The Journal of Elite Sport Performance welcomes the following article types:
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Review Articles (Systematic Reviews, Scoping Reviews, Narrative Reviews)
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Original Research
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Commentary
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Editorials
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Opinion / Perspectives
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Case Studies in elite profession sportspersons
See Author Guidelines for submission of all article types.
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Online ISSN: 2635-2885
Journal DOI: 10.54080
The Journal of Elite Sport Performance is managed by an editorial group. Our editors are experienced practitioners currently working in elite sport or high-performance environments, with extensive experience in publishing peer-reviewed research and/or are qualified to doctoral Ph.D. level.
Editorial & Advisory Board
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Dr Jill Alexander
Ph.D. MSc, BSc (hons), MSST, MSMA, FHEA, PGCTHE
Jill is a Senior Lecturer and Course Lead for the DProf and MProf in Elite Performance programme at the University of Central Lancashire. She lectures on the MSc in Football, Science and Rehabilitation course and the recently validated MSc in Football Medical Leadership and Performance programme.
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Following her undergraduate degree, she completed an MSc (by Research) in elite equine rider performance and recently involved several commercially funded projects with the FEI in the development of the classification systems within elite para dressage. Jill has worked in and led medical teams in rugby union for over 17 years and most recently completed her Ph.D. titled; Utilisation of Cryotherapy in Elite Sport: Understanding the Multifaceted Response. The findings of which provide a framework for potential optimisation of cryotherapy for injury, recovery and performance in sport. She has recently presented this work at the 2022 FIFA Medical Conference in Lyon, Oklahoma City Thunder NBA Staff Education Programme 2023, NBATA conference in Chicago, 2023, Inform Performance Podcast and several FA Premier League clubs.
Jill is the Research and Funding Lead for the Football Performance Hub at the University of Central Lancashire, with research interests for the optimisation of cryotherapy and performance recovery strategies within elite sport. She has published over 60 peer-reviewed publications in cryotherapy and elite performance.
She currently works as an independent Performance Recovery Consultant for several Championship and FA Premier League Football (Soccer) clubs, currently leading several projects to maximise individual player recovery strategies, player education materials and R&D initiatives for improved player, department and club recovery and performance.
Jill has recent consultancy work with the FA Premier League, through funded research projects to aid the development of policy guidelines within the elite football environment.
Associate Editors
Hon. Prof. Dr Mark Gillett
MSc (SEM), FRCS, FRCEM, FFSEM (UK&I), DipIMC, RCSEd, PGCert MSK
Chief Medical Officer at the Premier League
Mark was appointed as the medical advisor to the Premier League in November 2018 after a decade of experience as a team physician and performance director in that league. He qualified in 1992 and completed higher specialist training in Emergency Medicine in the West Midlands in 2003. He has a MSc in Sports Medicine from the University of Nottingham and is a founding fellow of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine UK.
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From 2003-2008 he worked for the English Institute of Sport as a sports physician and in 2008 he became first team doctor at Chelsea FC, before moving to WBA FC as director of performance in 2010 and onto Nottingham Forest in 2018.
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In 2012 he was a member of Team GB at the London Olympics as Chief Medical Officer to the men’s and women’s basketball squads. He was instrumental in the development of the AREA pre-hospital care training course for the Football Association in 2008.
He is a previous chairman of the Premier League Doctors Group and was training program director for Sports & Exercise Medicine in the West Midlands from 2009 – 2016 and deputy chair of the national training committee from 2014-2016.
Dr Damian Harper
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Ph.D., CSci, ASCC, MSc, FHEA, BASES
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Lecturer in Elite Performance, UCLan. Founder of Human Braking Performance.
Damian is an accredited sport and exercise scientist (BASES) and strength and conditioning coach (UKSCA), and world renowned for the impact that his research has had on developing applied sports performance practices. His research interests are focused on innovations and approaches to optimizing human sports performance, which he has a particular interest and expertise in understanding the performance and health implications of high-intensity
movement actions performed by athletes in multi-directional sports.
Damian’s Ph.D. investigated the neuromuscular determinants of deceleration in team sports and pioneered some of the first approaches to help practitioners understand the performance and injury-risk implications of braking during high-intensity deceleration manoeuvres. Damian has published numerous peer reviewed journal articles, presented at national and international conferences, and consulted with many high-performance sports organisations on the importance of deceleration, including the development of the ‘braking strength’ framework for the English Football Association (The FA). Damian continues to collaborate with world-leading experts and organizations from across the globe, with the aim of developing innovate approaches to better understand the role of deceleration for performance enhancement and injury-risk reduction for athletes participating in multi-
directional sports.
Chris Morgan
Lead Performance Physiotherapist Liverpool Football Club
Chris has worked at the very top of men’s professional football for the last 20 years. The vast majority of his professional career has been spent at Liverpool Football Club where he is currently Lead Performance Physiotherapist with the 1st team; he has also been head of physiotherapy at Liverpool FC, Arsenal FC, Crystal Palace FC and worked at the academies of Leeds United and Manchester City FC.
With a special interest in complex hip and groin injuries his passion is to create an elite environment with a group of top class practitioners to deliver a word class service to all.
Dr Ian Varley
Associate Professor Nottingham Trent University
Ian is an Associate Professor at Nottingham Trent University. Ian authored 25+ peer-reviewed publications. These include 4* publications in world leading journals such as Nature communications (Impact factor 12.1), Sports Medicine (Impact factor 9.8) and Science translational medicine (Impact factor 16.3). Ian has presented at numerous prestigious Sport Science related conferences (American College of Sports Medicine, European College of Sport Science) and presented to leading sporting governing bodies (English Institute of Sport, The English Cricket board, The Football Association, The Premier League, The Women’s Super League).
Ian's main research interests are; Injury and Illness Surveillance, The impact of exercise and physical activity on stress related bone injury, bone structure and bone metabolism and Genetic associations with alterations in bone structure and injury. Ian has experience in leading consultancy based activities related to Injury and Illness for various sporting bodies, including The Football Association and the Premier League.
Our associate editors are high-impact researchers, recognised leaders of applied practice as Medical Consultants, Sports Scientists, Medicine, Analysis or Performance Practitioners in their field. The associate editors invite appropriate reviewers and oversee the process between author submission and reviewer feedback. Our associate editors make the decision to accept or reject a manuscript to the chief editorial board based on collaborative reviewer feedback, and consider the quality, ethical standards and validity of the research.
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Reviewers
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Manuscripts may be rejected without full review if considered inappropriate for the Journal of Elite Sport Performance. If considered appropriate by the editors, peer reviewers are then chosen by the editors and advisory board to provide written opinions and recommendations, with the aim of improving the submitted manuscript for publication. Any manuscript deemed suitable by the editors of Journal of Elite Sport Performance for full review will be subjected to a double-blind peer review. The peer-review process for the Journal of Elite Sport Performance takes into full account possible bias due to related or conflicting interests. The editor will seek advice from associate editors or experts in a specific area and send manuscripts submitted for publication to reviewers chosen for their expertise and judgment to referee the quality and reliability of manuscripts.
Dr Chris Yiannaki
Lecturer in Elite Performance, UCLan
DProf, MA, BSc, PGCE, HEA Fellow, UEFA'B'
Chris comes from a background working predominantly in football and futsal, both academically and in applied practice. Practically Chris has worked in professional football for sixteen years supporting the development of elite youth players in England, whilst also working as a coach educator for over a decade.
Chris completed his doctorate examining futsal and its relationship to football extensively exploring topics related to coaching and talent development. This scholarly work has resulted in numerous publications.
Currently Chris works within the ‘Institute of Coaching and Performance’ at the University of Central Lancashire. This role involves the supervision of post-graduate candidates completing doctoral programs in elite performance.
Dr David Rhodes
Ph.D MSc, BSc, SST, PGCE, PGCTHE
Head of Medical, Performance & Innovation Burnley FC
David’s work in elite sport has continued working at varying levels across football including the following clubs Preston North End, Accrington Stanley, Salford City, Everton FC, Motherwell FC and Burnley FC. Through completion of his Ph.D. in 2017, David has over 40 publications in elite football performance and aligned many of these to his work in football.
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