Submission Preflight

Find the route. Inspect the file.

Journal manuscript guide

Declarations are part of the submission package, not an afterthought.

Before you hand a manuscript to a journal, reconcile its declarations with current author instructions and the submission form. This guide identifies recurring review points, not a universal journal checklist.

Submission Preflight EditorialUpdated August 20, 2026

Source reviewed: ICMJE recommendations, Springer Nature data-availability statements guidance, and Elsevier generative AI policy for journals.

Start with the declarations

  • Review funding, competing or conflict-interest, and author-contribution statements against the current journal instructions.
  • For work involving people, animals, or consent, confirm applicable ethics or consent language is present.
  • Where relevant, confirm a data-availability statement and an AI-use disclosure are present and fit the target journal’s current instructions.

Use a narrow source baseline

The general baseline is ICMJE-informed. The Springer Nature baseline narrows its source emphasis to data availability. The Elsevier baseline narrows its source emphasis to AI-use disclosure. None is a complete publisher rulebook or a substitute for the target journal’s instructions.

Use a source-linked clearance pass

Submission Preflight can inspect a PDF, DOCX, or TXT file for data availability, competing or conflict interests, funding, author contributions, ethics or consent language, and AI-use disclosure. The full paid report preserves findings, remediation, and supporting source links when supplied by the validator.

Check a journal manuscript

Keep the final judgment with the journal

A preflight is not a plagiarism check, a rewrite service, or a journal-specific guarantee. It cannot determine editorial fit, peer-review outcome, completeness of instructions outside the checks run, or acceptance.

Read the live author instructions and complete the journal’s submission workflow before you submit.