Article Template
Article
structure
Subdivision
- numbered sections
Divide your article into clearly defined
and numbered sections. Subsections should be numbered 1.1 (then 1.1.1, 1.1.2,
...), 1.2, etc. (the abstract is not included in section numbering). Use this
numbering also for internal cross-referencing: do not just refer to 'the text'.
Any subsection may be given a brief heading. Each heading should appear on its
own separate line.
Introduction
State the objectives of the work and
provide an adequate background, avoiding a detailed literature survey or a
summary of the results.
Material and methods
Provide sufficient details to allow the
work to be reproduced by an independent researcher. Methods that are already
published should be summarized, and indicated by a reference. If quoting
directly from a previously published method, use quotation marks and also cite
the source. Any modifications to existing methods should also be described.
Theory/calculation
A Theory section should extend, not repeat,
the background to the article already dealt with in the Introduction and lay
the foundation for further work. In contrast, a Calculation section represents
a practical development from a theoretical basis.
Results
Results should be clear and concise.
Discussion
This should explore the significance of the
results of the work, not repeat them. A combined Results and Discussion section
is often appropriate. Avoid extensive citations and discussion of published
literature.
Conclusion
The main conclusions of the study may be
presented in a short Conclusions section, which may stand alone or form a
subsection of a Discussion or Results and Discussion section.
Appendices
If there is more than one appendix, they
should be identified as A, B, etc. Formulae and equations in appendices should
be given separate numbering: Eq. (A.1), Eq. (A.2), etc.; in a subsequent
appendix, Eq. (B.1) and so on. Similarly for tables and figures: Table A.1;
Fig. A.1, etc.
Essential
title page information
• Title. Concise and informative. Titles
are often used in information-retrieval systems. Avoid abbreviations and
formulae where possible.
• Author names and affiliations. Please
clearly indicate the given name(s) and family name(s) of each author and check
that all names are accurately spelled. You can add your name between
parentheses in your own script behind the English transliteration. Present the
authors' affiliation addresses (where the actual work was done) below the
names. Indicate all affiliations with a lower-case superscript letter
immediately after the author's name and in front of the appropriate address.
Provide the full postal address of each affiliation, including the country name
and, if available, the e-mail address of each author.
• Corresponding author. Clearly indicate
who will handle correspondence at all stages of refereeing and publication,
also post-publication. This responsibility includes answering any future
queries about Methodology and Materials. Ensure that the e-mail address is
given and that contact details are kept up to date by the corresponding author.
• Present/permanent address. If an author
has moved since the work described in the article was done, or was visiting at
the time, a 'Present address' (or 'Permanent address') may be indicated as a
footnote to that author's name. The address at which the author actually did
the work must be retained as the main, affiliation address. Superscript Arabic
numerals are used for such footnotes.
Abstract
A concise and factual abstract is required.
The abstract should state briefly the purpose of the research, the principal
results and major conclusions. An abstract is often presented separately from
the article, so it must be able to stand alone. For this reason, References
should be avoided, but if essential, then cite the author(s) and year(s). Also,
non-standard or uncommon abbreviations should be avoided, but if essential they
must be defined at their first mention in the abstract itself.
Graphical
abstract
Although a graphical abstract is optional,
its use is encouraged as it draws more attention to the online article. The
graphical abstract should summarize the contents of the article in a concise,
pictorial form designed to capture the attention of a wide readership. Graphical
abstracts should be submitted as a separate file in the online submission
system. Image size: Please provide an image with a minimum of 531 × 1328 pixels
(h × w) or proportionally more. The image should be readable at a size of 5 ×
13 cm using a regular screen resolution of 96 dpi. Preferred file types: TIFF,
EPS, PDF or MS Office files. You can view Example Graphical Abstracts on our
information site.
Highlights
Highlights are mandatory for this journal.
They consist of a short collection of bullet points that convey the core
findings of the article and should be submitted in a separate editable file in
the online submission system. Please use 'Highlights' in the file name and
include 3 to 5 bullet points (maximum 85 characters, including spaces, per
bullet point). You can view example Highlights on our information site.
Keywords
Immediately after the abstract, provide a
maximum of 6 keywords, using American spelling and avoiding general and plural
terms and multiple concepts (avoid, for example, 'and', 'of'). Be sparing with
abbreviations: only abbreviations firmly established in the field may be eligible.
These keywords will be used for indexing purposes.
Abbreviations
Define abbreviations that are not standard
in this field in a footnote to be placed on the first page of the article. Such
abbreviations that are unavoidable in the abstract must be defined at their
first mention there, as well as in the footnote. Ensure consistency of
abbreviations throughout the article.
Acknowledgements
Collate acknowledgements in a separate
section at the end of the article before the references and do not, therefore,
include them on the title page, as a footnote to the title or otherwise. List
here those individuals who provided help during the research (e.g., providing
language help, writing assistance or proof reading the article, etc.).
Formatting
of funding sources
List funding sources in this standard way
to facilitate compliance to funder's requirements:
Funding: This work was supported by the
National Institutes of Health [grant numbers xxxx, yyyy]; the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, WA [grant number zzzz]; and the United
States Institutes of Peace [grant number aaaa].
It is not necessary to include detailed
descriptions on the program or type of grants and awards. When funding is from
a block grant or other resources available to a university, college, or other
research institution, submit the name of the institute or organization that
provided the funding.
If no funding has been provided for the
research, please include the following sentence:
This research did not receive any specific
grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit
sectors.
Nomenclature
and units
Follow internationally accepted rules and
conventions: use the international system of units (SI). If other quantities
are mentioned, give their equivalent in SI. You are urged to consult IUPAC:
Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry for further information.
Math
formulae
Please submit math equations as editable
text and not as images. Present simple formulae in line with normal text where
possible and use the solidus (/) instead of a horizontal line for small
fractional terms, e.g., X/Y. In principle, variables are to be presented in
italics. Powers of e are often more conveniently denoted by exp. Number
consecutively any equations that have to be displayed separately from the text
(if referred to explicitly in the text).
Footnotes
Footnotes should be used sparingly. Number
them consecutively throughout the article. Many word processors can build
footnotes into the text, and this feature may be used. Otherwise, please
indicate the position of footnotes in the text and list the footnotes
themselves separately at the end of the article. Do not include footnotes in
the Reference list.
Tables
Please submit tables as editable text and
not as images. Tables can be placed either next to the relevant text in the article,
or on separate page(s) at the end. Number tables consecutively in accordance
with their appearance in the text and place any table notes below the table
body. Be sparing in the use of tables and ensure that the data presented in
them do not duplicate results described elsewhere in the article. Please avoid
using vertical rules and shading in table cells.
References
Citation
in text
Please ensure that every reference cited in
the text is also present in the reference list (and vice versa). Any references
cited in the abstract must be given in full. Unpublished results and personal
communications are not recommended in the reference list, but may be mentioned
in the text. If these references are included in the reference list they should
follow the standard reference style of the journal and should include a
substitution of the publication date with either 'Unpublished results' or 'Personal
communication'. Citation of a reference as 'in press' implies that the item has
been accepted for publication.
Web
references
As a minimum, the full URL should be given
and the date when the reference was last accessed. Any further information, if
known (DOI, author names, dates, reference to a source publication, etc.),
should also be given. Web references can be listed separately (e.g., after the
reference list) under a different heading if desired, or can be included in the
reference list.
Data
references
This journal encourages you to cite
underlying or relevant datasets in your manuscript by citing them in your text
and including a data reference in your Reference List. Data references should
include the following elements: author name(s), dataset title, data repository,
version (where available), year, and global persistent identifier. Add
[dataset] immediately before the reference so we can properly identify it as a
data reference. The [dataset] identifier will not appear in your published article.
Reference
management software
Most journals have their reference template
available in many of the most popular reference management software products.
These include all products that support Citation Style Language styles, such as
Mendeley and Zotero, as well as EndNote. Using the word processor plug-ins from
these products, authors only need to select the appropriate journal template
when preparing their article, after which citations and bibliographies will be
automatically formatted in the journal's style. If no template is yet available
for this journal, please follow the format of the sample references and
citations as shown in this Guide. If you use reference management software,
please ensure that you remove all field codes before submitting the electronic
manuscript. More information on how to remove field codes.
Users of Mendeley Desktop can easily
install the reference style for this journal by clicking the following link:
http://open.mendeley.com/use-citation-style/fuel
When preparing your manuscript, you will
then be able to select this style using the Mendeley plug-ins for Microsoft
Word or LibreOffice.
Reference
formatting
There are no strict requirements on
reference formatting at submission. References can be in any style or format as
long as the style is consistent. Where applicable, author(s) name(s), journal
title/book title, chapter title/article title, year of publication, volume
number/book chapter and the article number or pagination must be present. Use
of DOI is highly encouraged. Note that missing data will be highlighted at
proof stage for the author to correct. If you do wish to format the references
yourself they should be arranged according to the following examples:
Reference
style
Text: Indicate references by number(s) in
square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors can be referred to,
but the reference number(s) must always be given.
List: Number the references (numbers in
square brackets) in the list in the order in which they appear in the text.
Examples:
Reference
to a journal publication:
[1] Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton
RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2010;163:51–9.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.
Reference
to a journal publication with an article number:
[2] Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton
RA. The art of writing a scientific article. Heliyon. 2018;19:e00205.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00205
Reference
to a book:
[3] Strunk Jr W, White EB. The elements of
style. 4th ed. New York: Longman; 2000.
Reference to a chapter in an edited book:
[4] Mettam GR, Adams LB. How to prepare an
electronic version of your article. In: Jones BS, Smith RZ, editors.
Introduction to the electronic age, New York: E-Publishing Inc; 2009, p.
281–304.
Reference
to a website:
[5] Cancer Research UK. Cancer statistics
reports for the UK,
http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/aboutcancer/statistics/cancerstatsreport/; 2003
[accessed 13 March 2003].
Reference
to a dataset:
[dataset] [6] Oguro M, Imahiro S, Saito S,
Nakashizuka T. Mortality data for Japanese oak wilt disease and surrounding
forest compositions, Mendeley Data, v1; 2015.
https://doi.org/10.17632/xwj98nb39r.1.
Note shortened form for last page number.
e.g., 51–9, and that for more than 6 authors the first 6 should be listed
followed by 'et al.' For further details you are referred to 'Uniform
Requirements for Manuscripts submitted to Biomedical Journals' (J Am Med Assoc
1997;277:927–34) (see also Samples of Formatted References).
June 30, 2025
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