Journal profile · Psychology
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
ISSN 0270-1367 · eISSN 2168-3824 · Taylor and Francis Ltd. · UNITED STATES · Quarterly · Founded 1980
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport: CAS Zone 4 · Medicine (2025 upgraded edition); impact factor 2.05; JCR Q2 (journal website); hybrid open access; APC charged, amount not published; median 160 days to acceptance (87 articles, last 24 months); community-reported acceptance: easy; 86 articles in 2025; indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus.
Scope
Aims, scope and focus
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport is published by Taylor and Francis Ltd. and is in Zone 4 of Medicine in the CAS Journal Ranking (2025 upgraded edition). By OpenAlex counts of its recent articles, its largest topics are Sports Performance and Training, Physical Education and Pedagogy and Motivation and Self-Concept in Sports, together about 30.5% of its articles. (generated from OpenAlex topic counts and CAS ranking data)
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport (RQES) publishes scientific research focusing on human movement as it relates to exercise and sport. The journal is particularly interested in theoretically-driven rather than descriptive work and the expectation is that a paper must significantly advance and impact on knowledge within the field. The journal accepts quantitative and qualitative work that presents new information, substantiation or contradiction of previous findings, or an application of new or improved techniques. The journal is currently not accepting narrative reviews unless invited or with prior approval from the Editor. The journal does accept systematic and meta-analytic reviews from leading research groups and scientists. The goals of RQES are to provide a scholarly outlet for knowledge that: (1) contributes to the study of human movement, particularly its cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary nature; (2) impacts theory and practice regarding human movement; (3) stimulates research about human movement; and (4) provides theoretical reviews and tutorials related to the study of human movement. Diversity on the Editorial Board August 2021 SHAPE America and the journal Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport strongly values equity, diversity and inclusion in research across the various academic disciplines that it serves. We believe that the authors, reviewers, and editors engaged with the journal must reflect the diversity that is evident within the broad academic communities that it serves. A challenge remains how to gather accurate data that reflects the current level of diversity in the field as whole. The problem is confounded by the fact that the journal is multi-disciplinary, encompassing a wide number of sub-disciplines. Moreover, while the journal is US based, its reach and impact is global. We will explore better ways to collect and aggregate such data so that the nature of the community that the journal serves may be better defined. As we move forward, we will continue to explore ways to better gather demographic data and continue with our efforts to recruit a proportionate number of authors, reviewers and editors that match favourably with the levels of diversity that are evident in the various fields of science that the journal serves.
From the journal's Aims & Scope
Research area (LetPub): Psychology
Editor-in-chief Mark WilliamsPublisher website
Editorial board by country: 4 in mainland China (about 10%); most named United States 23, Mainland China 4, United Kingdom 4, Spain 3, Brazil 2 (39 members with a country) Editorial board ↗Publisher website ·
Main research topics OpenAlex counts of recent articles; shares are approximate
- Sports Performance and TrainingMedicine13.7%
- Physical Education and PedagogyHealth Professions8.7%
- Motivation and Self-Concept in SportsPsychology8.2%
- Children's Physical and Motor DevelopmentPsychology7.6%
- Sport Psychology and PerformancePsychology6.6%
- Physical Activity and HealthMedicine5.7%
- Sports injuries and preventionMedicine5.5%
- Obesity, Physical Activity, DietMedicine5%
Rankings & indexing
CAS ranking and database indexing
CAS Journal Ranking
CAS Journal Ranking, upgraded edition (March 2025)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Applied | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Sport Sciences | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
CAS Xinrui Journal Ranking (March 2026)Medicine Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Medicine | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Applied | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology | Zone 3 |
| Minor | Sport Sciences | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: not marked
CAS Journal Ranking, previous upgraded edition (December 2023)Education Zone 4
| Level | Category | Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Major | Education | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Psychology, Applied | Zone 4 |
| Minor | Sport Sciences | Zone 4 |
Top journal: noReview journal: no
JCR / CiteScore quartiles on the journal's website
- JCR Q2 · best quartile · 2025
- CiteScore Q1 · 2025
Publisher-reported: JCR figures are Clarivate's and CiteScore figures Scopus's to confirm; both are a different system from the CAS zones.Publisher website
Database indexing
SCIESSCIScopusLetPub
International journal early-warning lists: not listed in any editionLetPub
Indexing the journal's website claims
PubMedCASCINAHLERICPublisher website
Other: ProQuest, OCLC, American Statistical Association, British Library Board, Canada in Context, De Gruyter Saur, EBSCOhost, Elsevier BV, ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Focus On: Sports Science and Medicine, Gale, National Library of Medicine, Ovid, Personal Alert (E-mail), Thomson Reuters, U.S. National Library of Medicine
As the journal's website lists them, not checked against each database; for Web of Science editions the records above apply.
Editions, and major and minor categories, are shown separately and never merged into one zone; check which edition your institution uses before you submit or report.
Metrics
Impact metrics and publication volume
Impact
- Impact factor
- 2.05LetPub ·
- Impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.1Publisher website ·
- 5-year impact factor (publisher) 2025
- 2.5Publisher website ·
- CiteScore 2026-06
- 4.6LetPub ·
- CiteScore (publisher) 2025
- 4.6Publisher website ·
- SJR 2026-06
- 0.77LetPub ·
- SJR (publisher) 2025
- 0.77Publisher website ·
- SNIP 2026-06
- 1.15LetPub ·
- SNIP (publisher) 2025
- 1.15Publisher website ·
- h-index
- 82LetPub ·
- h-index
- 156OpenAlex ·
- i10-index
- 2,535OpenAlex ·
- 2-year mean citedness
- 1.77OpenAlex ·
- Self-citation rate
- 0%LetPub ·
- Share of gold OA articles
- 12.34%LetPub ·
Volume
- Articles per year
- 79LetPub ·
- Downloads per year (publisher)
- 303,000Publisher website ·
- Downloads per year (publisher) 2025
- 303,000Publisher website ·
Articles by year OpenAlex count · 5,175 in total · the current year is incomplete
| Year | Articles | Open access | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 68 | 22 | 9 |
| 2025 | 86 | 25 | 129 |
| 2024 | 96 | 38 | 304 |
| 2023 | 72 | 26 | 548 |
| 2022 | 123 | 32 | 1,019 |
| 2021 | 73 | 23 | 787 |
Sources count differently and were observed at different times, so each source's own value is kept; "publisher" marks figures from the journal's website.
Review & acceptance
Review time and acceptance
Review time from article dates manuscript dates registered with Crossref · to
160 daysMedian, submission to acceptance · P25–P75 117 days – 202 days
- Acceptance to online
- median 25 days (87 articles)
- Submission to online
- median 194 days
- Sample
- 87 articles with submission and acceptance dates (170 in the window); the latest was accepted on
Only articles that were accepted and published are counted, not the time spent on rejected manuscripts, so this usually runs longer than a publisher's "time to first decision".
Other sources
- Average review time (community reports)
- 6–12 weeksLetPub ·
- Average acceptance (community reports)
- EasyLetPub ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher)
- 6%Publisher website ·
- Acceptance rate (publisher) 2025
- 6%Publisher website ·
- Submission to first decision
- 2 daysPublisher website ·
- Submission to first decision 2025
- 2 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review
- 64 daysPublisher website ·
- First decision after review 2025
- 64 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication
- 41 daysPublisher website ·
- Acceptance to publication 2025
- 41 daysPublisher website ·
Community reports come from authors' own submissions (confidence 0.5) and are not a promise from the journal; for publisher figures, the journal's own definitions apply.
Fees & open access
APC and open-access policy
Hybrid open accessLetPub
A subscription journal in which authors can pay to publish their article open access.
| Source | APC | Fee waiver | License | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publisher website | Yes, amount not published | — | — |
A hybrid journal charges the APC only when the author chooses open access; publishing under the subscription model is usually free.
The journal's website is authoritative for fees; sources were observed at different times and each keeps its own value, without averaging.
Submission
Article types and submission policies (journal website)
What to prepare1 items from the author guidelines
- Not considered
- narrative reviews
Article types accepted4
- narrative reviewsThe journal is currently not accepting narrative reviews unless invited or with prior approval from the Editor.Length not stated
- research articleResearch Article | Published online: 10 Sep 2026Length not stated
- research articlesThe journal accepts quantitative and qualitative work that presents new information, substantiation or contradiction of previous findings, or an application of …Length not stated
- systematic and meta-analytic reviewsThe journal does accept systematic and meta-analytic reviews from leading research groups and scientists.Length not stated
Policy excerpts from the journal's websiteOpen access, Peer review
- Open access Open access
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport is a hybrid open access journal that is part of the Taylor & Francis Open Select publishing program, giving you the option to publish open access. Publishing open access means that your article will be free to access online immediately on publication, increasing the visibility, readership, and impact of your research. Why choose open access? Increase the d…
Source ↗Publisher website ·- Peer review
Narrative reviews only by invitation or prior approval from the Editor. Model summary
The journal is currently not accepting narrative reviews unless invited or with prior approval from the Editor.
Source ↗Publisher website ·
Excerpts are quoted from the journal's website; "model summary" lines are written by Workers AI and checked against the text. The journal's website is authoritative.
Profile
Publication details and official links
- Publisher
- Taylor and Francis Ltd.
- Country or region
- UNITED STATES
- Language
- English
- Frequency
- Quarterly
- Founded
- 1980
- ISSN
- 0270-1367
- Electronic ISSN
- 2168-3824
- Society / sponsor
- SHAPE America
- Latest issue on the website
- Volume 97, Issue 3 (2026)
- Official links
- Journal homepage ↗OpenAlex
- Submission system ↗Publisher website
- Special issues ↗Publisher website
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport
What CAS zone is Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport in?
In the 2025 upgraded edition of the CAS Journal Ranking, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport is in Zone 4 of Medicine, and in Zone 4 of the minor category Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism / Psychology / Psychology, Applied / Sport Sciences. In the 2026 Xinrui edition it is in Zone 4 of Medicine. Zones from different editions, and from major and minor categories, are not interchangeable.
What is the impact factor of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport?
The latest impact factor listed by LetPub is 2.05; CiteScore 4.6, h-index 156.
How long does peer review take at Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport?
Based on the dates recorded on 87 articles published between October 2024 and October 2026 (the last 24 months), the median time from submission to acceptance is 160 days (interquartile range 117–202 days); authors report an average review time of 6–12 weeks; the community-reported acceptance is “Easy”; the journal's website gives an acceptance rate of 6% (2025). Article statistics cover accepted papers only, publisher figures follow the journal's own definitions, and community reports come from authors' own submissions; none is a promise from the journal.
What JCR quartile is Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport in?
The journal's website gives JCR Q2 (best quartile). JCR quartiles are Clarivate's to confirm and a different system from the CAS zones; in the CAS ranking the journal is in Zone 4 of Medicine.
Where are the editorial board members of Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport based?
Of the 39 board members whose country the journal's board page names, 4 (about 10%) are in mainland China; the countries named most often are United States (23), Mainland China (4) and United Kingdom (4). Counted from the institutions listed on the board page; for reference only.
Which databases index Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport?
According to LetPub and DOAJ records, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport is indexed in SCIE, SSCI and Scopus. The journal's website also lists PubMed, CAS, CINAHL and ERIC; that list has not been checked against each database.
Is Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport open access, and what is the APC?
Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport is a hybrid journal. For open-access publication: APC charged, amount not published.
Sources and updates
The facts on this page come from LetPub, Publisher website, OpenAlex; every figure is tagged with its source and the date it was observed, and conflicting values are kept per source. LetPub source page: view ↗ (archived 2026-08-26). Last updated: .