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Prepare your manuscript for The Lancet.

Review the checklist, choose your article type, and turn your draft into a cleaner submission package.

Checked 2026-08-21
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Article types

Letter
Review
Editorial
Research Article
Protocol
Perspective
Viewpoint
Lectio
Clinical Trial
Systematic Review
Case Report

Readiness requirements

Review the key details below, or download the complete checklist with every stored source-backed requirement.

Abstract length

  • Provide an author-written abstract of no more than 300 words.
  • Include an abstract (semistructured summary), with five paragraphs (Background, Methods, Findings, Interpretation, and Funding), not exceeding 300 words.
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  • Clinical Trial: org Information for Authors www.thelancet.com August2026 authors must include numbers at risk, and are encouraged to include the number of censored patients.
  • For intervention studies, the abstract should include the primary outcome expressed as the difference between groups with a confidence interval on that difference (absolute differences are more useful than relative ones).
  • Clinical Trial: Our electronic submission system will ask you to copy and paste this section at the “Submit Abstract” stage • For randomised trials, the abstract should adhere to CONSORT extensions: abstracts (see Lancet 2008; 371: 281–83) • When reporting Kaplan-Meier survival data, at each timepoint, WHO’s International Clinical Trial Registry Platform https://www.who.int/clinical- trials-registry-platform Clinical trials http://clinicaltrials.gov ICMJE recommendations http://icmje.org/ recommendations/browse/ publishing-and-editorial-issues/ clinical-trial-registration.html CONSORT 2025 guidelines https://www.consort-spirit.
  • Clinical Trial: org/ CONSORT extended guidelines http://www.consort- statement.org/extensions/ extensions/ CONSORT-C Extension guidelines https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2352-4642(26)00004-0/ STARD guidelines http://www.equator-network.
  • Clinical Trial: com/for-authors/ forms?section=meta-analysis GATHER statement http://www.thelancet.com/ journals/lancet/article/ PIIS0140-6736(16)30388-9/ fulltext CONSORT-AI Extension guidelines https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2589-7500(20)30218-1 SPIRIT-AI Extension guidelines https://doi.org/10.1016/ S2589-7500(20)30219-3 To find reporting guidelines, see http://www.equator-network.
  • Clinical Trial: org/reporting-guidelines/stard/ STROBE statement http://www.strobe-statement.
  • Clinical Trial: org/ STREGA guidelines http://www.equator-network.
  • Clinical Trial: org/reporting-guidelines/ strobe-strega/ COREQ or SRQR guidelines https://www.equator-network.
  • Clinical Trial: org/reporting-guidelines/coreq/ https://www.equator-network.
  • Clinical Trial: org/reporting-guidelines/srqr/ PRISMA guidelines http://www.prisma-statement.
  • Clinical Trial: org/ Formatting guidelines for meta-analyses https://www.thelancet.

Reference style

  • Articlo formats your supplied references in Vancouver style and checks that citations match the reference list; source validity is not verified.
  • Therapeutics papers should be 3500-4500 words, with 5-6 figures, tables, or panels, and a maximum of 80 references.
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  • Writing should be clear and jargon-light, aimed at rapid reading and retention with a maximum 1500 words (minimum 300) and up to 5 references.
  • To create an en rule on a PC: hold down CTRL key and minus sign on the number pad, or on a Mac: ALT hyphen • References in tables, figures, and panels should be in numerical order according to where the item is cited in the text • Here is an example for a journal reference (note the use of tab, bold, italic, and the en rule or “long” hyphen): “…15[tab]Saito N, Ebara S, Ohotsuka K, Kumeta J, Takaoka K.
  • Text • Main heading for the web extra material should be in 12 point Times New Roman font BOLD • Text should be in 10 point Times New Roman font, single spaced • Headings should be in 10 point BOLD Tables • Main table heading should be in 10 point Times New Roman font BOLD • Legends should be in 10 point, single spaced • Tables should be in 8 point Times New Roman font, single spaced • Headings within tables should be in 8 point BOLD Data • Numbers in text and tables should always be provided if % is shown • Means should be accompanied by SDs, and medians by IQR • p values should be given to two significant figures, unless p<0·0001 Drug names • Recommended international non-proprietary name (rINN) is required • We encourage use of neuroscience-based nomenclature for psychotropic drugs References • Vancouver style—eg, —Smith A, Jones B, Clements S.
  • Numbered in order of mention in supplementary web appendix and numbered separately from references in the full paper Figures • All images must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, width 107 mm • Main figure heading should be in 10 point Times New Roman font BOLD • Legends should be in 10 point, single spaced Audio/video material • The paper to which the audio or video clip relates should be mentioned in the recording • Audio clip and video files should be accompanied with brief text explaining the content of the audio, names of interviewers/ interviewees, date of recording, and place of recording if relevant • Written consent from all parties must be supplied at submission Audio • Audio material submitted as an mp3 file, no larger than 50 Mb • Your paper may be selected for a podcast.
  • AI-assisted tools must not be used to: translate Comments or Correspondence at the submission stage, in whole or in part; improve arguments; generate new content or sentences; reorder content; shorten or summarise content; alter Information for Authors Strengths-based approach https://www.lowitja.org.au/ wp-content/uploads/2023/05/ deficit-discourse-strengths- based.pdf Reporting on disability https://www.thelancet.
  • Editorial: Blue section (Comment, World Report, Perspectives, Correspondence, etc) Editorial Editorials are the voice of The Lancet, and are written in-house by the journal’s editorial-writing team and signed “The Lancet” Comment • Most Comments are commissioned, but spontaneous Comments are welcome on a paper or other report or event within the past month or so, or in the near future • Comments should be about 700 words and ten references • The place to respond to something we have published is in our Correspondence section • See Conflict of Interest guidelines for Comments World Report • The Lancet has a function as an international newspaper covering news about science, medicine, policy issues, and people • Most of the writers of World Report articles are professional journalists, but an important event in your country that might MENDELEY data https://data.mendeley.com Research in context Evidence before this study This section should include a description of all the evidence that the authors considered before undertaking this study.
  • Since these papers should be comprehensive, we encourage citation of publications in non-English languages.
  • Journal names are abbreviated in their standard form as in Index Medicus • If there are six authors or fewer, give all six in the form: surname space initials comma • If there are seven or more give the first three in the same way, followed by et al • For a book, give any editors and the publisher, the city of publication, and year of publication Index Medicus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/ Formatting guidelines for text, tables, and figures Guidelines on formatting of text, tables, and figures can be found at https://www.thelancet.com/ pb/assets/raw/Lancet//authors/ artwork-guidelines.pdf Clinical Rounds https://www.thelancet.com/ what-we-publish Information for Authors www.thelancet.com August2026 • For a chapter or section of a book, also give the authors and title of the section, and the page numbers • For online material, please cite the URL, together with the date you accessed the website • Online journal articles can be cited using the DOI number • References that are in press can be cited in the reference list with “(in press)” added after the journal name • For personal communications and unpublished work, please cite in-text rather than in the reference list in the format “(unpublished)” or “(Smith R, unpublished)” if it is your own observation, or “(Jones E, institution, personal communication)” if it is someone else’s observation • Do not put references in the Summary or Research in context and Search strategy and selection criteria panels • If preprints are central to your work or cover crucial developments in the topic(s) covered in your paper, but are not yet formally published, thesE may be referenced.
  • Where a preprint has subsequently become available as a peer- reviewed article, the formal publication should be used as the reference.
  • You will be informed at least a week in advance of the Online First publication date • The online article is identical to the version subsequently published in the print journal, and is citable by the DOI assigned at the time of online publication How The Lancet handles your paper Acknowledgment • Receipt of your paper will be acknowledged by an email Audio http://www.thelancet.com/ audio Information for Authors www.thelancet.com August2026 containing a reference number, which should be used in all future communications Checking for plagiarism, duplicate publication, and text recycling • All Seminars, Series, Reviews, Therapeutics papers, and other non-research material that we are interested in publishing will be checked by editors using CrossCheck (see Lancet 2011; 377: 281–82).
  • Your document should indicate the article’s citation and a link to the published article on The Lancet website.
  • This panel should not contain references.
  • Authors should briefly state: the sources (databases, journal or book reference lists, etc) searched; the criteria used to include or exclude studies (including the exact start and end dates of the search), which should not be limited to English language publications; the search terms used; the quality (risk of bias) of that evidence; and the pooled estimate derived from meta- analysis of the evidence, if appropriate.
  • Therefore, all Seminars and Reviews, Therapeutics papers, and some Series, should include a brief section entitled “Search strategy and selection criteria” stating the sources (including databases, MeSH and free text search terms and filters, and reference lists from journals or books) of the material covered, and the criteria used to include or exclude studies.
  • Do not use tabs or indents to start a paragraph • Do not use the automated features of your software, such as hyphenation, endnotes, headers, or footers (especially for references).
  • Please use page numbering • Guidelines on formatting tables are available in the artwork guidelines References • Cite references in the text sequentially in the Vancouver numbering style, as a superscripted number after any punctuation mark.
  • com/journals/lancet/article/ PIIS0140-6736(26)01547-3/ fulltext Information for Authors www.thelancet.com August2026 meaning; or generate, complete, or verify references or citations.
  • If you cannot express your line of thought in 1500 words, 20 references, and a 150 word unstructured summary, it is not a hypothesis Other departments • Much of The Lancet’s role in encouraging debate and opinion takes place in sections such as Public Health, Viewpoint, Essay, Reportage, and the Departments of Medical History, Ethics, Medicine and Art, and Literature and Medicine.
  • Corresponding authors who have published their article gold open access do not receive a Share Link because their final published version of the article is available as an open access article on ScienceDirect and at www.thelancet. com and can be shared through the article DOI link.

Figure and table rules

  • Keep every figure and table numbered, captioned, and cited in the manuscript.
  • For more information, see Audio Video • Video material should be submitted in.mp4 format with aspect ratio of 16:9, and be no larger than 50 Mb • We welcome your videos and invite you to submit any video material (reports, interviews, scans, imaging) for consideration in the online journal.
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  • For figures, generative AI should be used primarily as a tool for brainstorming and suggesting image concepts.
  • Its direct use in creating figures or artwork should be limited to demonstrations of its capabilities in specific contexts, such as academic articles.
  • Guidelines for supplementary material All material should be submitted as one PDF (with a table of contents and numbered pages) with the paper and will be peer reviewed.
  • These papers should include about five illustrations to aid the reader Hypotheses • A hypothesis paper describes a substantial jump in thinking that is testable but not so easily testable that readers will wonder why you have not already done it.
  • We have different criteria for photographic and illustrative files, the following notes are a summary of our ideal requirements, but a detailed description is in the artwork guidelines • For images (photographs or photographic images) that are used as part of illustration or image composite figures we require a file that is no less than 300 dpi when set at its final printed size.
  • Ideal file formats are TIF or JPG • For trial profiles, study profiles, and CONSORT diagrams, please supply as an editable flow diagram in Word (.doc) or PowerPoint (.ppt) file • For illustrations (all non-photographic line-work and general drawing) we require editable vector files that contain selectable geometry and fonts (editable text).
  • For multi-part figures, please supply the individual parts as well as a combined version to be used as a guide for our illustrators to recreate the files • Images that have been published previously should be accompanied by a statement indicating permission to reproduce the image.

Funding statement

  • Add or confirm the author-written Funding statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • For Comment, Seminars, Reviews, Therapeutics, and Series, The Lancet will not publish if an author, within the past 3 years, and with a relevant company or competitor, has any stocks or shares, equity, a contract of employment, or a named position on a company board; or has been asked by any organisation other than The Lancet to write, be named on, or to submit the paper (see Lancet 2004; 363: 2–3) Role of the funding source • All sources of funding should be declared as an acknowledgment at the end of the text • At the end of the Methods section, under a subheading “Role of the funding source”, authors must describe the role of the study sponsor(s), if any, in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication • If there is no Methods section, the role of the funding source should be stated as an acknowledgment.
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  • Reporting sex-based and gender-based analyses Reporting guidance For research involving or pertaining to humans, animals, model organisms, or eukaryotic cells, investigators should integrate sex- based and gender-based analyses into their research design according to evolving funder/sponsor requirements and best practices within a field.
  • Agreements between authors and study sponsors that interfere with authors’ access to all of a study’s data, or that interfere with their ability to analyse and interpret the data and to prepare and publish manuscripts independently, may represent conflicts of interest, and should be avoided.
  • If the funding source had no such involvement, the authors should so state Role of medical writer or editor • If a medical writer or editor was involved in the creation of your manuscript, we need a signed statement from the corresponding author to include their name and information about funding of this person • This information should be added to the Acknowledgments and/or Contributors section • We require signed statements from any medical writers or editors declaring that they have given permission to be named as an author, as a contributor, or in the Acknowledgments section Patient and other consents • Appropriate written consents, permissions, and releases must be obtained where you wish to include any case details, personal information, and/or images of patients or other individuals in The Lancet journals in order to comply with all applicable laws and regulations concerning privacy and/or security of personal information.
  • Research Article: In this journal, we offer authors of research Articles with funding that requires open access publication either a gold open access or a subscription green open access solution for their submission.

Competing interests

  • Add or confirm the author-written Conflict of interest statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • All submissions to The Lancet must include disclosure of all relationships in which there is a potential or actual conflict of interest, even if it not directly relevant to the submitted work.
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  • At the end of the text, under a subheading “Declaration of interests”, all authors must disclose any financial and personal relationships with other people or organisations, even if it does not directly relate to the submitted work.
  • If there are no conflicts of interest, authors should state that none exist • All authors are required to provide a Conflict of Interest Statement and should complete a standard form, which is available at https://www.thelancet.com/forms?journal=lancet.
  • The following signed statements are required: • Author statements • Conflicts of interest statements (ICMJE forms) • Statements of role, if any, of medical writer or editor • Acknowledgments—written consent of cited individual • Personal communications—written consent of cited individual • Use of copyright-protected material—signed permission statements from author and publisher These statements can be scanned and submitted electronically with your submission.

Ethics statement

  • Add or confirm the author-written Ethics statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Do not use “blackout” bars or similar devices to anonymise patients in clinical images: if you have taken consent appropriately masking is not needed.
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  • Please instead complete the patient consent section of the Author statements while retaining copies of the signed forms in the event they should be needed.
  • All authors must have been involved in the care of the patient (when applicable).
  • Authors must obtain signed informed consent for publication in print and electronically. (see Patient and other consents).
  • Data sharing statements must include: • Whether data collected for the study, including individual participant data and a data dictionary defining each field in the set, will be made available to others (“undecided” is not an acceptable answer); • What data will be made available (deidentified participant data, participant data with identifiers, data dictionary, or other specified data set); • Whether additional, related documents will be available (eg, study protocol, statistical analysis plan, informed consent form); • When these data will be available (beginning and end date, or “with publication”, as applicable); • Where the data will be made available (including complete URLs or email addresses if relevant); • By what access criteria data will be shared (including with whom, for what types of analyses, by what mechanism – eg, with or without investigator support, after approval of a proposal, with a signed data access agreement - or any additional restrictions).
  • If submitting a clinical image please do not use “blackout” bars or similar devices to anonymise patients: if you have taken consent appropriately, masking is not necessary.
  • To respect your patient’s and any other individual’s privacy, please do not send signed forms to The Lancet.

Supplementary files

  • Include every cited supplementary file and use matching labels in the manuscript.

Title page and author information

  • Any addition, deletion or rearrangement of author names in the authorship list should only be made prior to acceptance, and only if approved by the journal editor.
  • Title page • A brief title, author name(s), preferred degree (one only), affiliation(s), and full address(es) of the authors must be included.
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  • The name and address of the corresponding author should be separately and clearly indicated with email and telephone details.
  • All authors should confirm that they had full access to all the data in the study and accept responsibility to submit for publication • We encourage collaboration and coauthorship with colleagues in the locations where the research is conducted • The Lancet Group takes a neutral position with respect to territorial claims in institutional affiliations • When choosing coauthors, we ask lead authors to be mindful of the benefits of diversity in authorship and to consider inviting coauthors who reflect diversity in every sense, including (but not limited to) background, career-stage, gender, geography, race, ethnicity, and (dis)ability • We encourage authors of papers focused on minoritised populations to include authors from those populations.
  • Requests to change authorship should be made by the corresponding author, who must provide the reason for the request to the journal editor with written confirmation from all authors, including any authors being added or removed, that they agree with the addition, removal or rearrangement.

Article structure and word limits

  • Digital photography files should have a resolution of at least 300 dpi and be at least 107 mm wide.
  • A 150 word unstructured summary should be included.
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  • When ascertaining gender and sex, researchers should use a two-step process: (1) ask for gender identity allowing for multiple options and (2) if relevant to the research question, ask for sex assigned at birth.
  • Clinical Trial / Systematic Review: For phase 1 trials, we especially encourage those of a novel substance for a novel indication, if there is a strong or unexpected beneficial or adverse response, or a novel mechanism of action • Systematic reviews of randomised trials about diseases that have a major effect on human health also might warrant rapid peer review and publication • Global public-health and health-policy research are other areas of interest to The Lancet • We require the registration of all interventional trials, whether early or late phase, in a primary register that participates in WHO’s International Clinical Trial Registry Platform (see Lancet 2007; 369: 1909–11) or in ClinicalTrials.gov, in accord with ICMJE recommendations.
  • We also require full public disclosure of the minimum 24-item trial registration dataset at the time of registration and before recruitment of the first participant (see Lancet 2006; 367: 1631–35).
  • Systematic Review: Authors should also submit their experimental details to one of the publicly available databases: ArrayExpress or GEO • Include any necessary additional data as part of your EM submission • All accepted Articles should include a link to the full study protocol published on the authors’ institutional website (see Lancet 2009; 373: 992 and Lancet 2010; 375: (348) Putting research into context • All research papers (including systematic reviews/meta- analyses) submitted to any journal in The Lancet family must include a panel putting their research into context with previous work in the format outlined below (see Lancet 2014; 384: 2176– 77, for the original rationale)).
  • Formatting of text • Type a single space at the end of each sentence • Do not use bold face for emphasis within text • We use a comma before the final “and” or “or” in a list of items • Type decimal points midline (ie, 23·4, not 23.4).
  • That proof should be corrected and returned within 48 h Editorial research • We are keen to better understand and improve editorial conduct, decision making, and issues related to peer review.
  • Before and after images should be taken with the same intensity, direction, and colour of light.
  • The contributors statement should state who those authors are.
  • Authors should address their research’s sex and/or gender dimensions in their manuscript.
  • In cases where they cannot, they should discuss this as a limitation to their research’s generalisability.
  • With research involving cells and model organisms, researchers should use the term “sex”.
  • Authors should use the term “sex assigned at birth” rather than “biological sex”, “birth sex” or “natal sex” as it is more accurate and inclusive.
  • Authors should also discuss limitations of the measures used, including validation in local contexts and languages.
  • However, these tools must never be used as a substitute for human critical thinking, expertise, and evaluation.
  • Authors should check for factual errors and for any potential bias.
  • Prompts should be provided where applicable and editors reserve the right to ask authors for these.
  • If AI has been used, a declaration must be included at the submission stage that fully describes how you have used AI.
  • Forms and signatures For Reviews, Viewpoints, Therapeutics papers, Comments, and Correspondence, we require you to upload your forms at submission.
  • Authors may be required to provide the journal with any such agreements in confidence.
  • Your affiliated institution should be able to provide an appropriate form.
  • Novel gene sequences should be deposited in a public database (GenBank, EMBL, DDBJ, or GISAID), and the accession number provided.
  • Authors of microarray papers should include in their submission the information recommended by the MIAME guidelines.
  • Added value of this study Authors should describe here how their findings add value to the existing evidence.
  • No more than five authors are permitted Department of Error • Any substantial error in any article published in The Lancet should be corrected as soon as possible.
  • The text should include a short and engaging clinical or scientific scenario to outline the clinical case and two or three sharply focused learning points or takeaways.
  • If required, further assistance can be obtained from the editorial team.
  • Manuscripts (including correspondence letters) should be submitted online via the The Lancet’s online submission and peer review website (known as EM) at www.editorialmanager.com/thelancet • Simply log on to EM and follow the onscreen instructions for all submissions • If you have not used EM before, you will need to register first.
  • In almost all cases, if you have a finished manuscript, you should submit it, rather than contacting The Lancet to enquire whether an unseen manuscript is likely to be accepted.
  • Authors should therefore avoid using the presence or absence of specific medical conditions as a proxy for disability and use validated measures of functioning where possible.
  • Researchers should also consider accessibility and inclusion throughout the research process, and authors should describe any measures taken to support accessibility and inclusion.
  • Where eligibility criteria, study procedures, or other design features might exclude people with disabilities, authors should provide a clear rationale and discuss the implications on their findings.
  • Images that duplicate or refer to existing copyrighted images, real people, or others’ identifiable products or brands must not be generated, nor any likeness of an individual’s voice.
  • Implications of all the available evidence Authors should state the implications for practice or policy and future research of their study combined with existing evidence.
  • This is an invitation to present the best possible paper for further scrutiny by the journal; it is not an acceptance • Authors should give priority to such revisions; the journal will reciprocate by making a final decision quickly • Two copies of the revised version should be sent back, one of which should be highlighted to show where changes have been made.
  • All requests to reproduce or make available anything in the journal—in whole or in part, in electronic or in any other form, including translation—should be made through Elsevier.
  • If they do not understand, neither, very probably, will The Lancet’s staff or readers.
  • If the EPD is relevant to your paper, we will request it at revision; we do not need it at submission.
  • Biology and society influence both, and many languages do not distinguish between them.
  • Because disability reflects functioning in context, it cannot be reliably inferred from diagnosis or disease status alone.
  • Blame is not apportioned; the important thing is to set the record straight • The Lancet journals have a policy for types of errors that we do and do not correct.
  • If you do not want your paper entered into such a study, please let us know in your covering letter.
  • In general, open access options cannot be applied retrospectively, unless as part of the terms of your open access agreement.
  • Review: That decision will be communicated quickly • Research papers and most other types of paper that receive positive in-house reviews are followed by peer review by at least two reviewers and a statistician.
  • For any questions, please contact our team openaccess@ lancet.com Ombudsperson For information about what our ombudsperson can and cannot investigate, articles about past ombudspeople, and how to contact the current ombudsperson see https://www.thelancet.com/ ombudsperson.

Reporting guidelines

  • Include or confirm the reporting guidelines required by the journal. Articlo checks this item and flags anything that still needs author input.

Statistical reporting

  • Please also submit a statistical analysis plan with the protocol if there is one • All reports of randomised trials should include a section entitled Randomisation and masking, within the Methods section.

Preprints and prior publication

  • Manuscripts must be solely the work of the author(s) stated, must not have been previously published elsewhere, and must not be under consideration by another journal.
  • If you have used previously published images, you must obtain permission from the copyright holder of the paper, which might be the authors or the publisher.

Artificial intelligence disclosure

  • Protocol: Add or confirm the author-written Artificial intelligence statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies Authors preparing a manuscript for an Elsevier journal can use AI tools to support them.
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  • AI tools should always be applied with human oversight and control.
  • Authors should document their use of AI, including the name and version of the AI tool used, the purpose of the use, and the extent of their oversight.
  • Authors should not list AI tools as an author or co-author, nor cite AI tools as an author.
  • Use of AI-assisted tools and generative AI is not allowed for the World Report and Perspectives sections.
  • Research Article: For Comments linked to Research Articles, no confidential unpublished data relating to the Article you are commenting on should be input into any AI-assisted tool.
  • Protocol: Reports of studies of global health estimates should be reported according to the GATHER statement (see Lancet 2016; 388: e19-23) • Clinical trials that report interventions using artificial intelligence must be described according to the CONSORT-AI Extension guidelines and their protocols must be described according to the SPIRIT-AI Extension guidelines • To find reporting guidelines see: http://www.equator-network.org • When using a study group, collaborator group, or Consortia instead of authors’ names, please be aware that individuals’ names will not explicitly appear when your published Article is uploaded to MEDLINE/PubMed.
  • Ensuring the use of any tools or sources, AI-based or otherwise, is made clear and transparent to readers—for the use of AI tools we require a disclosure statement upon submission.
  • Authors must check the terms and conditions of any AI tool that they use to ensure that the privacy and confidentiality of their data and inputs, including their unpublished manuscripts, is maintained.
  • Authors should also check the terms and conditions of any AI tool they wish to use to ensure that they only grant to the AI tool the right to use their materials to provide the service to them and that they do not grant to the AI tool any other rights to the materials that they input into the AI tool (including without limitation the right to train the AI tool on those materials).
  • They must also ensure that the AI tool does not impose constraints on the use of outputs from the AI tool in a way that could restrict the subsequent publication of the relevant article.
  • Authors should disclose the use of AI tools for manuscript preparation in a separate AI declaration statement at the end of their manuscript upon submission and this statement will appear in the published work.
  • For Comments and Correspondence, the use of generative AI is permitted only to assist with grammar and spelling; however, as your Comment or Correspondence will be edited to our house style, this should be rarely needed.

Article type and manuscript length

  • Review: An example is shown below: • Seminars should be no more than 5000 words with a maximum of 140 references, and Reviews should be no more than 4500 words, with a maximum of 100 references.
  • The main text should be 4500 words and include a maximum of 30 references.
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  • Research Article: All Articles should, as relevant: • Be up to 3500 words (4500 for randomised controlled trials) with 30 references (the word count is for the manuscript text only) • Qualitative and mixed-methods research articles can be more flexible regarding the total word count.
  • Types of article and manuscript requirements Please ensure that anything you submit to The Lancet follows the guidelines provided for each article type.
  • Research in context panels should not contain references; key studies mentioned here should be referenced in the main text.
  • Preprints should be clearly marked as such, for example by including [preprint] before the reference, and specifically referred to as a preprint in the main text.

Authorship and originality

  • ICMJE Recommendations http://www.icmje.org Information for Authors www.thelancet.com August2026 • The Lancet will not publish any articles unless we have the signatures of all authors • We suggest you use the author statement form and upload the signed copy with your submission • For author groups of more than 20 members, we encourage use of a collaborator or study group for any additional authors.
  • Statements, permissions, and signatures Authors and contributors • Designated authors should meet all four criteria for authorship in the ICMJE Recommendations • We ask all authors, and all contributors (including medical writers and editors), to specify their individual contributions at the end of the text • We require that more than one author directly accessed and verified the underlying data reported in the manuscript.
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  • All authors must be listed in the manuscript and their details entered into the submission system.

Manuscript structure

  • With research involving humans, researchers should consider which terms best describe their data (see Definitions section below).
  • AI use in the research process should be declared and described in detail in the Methods section.
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  • Since the consent form needs to comply with the relevant legal requirements of your particular jurisdiction, we do not provide ICMJE COI form https://www.thelancet.com/ forms?journal=lancet Joint ICMJE statement https://www.thelancet. com/for-authors/ forms?section=icmje-statement Information for Authors www.thelancet.com August2026 sample forms; this is your responsibility.
  • New data are not part of a hypothesis, but you must include a section on how to test your idea • Sharing a new idea takes courage and concision.
  • Research Article: For research articles that are the result of an academic and commercial partnership, at least one of the authors named as having accessed and verified data must be from the academic team.
  • Since the terms “sex” and “gender” can be ambiguous, authors should describe the methods they use to gather and report sex-related and/or gender-related data (eg, self- report or physician-report, specific biological attributes, current sex/gender, sex assigned at birth, etc) and discuss the potential limitations of those methods.
  • For all manuscripts, any discussion of data in relation to race, ethnicity, or both should consider the wider context of socioeconomic, historical, and other structural drivers, for which race or ethnicity might be surrogate measures.
  • When reporting disability-related data, authors should describe the methods used to identify disability, including the instrument or questions used, and how information was collected (eg, self-report, proxy report, administrative data).

Study reporting guidelines

  • Cluster-randomised trials must be reported according to CONSORT extended guidelines • Randomised trials that report harms must be described according to extended CONSORT guidelines • Randomised trials that include participants aged 0–19 years should be reported according to the CONSORT-C extension guidelines • Studies of diagnostic accuracy must be reported according to STARD guidelines • Observational studies (cohort, case–control, or cross-sectional designs) must be reported according to the STROBE statement, and should be submitted with their protocols • We encourage the registration of all observational studies on a WHO-compliant registry (see Lancet 2010; 375: 348) • Genetic association studies must be reported according to STREGA guidelines • Qualitative studies should be reported according to COREQ or SRQR guidelines, as applicable.
  • Particular care should be taken with any personally identifiable data.
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  • Systematic Review: Systematic reviews and meta-analyses must be reported according to PRISMA guidelines.

Language and text style

  • The registry must be independent of for-profit interest • Reports of trials must conform to CONSORT 2025 guidelin es, and should be submitted with a full protocol in English, or, with the full protocol and a synopsis in English including details of enrolment criteria, outcomes/endpoints, and statistical considerations.
  • If you use AI to assist with grammar and spelling, you must remove any confidential information before using the tool.
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  • Formatting guidelines Language • Manuscripts should be submitted in English.
  • All material should be provided in English.

Submission forms and permissions

  • If consent, permission, or release is made subject to any conditions, The Lancet must be made aware in writing of all such conditions before publication.
  • For the purposes of publishing in The Lancet journals, a consent, permission, or release should include, without limitation, publication in all formats (including print, electronic, and websites), in sublicensed and reprinted versions (including translations), and in other works and products.

Data and open-science statements

  • Clinical Trial: Clinical trials that begin enrolling participants on or after Jan 1, 2019, must include a data sharing plan in the trial’s registration.
  • If the data sharing plan changes after registration, this should be reflected in the statement submitted and published, and updated in the registry record.
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  • Research Article: Authors are also invited to either report their own, up-to-date systematic review or cite a recent systematic review of other trials, putting their trial into context of the review Data sharing All submitted research Articles must contain a data sharing statement, to be included at the end of the manuscript.
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What your package checks

Abstract: 300 words
Paper: 4,500 words
References: Vancouver
Declarations: Funding, Conflict of interest, Ethics
Format: single spacing

Source transparency

This preparation guide uses published journal-specific author requirements. Journal instructions can change, so authors should complete a final review before submission.

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