (1986). Physical activity and maturation. In V. Seefeldt (Ed.), Physical activity and well-being (pp. 3-38). Reston, Va: American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance.

Appendixes. Type the word Appendix centered at the top of the page. If there is more than one appendix, use an identifying capital letters (A, B, etc.) in the order they are mentioned in the text. Type the title of the appendix on the line below.
Author's note. Identifies the sources of financial support, acknowledges contributors, mentions the bases of the study (e.g. a dissertation or larger project), denotes some special circumstances, etc.

Footnotes. Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number them consecutively throughout the article, using superscript arabic numbers. Footnotes should not be included in the reference list.

Tables. Type the word Table and its arabic numeral aligned left. On the line below type the table title using italic style. Number the tables in order they are first mentioned in the text. Use the double space in each table.

Figures captions. Type all figure captions together on the separate page. Each figure should have a caption that includes the figure number. Example: Figure 1. Level of physical activity as a function of socio-economic status. Number the figures consecutively in order in which they are first mentioned in the text. Do not put the captions for the figures on the figures themselves.

Figures. Figures should be of professional quality and no larger than the print area on a journal page. The following formats are acceptable: TIFF, JPEG and EPS. Color illustrations should be omitted.