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Authors' Guidelines

Who Can Submit?

Anyone may submit a manuscript to Clinical Practice in Athletic Training (ClinAT) provided they own the copyright or have authorization from the copyright holder(s). Authors are generally the initial copyright owners unless copyright has been transferred through an employment agreement. We highly encourage submissions from graduate students, practicing clinicians, and researchers.

General Submission Rules

All submissions must:
1. Be original and unpublished (publication in a working paper series does not constitute prior publication).
2. Not be under review by another journal during the ClinAT editorial process.
3. Remain exclusively under consideration by ClinAT until an editorial decision has been made.
Questions regarding submission policies should be directed to the editorial office.

Manuscript Categories

Clinical Practice in Athletic Training is a peer-reviewed journal that provides reports from athletic training patient care and practice advancement perspectives. The journal publishes the following manuscript types:

  • Original Research
  • Point-of-Care Reports
  • Clinical Case Study (Levels I-IV)
  • Clinical Education Innovation
  • Quality Improvement Reports
  • Evidence-to-Practice Review
  • Commentary and Editorials
  • Conference Abstracts

Submission templates are required for all manuscript types. Using the appropriate template streamlines formatting and expedites publication. Authors are required to prepare their manuscript directly within the appropriate Microsoft Word template. Available templates can be found below:

All Manuscript Templates

ClinAT also publishes conference abstracts in partnership with professional organizations. Individuals should work with the professional organization to submit their abstract for the conference. ClinAT will publish selected abstracts from the conference.

Submission Preparation Checklist

As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.

  • The manuscript has been fully de-identified.
  • All identifying names and institutions have been replaced with "XXX."
  • The correct ClinAT manuscript template has been used.
  • The manuscript follows current AMA style guidelines.
  • The submission is prepared in Microsoft Word using the template font, text size, heading styles, and embedded tables and figures.
  • Tables and figures are created in Microsoft Word rather than inserted as images.
  • An abstract of no more than 300 words is included at the beginning of the manuscript following the indicated style guide.
  • Required key phrases appear immediately below the abstract.
  • References include DOIs or URLs when available and use AMA superscript citation formatting.
  • Patient photographs have identifying information removed or obscured.
  • An author/title page is submitted as a separate document containing: Author name and employer information, contact information for the Corresponding author and all contributing authors.
  • Comments to the Editor are included if necessary (optional).
  • The manuscript has not been previously published or submitted elsewhere.
  • Copyright transfer is acknowledged as part of submission.

    Initial Peer Review Process

    All submissions undergo an initial technical review to ensure compliance with the journal’s formatting and submission requirements. Manuscripts that pass this review proceed to double-blind peer review by individuals with relevant clinical or research expertise.

    Our goal is to provide an initial editorial decision within approximately 4-8 weeks after reviewers are assigned. Depending on reviewer availability and the complexity of the review, the process may take longer. Editorial decisions include:

    • Accept: The manuscript is accepted for publication and proceeds to copyediting.
    • Minor Revisions Required for Acceptance: Limited revisions are needed before the manuscript can be accepted.
    • Major Revisions Required for Acceptance: Substantial revisions are needed before the manuscript can be reconsidered for acceptance.
    • Reject: The manuscript will not move forward for publication.

    Revision Process

    Authors receiving a decision of Minor Revisions Required for Acceptance or Major Revisions Required for Acceptance are invited to revise and resubmit their manuscript. Revised manuscripts requiring minor revisions are due within one month of the decision date. Revised manuscripts requiring major revisions are due within two months of the decision date, unless another deadline is specified in the decision letter.

    Authors who anticipate a delay or do not plan to resubmit should notify the editorial office as soon as possible. If a revised manuscript is not received by the stated deadline, the editorial office will contact the corresponding author. If no further revision is submitted after that contact, the manuscript will be withdrawn from consideration.

    A request for revision does not guarantee acceptance. Manuscripts requiring major revisions may undergo additional editorial and/or peer review after resubmission.

    When preparing a revision, authors should:

    1. Review and address all editor and peer-reviewer comments available in the submission system.
    2. Upload a clean revised manuscript without track changes, bolding, highlighting, or other visible markup.
    3. Prepare a separate response document for each reviewer and for the editor, if applicable.
    4. Address each comment individually in the response document, describing the change made and identifying its location in the revised manuscript. If a requested change is not made, provide a brief and respectful rationale.
    5. Update the title and abstract in the submission system if revisions affect either section.
    6. Ensure author contact information is complete and current, including titles, credentials, mailing addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses.

    To submit a revision, log in to the submission system and select “Revise Submission.” Upload the clean revised manuscript under “Full Text of Submission” and upload each separate response document as a “Letter to Reviewer.” Do not combine responses to multiple reviewers into one file.

    Rights for Authors and Scholar Commons

    In consideration for publication of the article, the authors retain copyright but grant ClinAT the exclusive worldwide license to edit, prepare for publication, manufacture, reproduce, publish, distribute, market, archive, and otherwise make the article available in print, electronic, and other agreed formats, including the right to make technical and editorial modifications necessary for publication. The authors expressly authorize ClinAT to make such editorial, technical, and production changes to the Work as are reasonably necessary for publication, including copyediting, proofreading, typesetting, formatting, pagination, file conversion, metadata preparation, accessibility modifications, and correction of typographical, grammatical, or similar errors. The authors authorize ClinAT to make the published work available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-ND 4.0). All articles published after August 2026 will be distributed under the terms of the CC-BY-ND 4.0 license.

    The authors represent and warrant that they own or otherwise control the rights necessary to enter into this agreement.

    Attribution and Usage Policies

    Reproduction, posting, transmission or other distribution or use of the article or any material therein, in any medium as permitted by a Creative Commons license, personal-use exemption, or by written agreement of Scholar Commons, requires credit to the copyright holder.

    Personal-use Exceptions

    Users are permitted to use articles published after August 2026 in compliance with the terms of the CC-BY-ND 4.0 license. For articles published prior to August 2026, the following uses are always permitted to the author(s) and do not require further permission from ClinAT provided the author does not alter the format or content of the articles, including the copyright notification:

  • Storage and back-up of the article on the author's computer(s) and digital media (e.g., diskettes, back-up servers, Zip disks, etc.), provided that the article stored on these computers and media is not readily accessible by persons other than the author(s);
  • Posting of the article on the author(s) personal website, provided that the website is non-commercial;
  • Posting of the article on the internet as part of a non-commercial open access institutional repository or other non-commercial open access publication site affiliated with the author(s)'s place of employment (e.g., a Phrenology professor at the University of Southern North Dakota can have her article appear in the University of Southern North Dakota's Department of Phrenology online publication series); and
  • Posting of the article on a non-commercial course website for a course being taught by the author at the university or college employing the author.

    • People seeking an exception, or who have questions about use, should contact the editors.

    Open Access Policy

    This journal provides free access to its content on the principle that making research freely available to the public supports a greater global exchange of knowledge. The articles posted to the journal are online only and reprints of the journal and/or articles are not available. ClinAT does not charge article processing charges (APCs) or submission fees.

    Privacy Statement

    The contact information entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.

    General Terms and Conditions of Use

    Users of the Scholar Commons website and/or software agree not to misuse the Scholar Commons service or software in any way. The failure of Scholar Commons to exercise or enforce any right or provision in the policies or the Submission Agreement does not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any term of the Submission Agreement or these policies is found to be invalid, the parties nevertheless agree that the court should endeavor to give effect to the parties' intentions as reflected in the provision, and the other provisions of the Submission Agreement and these policies remain in full force and effect. These policies and the Submission Agreement constitute the entire agreement between Scholar Commons and the Author(s) regarding submission of the Article.