About the Journal

Philosophy

JSDSS was founded on three core principles.

First, our commitment to open access is absolute. At JSDSS, open access means free to read and free to publish---no exceptions.  JSDSS is a Diamond Open Access journal.  Research supported by academic institutions, public funding, or personal effort should not require a payment to reach the audience it deserves.

Second, reproducibility is critical and fundamental to the journal.  The credibility of sports analytics research and scientific research, in general, depends on our ability to verify, replicate, and build upon earlier work.  JSDSS will require transparency in data, code, and methodology. We will provide exceptions for proprietary data.

Third, we believe sport is a rich and underutilized laboratory for statistical and data science innovation.  From player evaluation and in-game strategy to league design and fan engagement, sports data present compelling, real-world problems that demand rigorous and creative analytical thinking.  We intend for JSDSS to be the definitive venue for this work.

Aims

The aim of the Journal of Statistics and Data Science in Sports is to provide an outlet for original, rigorous, practical, state-of-the-art, reproducible, and peer-reviewed analyses of sports data as well as the data science tools (software, applications, data, etc.) that support those analyses.

The Journal of Statistics and Data Science in Sports will always be fully open to both readers and authors: there are no fees associated with publishing or accessing articles in JSDSS. As a journal, JSDSS will be guided by the protocols of the Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA) on reproducibility.

Scope

We define sports broadly to include any nondeterministic competition or game. Examples include basketball, soccer, badminton as well as competitions like chess and eSports.

We welcome submissions that analyze any aspect of sports data in appropriate and innovative ways. These analyses may include, but are not limited to:

  • In–game strategy, player acquisition, and player and team ratings and evaluation,
  • Predicting play, game, or season outcomes, analysis of league structures and rules,
  • Analysis of player-tracking data,
  • Any other analyses that would help teams, players, fans, leagues, media and researchers understand the game better or make more-informed decisions.

We also accept timely review articles and manuscripts discussing novel datasets, innovative software or applications and original applications of methodology to sports data. Applications should be focused on relevant questions whose answers are likely to be actionable by players, coaches, managers, and/or league officials. JSDSS is committed to making all articles about the analysis of sports data freely available. Additionally, reproducibility is an essential part of data science and, while we will make exceptions for proprietary data, all submissions will go through a reproducibility check before publication.