Technology, Validation, and Translational Relevance

Submissions involving computational methods, digital workflows, imaging systems, measurement technologies, or artificial intelligence are welcome when supported by methodological transparency, analytical reliability, validation, and auditable workflows.

Manuscripts that invoke technology in broad or generic terms, without clear scientific or translational relevance, may be considered outside the journal’s scope.

Article-Specific Limits

Article-specific limits for word count, abstract format, figures, tables, supplementary material, and references must follow the requirements provided on the journal’s Article Types & Limits page.

Open Article Types & Limits

Article Types & Limits

Confirm the manuscript category and the applicable limits for word count, abstract length, figures, tables, supplementary material, and references.

Open Article Types & Limits

Language and Editorial Evaluation

Manuscripts must be submitted in clear, formal English and prepared to permit rigorous technical screening, editorial assessment, and peer review.

Submission Portal

Proceed to submission only after confirming that the manuscript uses the correct template and satisfies all editorial, technical, ethical, and reporting requirements.

Open Submission Portal

Tables and Figures

• Tables: Tables must be editable, clearly structured, consecutively numbered, and created with the Word table tool. Tables pasted as screenshots or flattened images are not accepted.
• Figures: Figures must be of publication quality, consecutively numbered, and cited in the main text.
• Resolution: Raster images should generally be at least 300 dpi, with higher resolution used when appropriate for line art or combination figures.
• Image responsibility: Authors are responsible for image quality, permissions, integrity, and anonymization when applicable.

Reporting Quality

Methods, measurements, validation procedures, analytical steps, statistical methods, and quality-control procedures must be described with sufficient clarity for critical appraisal and, when applicable, independent reproduction.

Reporting Guidelines

Authors should follow the appropriate reporting guideline for the study design, including PRISMA, CONSORT, STROBE, CARE, STARD, TRIPOD, CHEERS, ARRIVE, or another relevant standard.

A completed checklist and flow diagram should be submitted when required.

Tables, Figures, and Journal Abbreviations

References cited only in tables or figure legends must be numbered according to the first mention of the corresponding table or figure in the main text.

Journal-title abbreviations must conform to the NLM Catalog or MEDLINE abbreviation system.

Author Names, Article Titles, and DOI

Authors’ names must be presented as surname followed by initials, without periods between initials.

For references with up to 6 authors, list all authors. For references with more than 6 authors, list the first 6 authors followed by “et al.”

Article titles must be presented in sentence case. The DOI must be provided whenever available.

Reference Accuracy

Authors are responsible for verifying that every in-text citation corresponds accurately to an item in the reference list and that all bibliographic information, links, identifiers, and access details are correct.

Originality, Authorship, and Disclosures

• Originality: Manuscripts must be original, must not have been published previously, and must not be under consideration elsewhere.
• Authorship: Authorship must reflect substantial scholarly contribution and shared responsibility for the integrity of the work.
• Author order: All authors must agree on authorship inclusion and order before submission.
• Competing interests and funding: Authors must disclose all relevant financial, commercial, institutional, professional, intellectual, or personal interests that could influence the work.

Ethics Approval, Consent, and Image Integrity

• Ethics approval: Research involving human participants, identifiable clinical information, clinical images, biological materials, or animals must include appropriate ethical approval whenever required.
• Consent: Explicit informed consent must be documented whenever required, especially in case reports, clinical imaging, and identifiable material.
• Consent for publication: Specific consent for publication must be obtained whenever an individual may be identified directly or indirectly.
• Image integrity: Misleading manipulation of photographs, radiographic images, scans, micrographs, or other visual materials is not permitted.

Data, Code, Reporting, and Artificial Intelligence

• Data availability: Original research manuscripts must include a Data Availability Statement.
• Code availability: Include a Code Availability Statement whenever analytical code, software, scripts, algorithms, or computational workflows are relevant.
• Reporting guidelines: Authors must follow the reporting guideline appropriate to the study design whenever applicable.
• Artificial intelligence tools: Any relevant use of artificial intelligence or automated tools must be transparently disclosed. Artificial intelligence tools cannot be listed as authors.

Integrity and Submissions from Editors

• Integrity: Fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, deceptive image generation, inappropriate image manipulation, or undisclosed manipulation of primary data is prohibited.
• Submissions from editors: Manuscripts submitted by editors, Editorial Board members, or journal staff undergo independent editorial handling.
• Editorial recusal: An author holding an editorial role takes no part in reviewer selection, editorial assessment, or the final decision concerning the manuscript.

Publication Ethics Policy

For complete requirements concerning authorship, originality, consent, competing interests, misconduct, corrections, retractions, data, images, and artificial intelligence use, consult the journal’s Publication Ethics policy.

Open Publication Ethics