Submit a Manuscript

Submission routes

Three routes are available and all three reach the same editorial office. Use whichever suits you; the manuscript is handled identically.

• Primary route: ManuscriptZone
• Alternative route: Simple manuscript submission form
• Assisted route: [email protected]

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

What to prepare

1. Check the scope first. A manuscript outside the journal's subject is declined at screening however good it is, so it is worth five minutes on the aims and scope page — it includes a three-question fit test.
2. The manuscript file. Title, abstract, keywords, main text, references, and tables and figure legends. Number the pages and the lines.If you are requesting double-blind review, this file carries no identifying information. 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.
3. The title page. Full title, all authors with affiliations and ORCID iDs, the corresponding author's contact details, and the declarations listed below.
4. Figures and tables. Figures at a resolution that stays legible at print size; tables as editable text rather than images. Micrographs should state the stain, the magnification and the scale bar.
5. Supplementary files. Anything that supports the work but does not belong in the main text: protocols, extended tables, sequence lists, reporting checklists.
6. Reporting checklist. Where one applies to your study type, complete it and submit it with the manuscript.Which checklist applies is set out on the instructions for authors page.

Declarations

These are required at submission. A manuscript missing them is returned before review rather than declined, so supplying them saves time.

• Ethical approval — the committee and the approval reference, for any study involving human participants, human material or identifiable data.
• Informed consent — for case reports, and wherever participants are identifiable.
• Funding — every source, with grant numbers, or a statement that there was none.
• Competing interests — financial and non-financial, for every author, or a statement that there are none.
• Data availability — where the data are, or why they cannot be shared. Sequence accessions belong here.
• Author contributions — what each author did.
• Use of AI — the tool and what it was used for, if generative AI was used in producing the manuscript.
• Trial registration — registry, number and date, for interventional trials.

After you submit

1. Acknowledgment. You receive confirmation that the manuscript has arrived, with a reference to quote in any correspondence.
2. Editorial screening. All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review.
3. Peer review. 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.
4. Decision. Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.A decision letter sets out what is required. An author who believes a decision rests on a factual error may appeal — see editorial policies.
5. Revision. Revisions are returned with a point-by-point response to the reviewers.
6. Acceptance and charges. The article processing charge is invoiced after acceptance. It plays no part in the decision.Article processing charges
7. Production and publication. Proofs are sent for approval, then the article publishes open access under CC BY 4.0 with a Crossref DOI.

Submitting to a special issue

For a confirmed special-issue call, identify the collection title in the cover letter and use one of the submission routes above. Follow the collection’s published scope and submission period, together with the journal’s instructions and policies. If a collection is not available in the submission system, contact the editorial office before submitting a duplicate manuscript.

Special-issue manuscripts undergo the same scope screening, independent review and decision criteria as other submissions. Consult Special Issues for proposal and collection guidance.