Journal of Motor Control and Learning Accepted for Coverage in Scopus
After 8 years of regular publishing of 169 articles
Summary
The Journal of Motor Control and Learning (JMCL), published by Brieflands, has been accepted for coverage in Scopus after eight years of regular publication and in its first application. This news highlights JMCL’s clear research identity, distinctive scope, publication consistency, article quality, and growing international authorship. The full article also reviews key lessons for journal editors, including how a focused and defensible scope, readable scientific content, regular publication, and stronger global engagement can support a journal’s path toward Scopus indexing.
Brieflands is pleased to announce that the Journal of Motor Control and Learning (JMCL) has been accepted for coverage in Scopus by the Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB).
This achievement marks an important milestone for JMCL and for Brieflands journals. The journal received this acceptance after eight years of regular publication and in its first Scopus application.
According to the Scopus evaluation, JMCL demonstrated several important strengths, including a clear research identity, strong alignment between its published articles and stated aims and scope, well-written and understandable articles, and a focused editorial direction.
JMCL has a distinct scholarly scope in motor control, motor learning, movement science, rehabilitation, biomechanics, and sport psychology. This focused positioning is an important advantage, as Scopus evaluates not only the quality of published content but also whether a journal has a clear, defensible, and recognizable scope.
Since its launch in 2019, JMCL has published 29 issues across 8 volumes, maintaining a regular quarterly publication schedule. The journal has published 169 articles, with international authorship represented in approximately 24% of articles and contributions from authors in 19 countries. The journal also has a baseline CiteScore of 0.4.
JMCL offers an author-friendly publishing model, including Open Access publication, no APC for authors, online manuscript submission, and an efficient editorial process, with an average of 55 days to first decision.
This success also provides a practical roadmap for other Brieflands journals. A successful Scopus application requires more than regular publication; it depends on a clear and distinctive scope, strong editorial identity, readable and well-structured articles, international author and editor engagement, and a long-term strategy to increase citation impact.
Brieflands congratulates the Editor-in-Chief, editorial board members, reviewers, authors, and the publishing team of JMCL on this significant accomplishment.
The next stage for JMCL will be to strengthen its international visibility, attract high-impact submissions, expand global authorship, and further improve its citation performance.