Instructions for Authors

Article types

Manuscript structure

Title

Use a specific title of no more than 150 characters that identifies the main question, method or subject. Avoid abbreviations that readers may not recognize.

Abstract

Structured for research articles: background, methods, results, conclusions. State what was measured and against what.

Keywords

Three to six keywords, using the vocabulary of the field.

Introduction

What is already known, what is not, and what this study settles.

Methods

Enough detail for another laboratory to repeat the work: setting, period, specimens, instruments, reagents, standards and their versions, and the statistical approach.

Results

Findings without interpretation. Report numerators and denominators, not percentages alone.

Discussion

What the findings support, how they compare with existing work, and the limits — including what the study design cannot establish.

Figures and tables

Legible at print size; tables as editable text. Micrographs state stain, magnification and scale bar. Gels and blots are presented unaltered.

Requesting double-blind review

If you are requesting double-blind review, prepare the manuscript file accordingly. For double-blind review, remove author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, funding details, institution names, and other identifying information from the reviewer manuscript. Provide identifying information separately in the title-page file or submission form.

References

Reference the primary literature. Where a method follows a published standard, cite the standard and its edition rather than a paper that used it.

Diagnostic accuracy studies

Report against the STARD checklist and submit it with the manuscript.

• The specimen: type, source, collection and transport, and the criteria by which specimens were included or rejected.
• The reference standard: what the index test was compared against, and whether that comparator can settle the question. Say so if there is no adequate reference standard.
• Whether index and reference tests were read independently and blind to each other.
• Sensitivity and specificity with confidence intervals, and predictive values reported with the prevalence they were measured at, since those move with it.
• The flow of specimens: how many were tested, how many were indeterminate, and how those were handled.
• The clinical setting and patient group, so a reader can judge whether the result transfers to theirs.

Susceptibility testing and resistance

A resistance figure cannot be compared with any other unless these are stated.

• The testing method: disc diffusion, broth microdilution, gradient strip or automated system, named by instrument and card or panel where applicable.
• The breakpoint set and its version — for example EUCAST or CLSI with the year. Breakpoints change, and a resistance rate is meaningless without the edition used.
• Quality control strains and the QC results for the period of the study.
• The definitions applied: susceptible, susceptible increased exposure, intermediate, resistant, and any use of multidrug-resistant, extensively drug-resistant or similar terms, with the definition source.
• Molecular confirmation where a mechanism is claimed, rather than inferred from phenotype alone.
• What the isolate collection represents: consecutive, selected, screening or referral isolates, and over what period. A local figure is valuable because it is specific — keep the claim inside the sample.

Molecular diagnostics

• Targets: gene or region, and primer and probe sequences or a citation to them.
• Controls: positive, negative, internal amplification and extraction controls, and no-template controls — stated, not implied.
• Contamination control: workflow separation, and how carry-over was prevented and monitored.
• Analytical sensitivity and specificity: limit of detection with the units and matrix it was determined in, and cross-reactivity testing against related organisms.
• Evaluation matched to the development stage and claim, using appropriate reference organisms, simulated specimens, datasets or clinical material. Claims of clinical performance require suitable clinical evaluation and justified comparators.
• Cycle threshold values reported with the platform and chemistry, and not treated as quantitative unless the assay was validated as quantitative.

Microbial genomics

• Sequencing: platform, chemistry, library preparation and read length.
• Quality control: depth and breadth of coverage, filtering, and the thresholds applied.
• Assembly and analysis: tools and version numbers, parameters where not default, and the reference genome or database with its version.
• Typing: the scheme used and its source.
• Resistance prediction: the database, and the agreement with phenotypic susceptibility where both were done. State where a genotypic prediction and a phenotype disagree.
• Data availability: accession numbers in a public repository, in the manuscript.
• Interpretation limits: what the phylogeny supports about transmission, and what it does not.

Machine learning and computational studies

Work of this kind is in scope where it addresses a clinical microbiological question. The reporting requirements are the ones that make such a study checkable.

• Dataset provenance: where the data came from, over what period, and under what approval.
• Separation of training, validation and test sets, and how leakage was prevented — including grouping by patient or by isolate rather than by image or read.
• The reference standard the model was trained and evaluated against.
• A comparator: current practice or an existing method, not only an untuned baseline.
• External validation on data from another site or period where the claim is general.
• Performance with confidence intervals, and calibration where a probability is output.
• Reproducibility: code and model availability, or a clear statement of why not.
• What the result would mean in a laboratory, including failure modes.

Declarations and ethics

Ethical approval

The committee and the approval reference, for any study involving human participants, human material or identifiable data.

Consent

Required for case reports and wherever a participant is identifiable. Specimens, images and case detail must not allow identification.

Clinical trials

Interventional clinical trials must be registered in an accepted public trial registry at or before the first participant provides consent for enrollment. The registry name, registration number, and registration date must be reported in the manuscript.

Data availability

Every empirical research manuscript must include a data-availability statement.

Funding and competing interests

Every source with grant numbers, and all financial and non-financial competing interests, or an explicit statement that there are none.

Author contributions

What each author did.

Use of AI

The tool and what it was used for, if generative AI was used. AI cannot be an author.

Before you submit

• The work answers yes to all three questions on the aims and scope page.
• The reference standard, controls and method versions are stated in the Methods.
• Conclusions reach no further than the data.
• The applicable reporting checklist is completed and attached.
• All declarations are on the title page.
• Data and sequence accessions are stated.
• If double-blind review is wanted, the manuscript file carries no identifying information.

Submit a manuscript

Submission and review

Primary route: ManuscriptZone

Alternative route: Simple manuscript submission form

Assisted route: [email protected]

Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.

Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.

Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.

Manuscript preparation limits

Use three to six keywords. The publisher’s general abstract limit is 250 words. Number pages and lines; use double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman and 2.5 cm margins. Include the article type and manuscript word count on the title page.

Files, figures and supplementary material

Prepare the main manuscript in Microsoft Word. Supply editable tables with titles and explanatory footnotes, and avoid duplicating the same data in tables and figures. Submit figures as separate TIFF, JPEG or EPS files at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, with legends in the manuscript. Micrographs need a scale bar, stain and magnification. Obtain permission for material not covered by a compatible license.

Give supplementary files descriptive names, formats and legends, and cite them in the manuscript. Methods, data dictionaries, code and additional analyses should be documented sufficiently to understand and reproduce the relevant work. Protect participant privacy and explain any restrictions on access. The simple submission form accepts DOC, DOCX, PDF and ZIP files.

Reference examples

Number references in order of citation. List the first three authors followed by et al. when applicable; include the DOI or stable identifier. The following are citation examples, not requirements to cite these works.

Journal article

Montes M, Marimón JM, Piñeiro LD, et al. Use of the Remaining Sample from the Panbio COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test Device for the Molecular Screening of the SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern B.1.1.7. International Journal of Clinical Microbiology. 2021;1(2):8–14. doi:10.14302/issn.2690-4721.ijcm-21-3835.

Book

World Health Organization. Basic laboratory procedures in clinical bacteriology. 2nd ed. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2003. ISBN 9241545453.

Web resource

Infectious Diseases Society of America. IDSA/ASM 2024 Guide to Utilization of the Microbiology Laboratory for Diagnosis of Infectious Diseases [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2026 Sep 12]. Available from IDSA.

Sequence record

National Center for Biotechnology Information. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 isolate Wuhan-Hu-1, complete genome [sequence record]. RefSeq; accession NC_045512.2 [cited 2026 Sep 12]. Cite the accession and version of the exact record analyzed.

Preprint

Murphy C, Mak L, Cheng SMS, et al. Diagnostic performance of multiplex lateral flow tests in ambulatory patients with acute respiratory illness [preprint]. medRxiv. 2024 Mar 18. doi:10.1101/2024.03.18.24304455. Cite the version used and identify it as a preprint.

Trial registration

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Adaptive COVID-19 Treatment Trial (ACTT) [trial registration]. ClinicalTrials.gov; NCT04280705 [cited 2026 Sep 12].

For datasets, include the creator, dataset title, repository, year, version and DOI or accession. For a book chapter, include the chapter authors and title, editors, book title, edition, publisher, year and page range. Provide an access date for content that may change.