Introduction. The growth in productivity and number of Spanish periodicals in the field of physical activity and sport sciences recently does not correspond to the improvement in these journals due, among other issues, to their reduced international visibility. Therefore, we develop a comparative study on the quality of these journals between 2000 and 2005 to improve their quality and consolidate this field of study. Method. An analysis of several formal, scientific content and diffusion indicators are developed from direct observation of journals from inventories of journals covering 2000 and 2005. The journals conformity to ISO 8-1977 and ISO 215-1986, as well as the General Normalization Grade and Fundamental Normalization Grade constitute the formal quality. Content quality was based on the nature of the editorial boards, the affiliation of board members and the process of selecting papers for publication. Finally, diffusion is based on the indexing of journals in databases and from the ways in which the journals appear on the Internet. Conclusions. The quality of Spanish physical activity and sport sciences journals is slightly improved but still with lower standards than other fields. The General Normalization Grade has improved from a medium level to a high level, and there still is a wide range of improvement in conformity with ISO standards. A reduced use of rigorous paper selection systems is observed, as well as limited diffusion, instability of journal titles, and a high number of periodicals
