Author Guidelines

Preparing to submit your manuscript

Cover Letter

An optional cover letter to the editor can be submitted, highlighting the significance of the manuscript and why it fits the scope of the journal. The letter can also suggest potential reviewers (with affiliations) to manuscript. You may also indicate a list of potential reviewers (with affiliations) that you would like to avoid. The editors do not guarantee that these requests will be entertained.

Manuscript & Additional Documents

Prepare the manuscript based on the guidelines provided here. This includes Manuscript text (in MS word or .tex file, without figures), a file containing list of figures & tables with caption, additional extended data (eg., Excel).

Submit the manuscript

Create an account with Scientific Forefront and submit the manuscript using our online submission tool.

Formatting Guidelines for Authors

The acceptable formats for manuscript text are Microsoft Word, Rich Text Format (RTF), Tex/LaTex (use the scientific forefront template). The authors may use the templates available here. We recommend submitting raw editable files which are required for production. If non-editable files are submitted, then the editable files are required for processing during the production. If Tex/LaTex file formats, submit the .tex file, pdf and the .bib file (containing references information).

The Authors are required to follow the word count guidelines of the journal. For such purposes the length of the manuscript includes main text, footnotes and all citations. This does not include abstract, figure and table captions, funding statements, affiliations, acknowledgements.

Language

The manuscript submitted to Scientific Forefront journals is expected to meet the internation English standards considered for scientific publication. However, for authors who would like to have their manuscript reviewed for language correctness, we recommend third-party services.

Manuscript Style

The manuscript shall contain the following parts:

  •  A Separate page containing Title, Authors, Author Affiliation. Also indicate the number of figures and tables included in the manuscript. If your manuscript also contains supplementary information, then indicate the figures and tables in the supplementary.
  • The second page that begins with title, abstract & keywords and followed by Introduction, Methods, Results and Discussions. All Figures and Tables should contain legends or captions as appropriate and submitted as separate file. Raw file formats may be requested, if accepted while in production.  A graphical abstract must also be submitted.

Title

A concise title that represents the main message in the manuscript. Avoid unambiguous and vague titles.

Author Names

All authors names are listed below the title separated by commas. The correct format for author name is FirstName[space]MiddleName[space]LastName as used in official documents.

Affiliation

Affiliations can be keyed along with author names using symbols in superscript and the affiliation format is Laboratory, Institute, Department, Organisation, City, Country. It is also possible that a group/consortium name be included as part of the author list. At the end of the manuscript, you may provide the list of members of the consortium. These authors need not be added to the list of authors.

Author contributions

Author Contributions such as equal contribution, equal first authorship, senior authorships etc can also be keyed with symbols.

Corresponding Author(s)

Included the Corresponding authors in the format below

Corresponding Authors:

FirstName[space]LastName1, EmailID1

FirstName[space]LastName2, EmailID2

Abstract

A short summary of the manuscript highlighting the significant part of the manuscript.

Graphical Abstract

A graphical abstract which is a single image with concise indication of the main concept and finding of the manuscript should be provided along with list of figures. The submitted image should be 1200 pixels square at 300 dpi. Use Arial Font with size range between 12-16. The image should also be provided in one of the following formats - JPEG, EPS, TIFF.

Keywords

Provide minimum of 5 keywords and a maximum of 8 keywords.

Main Text

  • The entire document must be single spaced and must contain page numbers.
  • Minimize the use of non-standard abbreviations and if used it must be defined at first use. If there are too many abbreviations, provide a list of abbreviations used in Methods or supplementary information section.
  • Equations should be inserted in editable formats. (Do not paste images)
  • Use standard International Units throughout the manuscript.

Manuscript Structure

Organise the manuscripts with appropriate headings and subheadings. Do not insert more than 5 subheading levels in the manuscript (Eg., 4.1.2.3.5 Subheading Text). Wherever appropriate provide citations in the manuscript.

We recommend following the guidelines endorsed by EQUATOR. By implementing these guidelines in your manuscript, you are in fact making it easy for editors and peer reviewers to assess the manuscript.

Introduction

Introduction shall be succinct with no further subheadings.

Materials and Methods

Materials and Methods may contain subheadings with sufficient details such that when read along with cited references, it should be sufficient to repeat the procedures. Include ethics approval statements wherever appropriate and for clinical trials, information on the registration should be included. Figures and Tables can be included under this section. Extensive information on statistical analysis should be included in this section with appropriate tests used, n numbers, significance values etc. A Data availability statement should also be provided wherever applicable with links to data repository.

Results

Results may contain subheadings. Figures and tables can be used present the results. Supplementary figures and tables can also be included (see supplementary information).

Discussions

Discussions may contain subheadings, Figures and tables. The discussion should cover major findings of the study, discussions of prior and future research, possible contexts, limitations, interpretations, views and speculation can be included under discussions.

References

References This is a numbered list that includes only citations used in the manuscript. Each number shall indicate one publication. Typically, up to 30 references are recommended, however, within the given page budget, this list can go up to 50 references. Inclusion of additional references shall incur additional production costs.

Acknowledgements

In a brief text the authors shall acknowledge contributions to the manuscript by others not listed in authors list. For example, institutions, colleagues and explicit references to useful sources (which must also be mentioned in references) etc.

Funding Statement

Information about funding agencies shall be included in this section.

In addition to the above, wherever appropriate the following statements should also be included to the manuscript.

  • Ethics & Integrity Statement
  • Data availability
  • Code availability Statement
  • Conflict of Interest
  • Ethics Approval Statement
  • Patient Consent Statement
  • Permission to reproduce material from other sources
  • Clinical Trial Registration

Supplementary Information

Supplementary information is a limited content essentially required to support the manuscript which are otherwise too big and impractical to include in the main article. This may contain text, figures and tables with appropriate caption. Large tables will be included as extended data. Up to 10 pages are included in the supplementary information. Additional pages shall incur production costs.

Figures & Tables

The figures and tables can be included as part of the main text with captions (or optionally as a separate file with appropriate captions) to facilitate review process. However high-resolution figures in raw format must be submitted as separate image files when the manuscript reaches the production stage. More extensive guidelines for figures will be provided while the manuscript is under production.

Artwork Guidelines

Illustrations, pictures and data graphs must be of highest quality with appropriate legends and annotations in an electronic format. TIFF, JPEG are acceptable formats for pictures (without texts). For images with text and data EPS is the most acceptable format.

Image Processing

Images should be minimally processed to reflect the original data. Adjustments such as brightness, colour balance etc should be applied uniformly to the entire image. Do not use selective image editing tools while processing the image. Disclose all steps in image processing in legend and/or figure caption. Authors should also supply raw image wherever excessive processing is done.

Extended Data

Large datasets and images with fine details can be submitted as extended data. This is typically the kind of data that might not be included in print versions, however, is still available along with published articles online. If the copyright editors find the need for inclusion of extended data, then guidelines for data formatting will be provided if found unsuitable in its current format.

Data Availability

Depending on the nature of the data format, there are public structured data repositories. It is required that the authors make the data accessible through these repositories. If access to data is required for peer review, then it should be provided to the reviewers. Computer codes used to generate results reported in the manuscript may be required by editors and reviewers and shall be made available. We encourage authors to make such data and computers codes available for public usage.