Submission and peer review

This branch covers a manuscript’s passage from preparation for a chosen journal through submission, review and the response to its decision, divided by the task or question at each stage. It includes the reviewer’s role and alternatives to conventional review. Journal selection, reporting guidelines, work after acceptance, preprint policy and Good Publication Practice sit outside this branch.

• Editing a manuscript before submission — journal style, instruction-based checks and evidence on the benefits and limits of editing
• Adapting a manuscript to another journal's format — differing requirements, resubmission costs, format-free submission, transfers and a proposed common template
• Writing the cover letter — the case for the paper, author information, declarations, reviewer suggestions and a whole-letter checklist
• Assembling the submission package — required components, the submission site, final checks and responsibility for uploading
• Publisher policy on AI in submitted work — dated policies on authorship, disclosure, images, references and differences between journals and publishers
• How a journal handles a submitted manuscript — editorial screening, reviewer selection, review, decisions and submission systems
• What peer review can and cannot catch — bias, conflicts, fabricated reviewers, missed errors and proposed reforms
• Responding to a journal's decision — interpreting the decision, revising, answering comments, handling disagreements and responding to rejection
• Open and post-publication peer review — open science, published reviews, registered reports and commenting after publication
• Reviewing a manuscript for a journal — reviewer duties, review content, training, recognition, tone, confidentiality and restrictions on AI use