Language

• Inclusive Language

  Checks for inappropriate language that marginalises, demeans, or excludes people or social groups. We do this by searching your manuscript for a predefined set of inappropriate words. Note that this check only identifies words or phrases, but does not evaluate context.

• Plain Language Summary

  Make sure that your manuscript includes a plain language summary. It is usually placed right after the abstract.

• Grammar

  Covers issues with article usage, conjunctions, determiners, preposition usage, spelling, and phrasing. Counts as failed if there are more than around 60 suggestions per 1000 words.

• Mechanics and Style

  Covers issues with capitalization, hyphenation, punctuation, spacing etc. Counts as failed if there are more than 20 suggestions per 1,000 words.

• Readability

  Covers conciseness, redundancy, transition and flow, and suggests improved phrasing. Counts as failed if there are more than around 10 suggestions per 1,000 words.

• Vocabulary

  Covers issues with fluency, informal usage, and word choice. Counts as failed if there are more than around 10 suggestions per 1,000 words.

Structure and References

• Manuscript Structure

  Checks if the manuscript structure follows the IMRAD model (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion). Structure requirements may vary by article type, please refer to journal submission guidelines for more information.

• Structured Abstract

  To pass this check, your abstract should be structured according to journal guidelines, with a methods, results, and conclusions section.

• Age of References

  Cite recent sources when possible. To pass this check, make sure less than 10% of your references are 10+ years old.

• No Citations in Abstract

  Checks if citations appear in the abstract. Your abstract should focus on your original research, be self-contained and fully understandable without external references.

• Number of References

  Make sure your manuscript includes a reference section with at least 5 and at most 150 sources.

• Reference Citations

  Cite every reference in your manuscript to pass this check.

• Use of Self-citation

  Including a large number of self-citations in your manuscript is discouraged. This check fails if more than 15 self-citations are found or more than 80% of your references are self-citations.

Counts, Figures and Tables

• Abstract Length

  Make sure your manuscript includes an abstract and keep it between 0 and 200 words long.

• Manuscript Length

  Make sure your manuscript is between 2,500 and 4,000 words long, excluding the reference section, and including words in legends and tables.

• Title Length

  Your title should include the key concepts investigated, and have a length of 5 to 20 words.

• Use of Brand Names

  Do not use more than 5 branded terms or phrases (® and ™ symbols) to pass this check. An example of excessive branding: "... he was treated with oral aspirin 100 mg and Plavix ® 75 mg, subcutaneous low molecular-weight heparin 0.4 mL, oral Coversyl ® 2 mg, and oral Lipitor ® 20 mg."

• Use of Copyrighted Methods

  Make sure you have appropriate rights to use the research methods in your study. This check tells you if known copyrighted methods are mentioned in your paper.

• Figure and Table Citations

  Checks if figures and tables with legends are cited within the manuscript. Make sure every visual element you have included is also mentioned in the text.

• Figure Legends

  Checks if figure legends are included and appear consecutively within the manuscript.

• Table Legends

  Checks if table legends are included and appear consecutively within the manuscript.

Disclosures

• Author Contributions Statement

  Checks if the role and contributions of all credited authors are stated within the manuscript. For example: "SD, W-YJL, and MC designed and completed the experimental work. WI provided samples and insights from the HCV Research UK Biobank. ADSF, EA-C, CB, and JM completed the sequencing work and analysis..." This statement is usually placed after the conclusion.

• Conflict of Interest Statement

  To comply with this check, disclose any relevant financial or personal relationships that could be viewed as inappropriately influencing your work or hindering transparency. If there is no disclosure to be made, that should be clearly mentioned in your manuscript too. This statement is usually placed after the conclusion.

• Data Access Statement

  Make your research data available to your peers, so future research can validate your findings. Remember to include the sources of all data referenced in your paper. For example: "Accession Numbers Sequence data from this article can be found in the EMBL/GenBank data libraries under the following accession number (s): AvrRpm1 (NP _ 114197), GmRIN4a (Glyma03g19920; NP _ 001235221).” This statement is usually placed after the conclusion.

• Ethics Statement

  Checks if ethics statements are included. To pass, document your ethical compliance, or declare that your article does not contain any studies involving human or animal participants. If your study involves human subjects, declare how written informed consent was obtained. If it includes case reports/case series, provide appropriate details. In case of animal subjects, declare whether the investigative methods conform to the standards of good research practice. The ethics statement is usually placed after the conclusion.

• Funding Statement

  Checks if funding statements are included. You should disclose all sources of funding received by authors, including grants, research programs and institutional support. For example: "The work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant no. 087792), and the Medical Research Council (grant nos. 0900278 and U117532067). The funders had no role in study design, data collection or analysis.” This statement is usually placed after the conclusion.

Metadata

• Corresponding Author's Email Address

  Include the corresponding authors email address in the manuscript to let editors know how to get in touch with you. It is usually placed after the abstract along with other metadata.

• List of Contributing Authors

  Checks for a list of contributing authors names and affiliations in the manuscript.

• List of Keywords

  Checks if a list of keywords is provided. For example: "Keywords: Adoptive cellular immunotherapy, cancer, immunohistochemistry, prognosis." This is usually placed after the abstract along with other metadata.

• Word Count

  Please include a word count in your manuscript. It is usually placed after the abstract along with other metadata.