Many scientists communicate their work by writing a scientific manuscript (sometimes called an “article” or “paper”). In the manuscript, scientists describe what researchers studied, how they did their research, what they discovered, and what their data and results mean. They then submit their manuscript to a scientific journal or preprint (like eiRxiv) to share their work with the world.
Different journals and preprints have different content and formatting requirements manuscripts must meet in order to be accepted. Read the instructions below to learn how to format and write your manuscript for eiRxiv!
Note: Manuscripts that do not follow our formatting or content guidelines, or that do not use our template, will not pass pre-review.
Follow these steps to prepare your manuscript and make sure it meets eiRxiv’s formatting guidelines:
We have strict requirements regarding your manuscript font, layout, and structure. You must use our manuscript template to make sure you meet all of these requirements:
**The best way to ensure you keep this formatting is to type directly into our template. Don’t copy/paste into it!**
Once you have finalized your manuscript, you will need to convert it to a PDF in order to submit. For more information, see Exporting a Word document to a PDF. Or, if you’re using our Word Document template within Google Docs, How to Download a Google Doc as a PDF.
Give your manuscript a title that:
List the authors and their institutions to show who did the work. See Who Can Submit to determine who can or should be listed as an author for your manuscript.
Author order
Scientific manuscripts typically list authors in order based on how much they contributed to the work.
This means that the author listed first did most of the work, and the author listed last did the least. In fact, the last/corresponding author sometimes only helps with designing the experiment and mentoring the other authors as they write the manuscript.
If any student authors did equal amounts of work, you can show this by placing an asterisk (*) after their name and the statement “these authors contributed equally to this work” underneath the list of author affiliations. If any senior (adult) authors contributed equally, please use the same formatting as for student authors, but use the dagger symbol (†) instead.
Affiliations
All authors must list an affiliation (the place where they work or where the work was done).
Example
Let’s imagine the following authors contributed to a manuscript that they are trying to post on eiRxiv: Jaylen Smith, Sarah Johnson, Angel Ruiz, Marcus Gold, and Julie Zhang.
In this example, the authors and their affiliations would be listed like this on the cover page when they submit their manuscript:
Jaylen Smith1, Sarah Johnson1*, Marcus Gold2*, Julie Zhang3, Angel Ruiz4
1Allan Bayer High School, Smithsville, Alabama
2Corbin Downs High School, Citytown, Georgia
3Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
4University of Florida, Jacksonville, Florida
*These authors contributed equally to this work
Changing author order after submission
To make submission as smooth as possible, please make sure all necessary authors are listed, they are in the correct order, and they all agree to submitting the manuscript before you submit your manuscript to eiRxiv.
If you would like to add, remove, or change the order of authors after submissions, all authors will need to consent in writing. We reserve the right to reach out directly to any authors impacted by these changes.
Because each manuscript is posted with a permanent DOI, authors cannot be added, removed, or changed after the manuscript is posted.
The Summary (sometimes called an “Abstract” in other journals) is a short paragraph summarizing your research and why it is important. It should briefly answer:
The Summary should be a single paragraph (150-250 words). Unlike other parts of the manuscript, you should not include in-text citations in your Summary.
Use the Introduction to give your readers the background information they need to understand your research. The Introduction and Discussion are usually the longest sections of the manuscript. We recommend structuring the Introduction like an upside down triangle:
The Introduction should:
The Results section is where you describe what you observed during your experiments or modeling and the outcomes of your analysis.
For each experiment or analysis you did, you should:
Top five tips for a successful Results section:
The Discussion section is where you can explain what your results mean in the context of your research question, your hypothesis, and the larger field of study. The Discussion is one of the longest sections of the manuscript, and should include lots of in-text citations.
We recommend structuring your Discussion as a triangle (opposite to the Introduction).
Step 1: Start narrow
Step 2: Get a little broader
Step 3: Go extra broad and look to the future
Be careful with your conclusions!
As scientists, we get excited about our work and what it could mean for the world. However, it’s also important for us to recognize the limitations of our work. If we make statements or claim impacts beyond what our experiments actually show, we may accidentally mislead our readers. Follow these guidelines to write an accurate, scientifically supported Discussion:
Make sure your claims are clearly and directly supported by the experiments you did and your observations
For example, let’s say you studied mice and found the mice who ran the fastest also had a certain allele of gene A.
You could say: This allele of gene A is associated with how fast mice can run.
You could not say: Humans who are slow runners probably also have gene A.
Similarly, you can propose reasons or explanations for what you observed, but unless your experiment clearly showed these factors caused your results, you should make it clear that you are just speculating. If other studies support your explanation, cite them.
For example, let’s say you found a certain chemical found in dandelions killed cancer cells in a petri dish.
You could say: This chemical from dandelions killed cancer cells when tested in a petri dish. Further studies are needed to determine whether it could be an effective anti-cancer treatment.
You could not say: This chemical from dandelions is an effective anti-cancer treatment and would have minimal side effects because it came from a plant.
Causation occurs when one factor clearly causes another. For example, increasing the temperature typically causes people to sweat more.
Correlation happens when two factors seem to be mathematically related, but we don’t know whether one causes the other. For example, people sweat more when it’s hot, and people eat more ice cream when it’s hot. Sweating and eating ice cream are correlated, but one does not cause the other.
You could say: Ice cream consumption rates and sweating are positively correlated.
You could not say: Eating ice cream causes sweating.
Because science is always evolving as we learn more, scientists very rarely claim their results are definite. Avoid words like “prove”, “definitely”, or “always” when discussing your hypothesis and results. Instead, use words like “suggest”, “indicate”, or “support”.
You could say: Our results suggest increasing carbon dioxide concentration decreases enzyme activity.
You could not say: Our results prove increasing carbon dioxide concentration decreases enzyme activity.
The Materials and Methods section is like an instruction manual for your science. This is where you clearly describe how you did your experiments so other people can repeat and learn from them. To write your Materials and Methods:
Using Brand-name Products
Please only refer to manufactured products in your manuscript using their generic or non-proprietary names (e.g., “acetaminophen”, not “Tylenol®”; or “facial tissue”, not “Kleenex®”). Mentioning specific brand names in your research can leave the author open to legal action by the manufacturer.
You may refer to the supplier or manufacturer once in your Methods section (e.g., “semaglutide manufactured by Novo Nordisk”, not “Ozempic®”). Manufacturers should not be mentioned outside of the Methods section.
Any manuscripts that mention products by their brand name or manufacturers outside of the Methods section will not pass pre-review.
To help readers evaluate the trustworthiness of your manuscript, you must include a Conflict of Interest statement. Guidelines to determine whether you have a COI, why it matters, and how to complete and file our COI declaration form can be found on our Academic Honesty page.
If no authors have COIs to declare, you should simply write the following in the Conflicts of Interest section of your manuscript template: “The authors declare they have no conflicts of interest.”
If one or more authors have a COI to declare, you would briefly state each COI individually. For example, “Jane Suarez and Amy Wang declare they have no conflicts of interest. Emily Smith received a grant from XYZ Foundation to fund this research. The parent of Deandre Marcus serves on the board of the Acme Corporation, which manufactures the vitamins the authors tested.”
Use the Acknowledgments to thank people who helped you with your research project or manuscript.
Who to thank here:
Who not to thank here:
*Make sure you get written permission from each person in your Acknowledgments before you submit your manuscript. The easiest way to do this is to email them and ask whether or not they consent to being named in your Acknowledgments, then save that email so you have a permanent record of their agreement. eiRxiv may ask you to submit this documentation if a dispute about the Acknowledgments ever occurs.
As a scientist, choosing and referencing reliable sources shows everyone:
Scientists must always provide citations for every fact, image, data, or idea that is not their own original creation. In fact, not citing your sources correctly counts as plagiarism and can have serious negative consequences for a scientist’s career!
At eiRxiv and JEI, manuscripts that have not properly cited their sources will be sent back to the authors and–in severe cases–may be rejected. Please review JEI’s Academic Honesty page for more information on when you need to cite sources, how you should cite them, and how to avoid unintentional plagiarism.
How to format your Citations and your Reference List
There are many ways to format your references, and each journal may have slightly
different formatting requirements. At eiRxiv, we use JEI’s Reference Formatting Guide.
Read this Guide for details on what constitutes a good reference, how to format your in-text citations, and how to format your References in a modified MLA-8 format.
In addition to these guidelines, you must also include hyperlinks for all web addresses and DOI’s. See this example for how to format your references and hyperlinks.
Figures and tables help your readers understand your results by providing visual representations of your research.
You can have up to a total of eight (8) Figures and Tables in your eiRxiv manuscript. In other words, (Figures + Tables) ≤ 8 .
Tables are grids of information that help you organize and compare numerical values or group information.
Make sure each table:
Figures help you show a relationship, process, pattern, layout, difference, or other type of visual image. Figures can include:
Sometimes the same data can be presented either as a Table or a Figure. If possible, we recommend using a Figure because they are usually easier to understand.
How to make your Figures
Good figures help readers see your data quickly and clearly. When making your figures, please keep these tips in mind:
✅ Use clear labels
✅ Choose color-blind friendly colors
✅ Be consistent
✅ Number your figures in order
Captions for Figures and Tables
Rather than putting titles on figures and tables, eiRxiv authors must use captions instead. A caption goes under your figure and contains the figure/table title and a short explanation.
A caption tells your reader what your figure is about so they can understand your results without reading your entire manuscript. Your caption goes below your figure and should can include:
When writing table or figure captions, it’s helpful to ask yourself: if you gave someone only the figure/table and the caption, would they be able to understand what the figure means without reading the rest of your manuscript?
Making Figures and Tables
For full details on how to format your figures and tables, add captions, and reference your figures/tables in your text, read JEI’s Figure/Table Formatting Guide before you make your figures or tables. However, unlike the rules for JEI, you do not need to upload separate image or table files for eiRxiv; just include them at the end of your manuscript.
An Appendix provides an extra section for authors to share additional necessary information that does not belong in any other section of your manuscript.
eiRxiv only allows Appendices on a case-by-case basis; this is not just a place to make your manuscript longer or avoid the 11-page limit.
Examples of Appendices we accept:
If your Appendix contains material other than code/programming scripts or survey questions, you must also upload an additional document stating 1) why the information in the Appendix is crucial to your manuscript, and 2) why it isn’t included in your main manuscript sections.
Science communication challenges even the best writers to turn complex concepts into easily understandable content. While everyone has a different writing style, scientific manuscripts tend to use more formal language. At the same time, readers may struggle to read a scientific manuscript that is too complex; many people in recent years have therefore called for scientists to communicate their science in a way that more people can understand.
At eiRxiv, we recommend the following strategies to make sure your writing is scientific yet easy to understand:
STYLE AND CONTENT
GRAMMAR
