Journal Submission Checklist

Before You Start

A large share of manuscripts are returned before review for reasons that take minutes to fix. This checklist exists to catch them while they are still cheap.

Work through it in order. The last section covers what happens after you upload, which is where several avoidable problems begin.

Fit and Eligibility

• The work is original and unpublished
• It is not under consideration at any other journal
• The topic falls within the journal's stated scope
• The journal has published work using a comparable method
• The article type is one the journal accepts
• You have checked what your institution requires of the venue
• You have read the charges and know what is payable, and when

Manuscript Structure

Formatting

• Journal template applied
• Pages numbered; line numbers if the template supports them
• One consistent citation style throughout
• Sections and subsections numbered
• Every abbreviation defined at first use, in abstract and text separately
• SI units, with units given for every reported quantity
• Equations numbered and produced with the equation editor, not as images
• Heading styles applied from the template rather than hand-bolded text

Figures and Tables

• Numbered in order of first mention, and each one referred to in the text
• Captions understandable without the surrounding text
• Axes labelled with quantities and units
• Text inside figures legible at published size
• Resolution adequate for print
• No data duplicated between a table and a figure
• Permission obtained and source credited for any reproduced material
• No manipulation that changes what the data show

References

• Every in-text citation appears in the list, and every entry is cited
• Each reference checked against the actual source, not another paper's list
• Complete details: authors, year, title, venue, volume, issue, pages
• DOI included wherever one exists
• Published versions cited in preference to preprints where both exist
• No padding with works you did not use

Declarations

• Funding — every source, with grant numbers
• Competing interests — declared, or explicitly stated as none
• Author contributions — who did what
• Ethical approval — committee and reference number for human or animal research
• Consent — how informed consent was obtained, including consent to publish identifiable material
• Data availability — where the data are, or why they cannot be shared
• AI use — any generative tool named, with what it was used for

Blinding

Only applies where the journal uses blind review, but it is frequently botched.

• Author names, affiliations and acknowledgements removed from the main file
• Your own prior work cited in the third person, not as "our earlier study"
• Identifying metadata stripped from the document properties
• Institution names anonymised where this does not damage the science
• Funding statements moved into the separate declarations

Files

• Tracked changes and comments removed
• File format matches what the portal accepts
• File opens correctly on another machine
• Figures supplied separately if the portal requires it
• Supplementary files open and are referenced in the text
• Files clearly named

Portal Details

• Author names spelled exactly as they should be published
• Author order correct and agreed by everyone
• Affiliations complete
• Corresponding author email monitored and correct
• ORCID supplied for each author who has one
• Mobile number correct — decisions are sent by email and SMS

Final Pass

1. Read the abstract and confirm every claim in it is supported in the body.
2. Read the introduction and conclusion together — do they promise and deliver the same thing?
3. Check the similarity report and read where matches fall, not just the percentage.
4. Confirm all co-authors have seen and approved this exact version.
5. Re-read the journal's author guidelines one final time.

After Submitting

• Record the paper ID and quote it in every message
• Watch both email and SMS, including spam folders
• Do not resubmit the same paper if you have heard nothing — that creates a duplicate record. Write to the editorial office quoting the ID.
• Do not submit elsewhere while the paper is under consideration
• Keep your contact details current until publication

See the peer review process for what happens next, and the publication guidelines for full requirements.

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