As part of the submission process, authors are required to check off their submission's compliance with all of the following items, and submissions may be returned to authors that do not adhere to these guidelines.
The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration (or an explanation has been provided in Comments to the Editor).
The submission file is in Blinded and available in both Microsoft Word (.docx or .doc) and PDF formats.
Where available, DOIs for the references have been provided.
Make sure that all mandatory files have been uploaded: Cover Letter, Title Page, Manuscript (blinded) in MS Word format, Manuscript (blinded) in PDF format, and Graphical Abstract.
The text adheres to the stylistic and bibliographic requirements outlined in the Author Guidelines.
Author Guidelines
Submission File Requirements:
Cover Letter: Explain the significance, originality, and novelty of the work, confirm that the manuscript is original, has not been published previously, is not under consideration elsewhere, and disclose any relevant conflicts of interest or additional information for the editor. [Mandatory File]
Title Page: Include the manuscript title, full names of all authors, affiliations, corresponding author details (email, Tel, and Fax, and full postal address), author contributions (prepared according to the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy)), and ORCID iDs (mandatory for the corresponding author and strongly recommended for all co-authors). [Mandatory File]
Graphical Abstract: Provide a single, high-quality visual summary that highlights the main findings or key message of the manuscript. Avoid excessive text and ensure the image is clear and publication-ready. [Mandatory File]
Manuscript (Blinded): Submit the main manuscript without author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, funding information, ORCID iDs, or any other information that could reveal the authors' identities. Remove institutional names from the text where appropriate (e.g., laboratory, university, hospital, or study site names) to ensure a double-blind peer review. [Mandatory File]
Figures: Upload each figure as a separate high-resolution file (minimum 300 dpi) in JPEG, PNG, or TIFF format. Figures should be publication-ready, with all text, symbols, and labels clearly legible at the final publication size. Use Times New Roman font consistently for all figure text and labels, and ensure that line thickness and font size remain readable after reduction.
Tables: Submit tables in an editable format (e.g., Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel). Do not upload tables as images. Each table should include a concise title and explanatory footnotes where necessary. Use standardized scientific symbols, nomenclature, and SI (International System of Units) units in accordance with internationally accepted conventions.
Supplementary materials:Supplementary Materials: Upload any additional files that support the manuscript but are not essential to the main text, such as extended methods, additional figures or tables, datasets, videos, software code, questionnaires, or raw data. Clearly label each item (e.g., Supplementary Figure S1, Supplementary Table S1, Supplementary Dataset S1) and cite all supplementary materials within the main manuscript. All supplementary materials must be compiled and submitted as a single file.
Copyright Notice
All articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, including for commercial purposes, provided the original work is properly cited.
