Submissions

Submission Preparation Checklist

1. Template Required
   • It is REQUIRED that you use or follow a provided template to properly format your submission. 
2. Document Format (detail)
   • You must submit your manuscript as a word document (.doc or .docx) using the provided templates
   • LaTeX files are NOT accepted.
   • Number pages and lines continuously.
   • Make sure you have followed all of the Document Format, Content Format and Content Detail requirements.
   • If you have multiple authors who have equally contributed be sure to use the ^‡double-dagger and use the appropriate verbiage for equally contributing authors (detail).
3. Capitalization (detail)
   • Title: Title Case
   • Lone Header: Title Case
   • Level 1 Header: Title Case
   • Level 2-5 headers: Sentence case
4. Permissions
   • Ensure permission has been obtained for use of copyrighted material from other sources.
5. Keywords
   • Include a list of 5-7 keywords following (or at the bottom of) the title page.
6. Abbreviations (detail)
   • Use the title “Abbreviations”.
   • Include a list of all relevant abbreviations, in alphabetical order, following the Keywords and prior to the Abstract. 
   • Format as shown below:

     Example:
     AHSG: Alpha-2-HS-glycoprotein
     ALB: Albumin
     APOA1: Apolipoprotein A-I
     B2M: Beta-2-Microglobulin
     CKMB: Creatine Kinase-MB Isoenzyme
     CRP: C-Reactive Protein

7. Non-Specialist Summary (detail)
   • See template to determine if required. 
   • A summary of your work in 750 characters (including spaces) or less written AVOIDING technical language or non-standard acronyms. 
     • The aim is to convey the meaning and importance of your research to a non-expert.
8. Abstract (detail) 
   • See template to determine if required. 
   • Must be fewer than 251 words.
   • MUST be Structured if it is either of the following:
     • Research Article
     • Short Report 
   • Structured Abstracts include subsections of Introduction, Objectives (optional), Methods, Results, Discussion, Conclusion (optional). 
9. Tables (detail) and Figures (detail)
   • Do NOT embed captions in any image. They must be editable. 
   • Please follow all of the guidance in the 'detail' links above.
10. Supplementary Material (detail)
    • Supplementary Material should ONLY be used for information or work that is:
      • supportive, but is ALSO peripheral and detracts from the flow of the manuscript, or
      • too lengthy to fit in a standard article format.
    • It should NOT be used as a reference document for information that should be in the manuscript, including materials and methods and relevant figures and tables.
11. Declarations & Disclosures <-- do NOT include this text title in your manuscript (detail)
    • The following are to be included between the Discussion / Conclusion / Supplementary Material (whichever comes last) and References in the order specified below. Do not add numeric or other sequential labels. 
    • Acknowledgements (detail)
    • Competing Interests (detail)
      
      • Even if none of the authors  have any Competing Interests to Disclose an appropriate statement must be included.
    • CRediT Author Statement (detail)
    • Data and/or Code Availability Statement (detail)
    • Ethics Statement (detail)
      • Complete and Submit the Ethics and IRB Protocol Assessment form.
        • Use the form to guide the language used here and in the Materials and Methods section (if required).
        • Even if you DID NOT use human patient samples or specimens, you still MUST have an Ethics Statement.
          • see your article type template for guidance.
    • Funding Support(detail)
      • Detail all funding support, financial and in-kind.
      • If you had no funding, this MUST be stated, as shown below:
        • "This research received no financial or in‑kind support from public, commercial, or not‑for‑profit sectors."
    • Funding Influence (detail)
      • Include only if you reported Funding Support.
      • The role of the Funding Support should be stated in relation to the study design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, writing of the report, the decision to submit the article for publication, and which journal(s) to submit in.
      • If no influence was imparted, this MUST be stated, as shown below:
        • "Funding Support had no influence on any aspect of this work or its publication."
12. References (detail)
    • AMA-style (examples)
    • Use superscript for all references as per AMA.
    • Place references on the OUTSIDE of periods or commas (e.g., this is a test, ¹ of the emergency broadcast system. ²)
    • DOIs should use the full URL format: https://doi.org/.... Do NOT use doi: or DOI:. The "DOI:-style" is being deprecated. CrossRef recommends use of "https-style" formatting for DOIs.

Questions, concerns? Or do you see something that needs to be, or should be, changed? Send an email to chris.herold@msacl.org.