Best Paper Awards

Archives of Physiotherapy annually recognises outstanding scientific contributions published in the journal through two Best Paper Awards:

Best Original Research Article
Best Systematic Review

The awards recognise papers that combine methodological quality, scientific innovation, and relevance for physiotherapy practice, education, and research.

Eligibility
All original research articles and systematic reviews published in Archives of Physiotherapy during the previous calendar year are eligible for consideration. Masterclasses, viewpoints, letters, and other non-research article types are not eligible.

Selection process
The selection process consists of two stages.

Stage 1 – Preliminary shortlisting
The Editors-in-Chief and the Past Editors of the journal identify a shortlist of the most competitive papers published during the year. The shortlisting process is based on an overall editorial appraisal of the papers. No formal scoring criteria are applied during this stage. The number of shortlisted papers depends on the total number of eligible articles published during the year and is expected to be approximately 5–10 papers per category.

Stage 2 – Associate Editor evaluation
Shortlisted papers are independently evaluated by the Associate Editors using a numerical scoring system. Papers are assessed across three domains:

• external relevance
• internal validity
• innovation and potential impact

The final ranking is based on the aggregated evaluations provided by the Associate Editors.

Announcement of the winners
The awards are announced annually in June and refer to papers published during the previous calendar year. The winning papers are recognised through a dedicated editorial-style communication published by the journal. The corresponding author of each winning paper receives:

• an official recognition letter
• an award certificate

The awards may also be promoted through the journal website, newsletters, social media, and conference communications.

June 2, 2026