Wharton Sports Analytics Journal

Wharton Sports Analytics and Business Initiative, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

The Wharton Sports Analytics Research Journal publishes rigorous, well-written sports analytics research that is accessible to a broad audience. We welcome submissions from strong undergraduate students, advanced high school students, independent researchers, and practitioners with a serious interest in sports analytics.

Our standards are high, and strong statistical methods are always required. Every paper must use methodology that is appropriate to the research question and data, with careful attention to study design, modeling choices, uncertainty quantification, and responsible interpretation. Submissions are not required to introduce novel statistical methods or highly technical innovations, but they must apply established methods correctly and thoughtfully, clearly stating assumptions and limitations and supporting claims with evidence.

The journal prioritizes work that combines statistical rigor with effective communication. Papers should present a clear question, document data sources, and explain methods and results in a way that analytically minded readers can follow without specialized graduate training. Transparency and reproducibility are strongly valued, including clear descriptions of the analysis pipeline and results that can be independently checked.

We especially seek contributions that deepen our understanding of sports—work that illuminates how games are played, how performance is measured, how strategy and decision-making unfold, and what evidence can (and cannot) tell us about outcomes. By bridging the gap between highly technical academic outlets and informal sports analytics commentary, the journal aims to broaden participation in the field while showcasing research that is statistically rigorous, interpretable, and genuinely informative.

Copyright

Authors retain the copyright of their manuscripts, and all Open Access articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided that the original work is properly cited.

The use of general descriptive names, trade names, trademarks, and so forth in this publication, even if not specifically identified, does not imply that these names are not protected by the relevant laws and regulations. The submitting author is responsible for securing any permissions needed for the reuse of copyrighted materials included in the manuscript.

While the advice and information in this journal are believed to be true and accurate on the date of its going to press, neither the authors, the editors, nor the publisher can accept any legal responsibility for any errors or omissions that may be made. The publisher makes no warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein.

Licensing

The journal publishes manuscripts under Creative Commons licenses. The standard license for the journal is Creative Commons by Attribution Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC), which allows others to re-use the work without permission as long as the work is properly referenced and the use is non-commercial.