In order to reduce the chance of your manuscript being returned to you, please check:

  • The submission has not been previously published, nor is it before another journal for consideration
  • Illustrations, text are not plagiarized and copyright has not been breached.
  • Author information: Have you provided details of all of your co-authors? Is the information that you have entered into Platform the same as the information on the manuscript title page?
  • Manuscript length and formatting: Have you provided your abstract in the correct format? Have you supplied any required additional information for your article type, such as key messages?
  • Tables: Have you embedded any tables into the main text? Have they been cited in the text? Have you provided appropriate table legends? Have you uploaded any lengthy tables as supplementary files for online publication?
  • Figures: Have you uploaded any figures separately from the text? Have they been supplied in an acceptable format and are they of sufficient quality? Have the files been labeled appropriately? Have the figures been cited in the text? Have you provided appropriate figure legends?
  • References: Have all of the references been cited in the text?
  • Supplementary files and appendices: Have you supplied these in an acceptable format? Have they been cited in the main text?
  • Statements: Have you included the necessary statements relating to contributorship, competing interests, data sharing and ethical approval?
  • Research reporting checklists: Have you either provided the appropriate statement for your study type, or explained why a checklist isn’t required?
  • Permissions: Have you obtained from the copyright holder to re-use any previously published material? Has the source been acknowledged?
  • Revised manuscripts: Have you supplied both a marked copy and a clean copy of your manuscript? Have you provided a point by point response to the reviewer and editor comments?