Editorial Process and Peer Review

All submissions are initially evaluated by the editors for suitability as a potential contribution to IRJAYS. Manuscripts with insufficient novelty, significant methodological flaws, or lack of relevance to the field of yoga therapy may be rejected before the formal peer-review process. Articles that meet the minimum basic requirements will be assigned to peer reviewers chosen on the basis of their expertise and experience. To improve the equity and integrity of the review process, author-identifying information is removed from manuscripts before review.

Reviewers evaluate the article’s contribution to the field of yoga therapy, taking into account the scientific rigor, importance and novelty of the topic, quality of the scholarship, and clarity of the writing. These invited peer reviewers score manuscripts as: accepted as is, accepted pending minor revisions, accepted pending major revisions, rejected but substantial revision and resubmission possible, or rejected. The assigned editor makes final publication decisions.

If accepted for publication, articles are copy edited for grammar, punctuation, and stylistic consistency. Page proofs are sent to the corresponding author.

The journal does not impose an embargo period on NIH-funded manuscripts.

Preprint Policy

To maintain the integrity of our peer-review process and the distribution of our journal, we have instituted the following policy on preprint publication: All manuscript submitters must notify IRJAYS in their cover letter if they have posted or plan to post a preprint. We will only accept preprints from nonprofit servers. These preprints must maintain their original form and must not be updated with any revisions resulting from IRJAYS’s peer-review process. If a manuscript with a posted preprint is published in IRJAYS, it is the author’s responsibility to update the preprint with the DOI for the final version of the article and a link to the article on IRJAYS’s website.

Submission Process

All articles must be submitted online at www.editorialmanager.com/ijyt. Authors new to the site must first register, after which they can create a login and submit manuscripts. Address questions about navigating the site to ngmcollegelibrary@gmail.com.

Article Types

If you are submitting an Original Research or Methods manuscript, please state in the Methods section whether you had approval from an IRB or other ethics board. Although IRJAYS does not strictly require IRBs for all articles, we need to know what degree of ethical oversight took place for the studies we publish.

Original Research Investigation*

Word limit: 7,000

Original research investigation articles describe the hypotheses, study, and methods of empirical research studies. They may include clinical trials; randomized controlled trials; case series; individual case studies of particular novelty, importance, and relevance; and studies based on cost-effectiveness analyses. Yoga protocols and research methods used in interventions must be described in sufficient detail to allow for replication of the results. Studies with multimodal outcome measures (e.g., those combining physiological and behavioral outcomes measures) are particularly encouraged. Original research investigation articles should contain the following sections at a minimum: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusions, and References.

Review

Word limit: 7,000

Review articles cover areas within the field of yoga and yoga therapy research in which significant development or progress has occurred in recent years. Reviews must be novel, systematic, thorough, balanced, and fully representative of the research literature in the field. They must not be mere summaries of previous literature, but rather offer critical perspectives on fundamental concepts, issues, and problems that define the research and concepts in yoga and yoga therapy. Any reference to unpublished material (i.e., unpublished original data, submitted manuscripts, or personal communications) must be clearly acknowledged.

Yoga Therapy and Research Methods*

Word limit: 5,000

Yoga therapy or research methods articles must present significant new methodology, emerging techniques or clinical practices, or a specifically designed intervention that opens new avenues for experimental or clinical investigations of relevance to the field of yoga therapy. Methods manuscripts should include the experimental and/or clinical objectives, and limitations of currently used methods. Acceptable manuscripts include those describing development, amendment, and/or evaluation of specific methodology relevant to yoga and yoga therapy. Examples include creation and validation of questionnaires; development and evaluation of biochemical, molecular, electrophysiological, or clinical measures; and preliminary evaluation of novel therapeutic strategies. In addition, these articles may contain preliminary data relevant to the methodology. The journal is not currently accepting research study/clinical trial protocol papers.

Perspectives and Opinions

Word limit: 3,000

Perspective and opinion articles must present significant and novel viewpoints on issues relevant to yoga therapy and yoga therapy research. Individual articles should focus on a specific area within the field and discuss current advances as well as future directions. Authors are invited to contribute their opinions on the interpretation of facts, value of currently used methods, as well as strengths and weaknesses of any scientific theory or clinical approach.

Preparing and Formatting Submissions

IRJAYS largely follows the style guidelines established by the American Psychological Association. (The reference format is one exception; see below.) Please format all submissions accordingly (see, e.g., www.apastyle.org) and include the following information.

Title page

Title

Type of manuscript

Word count

Number of references

Number of figures/tables

To preserve the integrity of the blinded peer review, please do NOT include author names in the manuscript. (Names, contact information, applicable degrees, and affiliations are listed only on the submission form and in your cover letter.)

Abstract

Although abstracts (approximately 250 words) are printed in unstructured form, please include statements that cover the background, methods, results, and conclusions that may be drawn from the work.

At the end of the manuscript

Conflict-of-interest statement

All manuscripts must include a statement indicating whether any of the points below apply.

Please declare financial relationships with entities that could be perceived to influence the content of the submitted work.

Please declare patents, copyrights, or royalties relevant to the submitted work.

Please declare other relationships or activities that could have influenced the content of the submitted work.

Acknowledgments

Include funding sources here if applicable.

If a yoga teacher or yoga therapist contributed to your intervention (e.g., by helping to develop the protocol), please consider listing this professional as an author. At a minimum, these individuals should be listed in the Acknowledgments.

References

IRJAYS uses AMA style for references, with sequentially numbered in-text citations and a list containing one entry per source at the end of the article. Please do NOT use Word’s endnote or footnote functions.

Example:

1. McCarthy A, Liu L, Groessl E. Mediational analysis of yoga’s effect on chronic low-back pain in veterans: What factors really matter? Int J Yoga Therap. 2022;32(1). doi:10.17761/2022-D-21-00020

Figures and tables

Submit figures and tables as separate files, with a list of their legends at the end of the main manuscript. For each figure and table, please add a note in the main manuscript indicating the approximate location where it should appear in (e.g., “[Fig. 1 about here]”). Avoid substantially repeating in figures/tables information already given in the text and vice versa.

Types of files: .jpg, .png, .tiff

Resolution for figures: 300 dpi at 100% of original size

Formatting

Type of document: Word (no other file formats can be accepted)

Font type: Times New Roman

Font size: 12

Spacing: Double spaced

Margins: 1 inch

*Reporting Guidelines for Yoga Interventions

Reporting on research interventions that involve the holistic, multifaceted practice of yoga requires thoughtfulness and detail. We urge authors to employ the CLARIFY Guidelineswhen reporting on their yoga interventions, including the following:

The article title should include the word “yoga.”
Describe why the specific population in the study was chosen.
Describe the type and duration of the yoga practice.
Note the qualifications of the yoga instructor(s).
Detail the teaching approach and delivery (online/in-person, visual, verbal, hands-on, etc.).
Report the dosage of the intervention.
Describe the home practice expectations (duration, frequency, follow-up recommendations/resources, etc.).
Note any changes to the yoga protocol during the interventions.
Report how adherence was measured and promoted.
Report and describe the fidelity to the protocol.