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Taylor & Francis

Prepare your manuscript for Virulence.

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

Checked 2026-08-02
Check readiness freePrepare this manuscript

Article types

Review
Clinical Trial
Research Article
Review Article
Commentary
Editorial
Lectio
Methods Article
Protocol
Letter
Case Report
Systematic Review

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 250 words.
  • Use a unstructured abstract.
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  • Should contain an unstructured abstract of 250 words.
  • Should contain an unstructured abstract of 150 words.
  • The abstract structure should be as follows: Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion.
  • Trial registration numbers should be included in the abstract, with full details in the methods section.
  • There are no strict formatting requirements, but all manuscripts must contain the essential elements needed to evaluate a manuscript: abstract, author affiliation, figures, tables, funder information, references.
  • Please do not embed it in the manuscript file but save it as a separate file, labelled GraphicalAbstract1.Taylor & Francis Editing Services provides a graphical abstract creation service for a fee.

Keywords

  • Provide 3-6 keywords chosen by the author.
  • Should contain between 3 and 6 keywords.

Reference style

  • Articlo formats your supplied references to the journal's stored style and checks that citations match the reference list; source validity is not verified.
  • Should be limited to 1500 words, 1 figure and/or table and up to 20 references.
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  • Provide references and brief descriptions of methods that have been published.
  • All bibliographic entries must contain a corresponding in-text citation.
  • This should include the hyperlink, DOI or other persistent identifier associated with the data set(s).
  • If you reply yes, you will be required to provide the DOI, pre-registered DOI, hyperlink, or other persistent identifier associated with the data set(s).
  • Please provide an author contributions statement at the end of your article, before the references, that outlines which author(s) were involved in the conception and design, or analysis and interpretation of the data; the drafting of the paper, revising it critically for intellectual content; and the final approval of the version to be published; and that all authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Confirmation the authors take full responsibility for the integrity of the whole content, including accuracy of references.

Figure and table rules

  • Keep every figure and table numbered, captioned, and cited in the manuscript.
  • Figures should be high quality (1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for colour, at the correct size).
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  • Figures should be of sufficient resolution to enable refereeing.
  • Tables should present new information rather than duplicating what is in the text.
  • Figures should be supplied in one of our preferred file formats: PS, JPEG, TIFF, or Microsoft Word (DOC or DOCX) files are acceptable for figures that have been drawn in Word.
  • If supplied as additional files they should have only a single tab (sheet) and should be uploaded as one file per table labelled by the table number and should be editable files.

Funding statement

  • Add or confirm the author-written Funding statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • You should declare only the acquired funds and grants that are directly relevant to the work reported in your article; for example, This work was supported by the [Funding Agency #1] under Grant [number xxxx]; [Funding Agency #2] under Grant [number xxxx]; and [Funding Agency #3] under Grant [number xxxx].
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  • Authors should list all sources of funding for the research described in a manuscript in the 'Acknowledgments' section.
  • Financial interests include, but are not limited to, stock-holding, consultancy, paid expert testimony and honoraria; they also include any limitations on freedom to publish that are imposed on an author by an employer or funding agency.

Competing interests

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

Data availability statement

  • Add or confirm the author-written Data availability statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Authors are required to provide a data availability statement (DAS), detailing where data associated with a paper can be found and how it can be accessed.
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  • If data cannot be made open, authors should state why in the data availability statement.
  • Authors are required to cite any data sets referenced in the article and provide a Data Availability Statement.
  • Articles need to meet the Open Science Badges criteria in order to earn a badge.

Ethics statement

  • Add or confirm the author-written Ethics statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Do not use patients' names or hospital numbers.
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  • In settings where ethics approval for non-interventional studies (e.g. surveys) is not required, authors must include a statement to explain this.
  • Authors should familiarise themselves with our policy on participant/patient privacy and informed consent.
  • In particular, the attention of authors is drawn to the following conditions (which are extracted from the URMSBJ): Authorship (Informed Consent) credit should be based on 1 substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data or analysis and interpretation of data; 2 drafting the article or reviewing/revising it critically for important intellectual content and 3 final approval of the version to be published.
  • If a study involves any ethical issues, which include patient confidentiality and treatment of animals, the paper must be accompanied by a statement to the effect that the authors complied with all of the legal requirements pertaining to the location(s) in which the work was done.
  • All original research papers involving humans, animals, plants, biological material, protected or non-public datasets, collections or sites, must include a written statement in the Methods section, confirming ethical approval has been obtained from the appropriate local ethics committee or Institutional Review Board and that where relevant, informed consent has been obtained.
  • Consent All authors are required to follow the ICMJE requirements and Taylor & Francis Editorial Policies on privacy and informed consent from patients and study participants.
  • Authors must include a statement to confirm that any patient, service user, or participant (or that person’s parent or legal guardian) in any type of qualitative or quantitative research, has given informed consent to participate in the research.
  • Case Report: a clinical case report detailing their medical history, identifiable images or media content, etc), authors must include a statement to confirm that they have obtained written informed consent to publish the details from the affected individual (or their parents/guardians if the participant in not an adult or unable to give informed consent; or next of kin if the participant is deceased).
  • This is in addition to their need to conform to our general guidelines about layout, etc.
  • Case Report: For submissions where patients or participants can be potentially identified (e.g.

Cover letter

  • A CCBY, CC0 or equivalent license should be applied to any datasets to allow reuse by any third party for any lawful purpose.
  • Upon acceptance, authors must sign an author agreement with the publisher granting exclusive license to publish.
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  • Should the authors choose to make their paper freely available, then Open Access options are available with CC-BY-NC or CC-BY license.
  • Using Third Party Material You must obtain the necessary permission to reuse third-party material in your article.
  • The use of short extracts of text and some other types of material is usually permitted, on a limited basis, for the purposes of criticism and review without securing formal permission.
  • If you wish to include any material in your paper for which you do not hold copyright, and which is not covered by this informal agreement, you will need to obtain written permission from the copyright owner prior to submission.

Author contributions

  • Add or confirm the author-written Author contributions statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Submitting authors should be prepared to submit CRediT roles for themselves and their co-authors (where applicable) as part of the submission process.

Title page and author information

  • All authors of a manuscript should include their full name and affiliation on the cover page of the manuscript.
  • One author will need to be identified as the corresponding author, with their email address normally displayed in the article PDF (depending on the journal) and the online article.

Article structure and word limits

  • Should be between 2500 and 4000 words in length.
  • It should be a maximum width of 525 pixels.
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  • These instructions will ensure we have everything required so your paper can move through peer review, production and publication smoothly.
  • Should you have any queries, please visit our Author Services website or contact us here.
  • Please note that discounts must be applied at the Charges stage of the submission process when the APC quote is confirmed and may not be considered after submission.
  • Please contact KVIR-peerreview@journals.tandf.co.uk to find out how to obtain this discount before you submit your article.
  • Please contact asv@asv.org to find out how to obtain this discount before you submit your article.
  • Units of measurement should be expressed in accordance with Systeme International d'Unites (SI Units).
  • Review: Reviews should capture the broad developments and implications of recent work.
  • The opening paragraph should make clear the general thrust of the review and provide a clear sense of why the review is now particularly appropriate.
  • The concluding paragraph should provide the reader with an idea of how the field may develop or future problems to overcome, but should not summarize the article.
  • It should be broadly accessible to microbiologists, pathologists, infectious disease scientists and clinicians who are not specifically studying the pathogen.
  • These should include adequate and appropriate validation to be considered.
  • The paper must include adequate and appropriate validation, all experimental controls, and link out to available data.
  • If there are concerns about identifying factors in datasets, these should be discussed with the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission.
  • Please note, this is not required for submission but is encouraged.
  • Note that, regardless of the file format of the original submission, an editable version of the article must be supplied at the revision stage.
  • Data must be deposited in a recognized data repository prior to or at the time of submission.
  • If supplied in the manuscript they should be unlinked.
  • Manuscripts should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals (URMSBJ), which can be found in full at www.icmje.org.
  • Each author should meet all three of these criteria.
  • Individuals who have a lesser involvement should be thanked in the acknowledgements.
  • Authors should pay particular attention to the originality of their work.
  • It is expected that authors should be able to provide any materials and/or protocols used in published experiments to other qualified researchers for their own use.
  • Materials include (but are not limited to): cells DNA, antibodies, reagents, organisms, mouse strains, and Drosophila strains.
  • These should be made available in a timely manner and it is acceptable to request reasonable payment to cover the cost of maintenance and transport.
  • For materials such as mutant strains and cell lines, authors should use established public repositories and provide relevant accession numbers wherever possible.
  • For all NIH/Wellcome-funded papers, the grant number(s) must be included in the declaration of interest statement.
  • Clinical Trial: Clinical trials should be registered prospectively – i.e. before participant recruitment.
  • Authors of retrospectively registered trials must be prepared to provide further information to the journal editorial office if requested.
  • Clinical Trial: The clinical trial registry should be publicly accessible (at no charge), open to all prospective registrants, and managed by a not-for-profit organization.
  • All research studies on humans (individuals, samples, or data) must have been performed in accordance with the principles stated in the Declaration of Helsinki.
  • Please include all relevant safety precautions; and cite any accepted standard or code of practice.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Originality and accuracy of content has been confirmed by the authors.
  • Authors must provide full methodological details and adhere to relevant reporting guidelines where applicable.
  • Authors must retain the original and revised versions which must be shared upon request.
  • The PLSP guidelines for authors must be followed at all times.
  • If you submit a paper to a participating journal, you will then receive an email upon submission with: Details of the badges offered by the journal.
  • If you submit a paper to a participating journal, you will then receive an email upon submission with: Links to additional information.
  • If you submit a paper to a participating journal, you will then receive an email upon submission with: An open practices disclosure form.
  • If you submit a paper to a participating journal, you will then receive an email upon submission with: The journal editor’s email address.
  • Review: Reviews should be recognized as scholarly by specialists in the field being covered, but should also be written with a view to informing readers who are not specialized in that particular field, and should therefore be presented using simple prose.
  • Review: Each Signature Review should provide a thorough and comprehensive summary of the pathogenesis of the disease caused and a focus on the molecular mechanisms of the pathogen’s virulence.
  • Please use SI units (non-italicized).
  • In order to encourage transparency without impeding publication, authors are required to include a statement at the end of a manuscript that lists all potential financial interests or, if appropriate, that clearly states that there are none.
  • Clinical Trial: Clinical Trials Registry In order to be published in a Taylor & Francis journal, all clinical trials must have been registered in a public repository, ideally at the beginning of the research process (prior to participant recruitment).
  • The process of obtaining consent to publish should include sharing the article with the individual (or whoever is consenting on their behalf), so that they are fully aware of the content of the article before it is published.
  • Please note that data should only be shared if it is ethically correct to do so, where this does not violate the protection of human subjects, or other valid ethical, privacy, or security concerns.
  • Such as: The standards on Data, Materials, and Analytical Code Transparency speak to the items generated over the course of the study and how you should preserve or share them.
  • The VoR is the article in its final, definitive and citable form (this may not be immediately paginated, but is the version that will appear in an issue of the journal).
  • Image descriptions are typically used by systems such as pronouncing screen readers to make images accessible to people that cannot read or see the object due to a visual disability.
  • COS currently offers three badges in its program: The Open Materials badge is earned by making publicly available the components of the research methodology needed to reproduce the reported procedure and analysis.

Reporting guidelines

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

Preprints and prior publication

  • If you have shared an earlier version of your Author’s Original Manuscript on a preprint server, please be aware that anonymity cannot be guaranteed.

Artificial intelligence disclosure

  • Add or confirm the author-written Artificial intelligence statement; Articlo flags it if author input is still needed.
  • Please include a statement disclosing whether and how generative AI has been used in the research and manuscript preparation process.
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  • Use of AI tools as part of ethical research studies is permitted.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: The name and version number of the AI tool used.
  • Systematic Review: Use of AI tools as part of ethically conducted literature reviews, systematic reviews, meta-analysis and bibliometrics studies is permitted.
  • Use of AI tool assisted plain language summaries (PLS) of authors own work is permitted.
  • Please read our guidance on using AI tools in your research and manuscript preparation to understand scenarios where their use may be permissible, and the required information that must be disclosed.
  • A declaration must be included within the submission stating: Confirmation the authors have checked terms of use for the specific AI tool used, and therefore confirm suitability for publication.

Language and text style

  • Discount codes must be presented at quotation and cannot be applied retrospectively.

Authorship and originality

  • Preparing Your Paper All authors submitting to medicine, biomedicine, health sciences, allied and public health journals should conform to the Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, prepared by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE).

Article type and manuscript length

  • Should be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; abstract; keywords; main text introduction, patients and methods/materials and methods, results, discussion; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list).
  • Should be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; abstract; keywords; main text introduction, materials and methods, results, discussion; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list).
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  • Should be written with the following elements in the following order: title page; keywords; main text; acknowledgments; declaration of interest statement; references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figures; figure captions (as a list).

Manuscript structure

  • Authors are required to make the data and materials supporting the results or analyses presented in their paper freely available.
  • For reagents listed in the Materials and Methods section, the company that supplied the reagent and the catalog number should be listed in parentheses; do not list the company location.
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  • Authors must retain full records of the methods undertaken, including full descriptions and records of the prompts used, which must be shared with the journal upon request.
  • Discussion: Do not repeat in detail data given in the Results section.
  • Clinical Trial: However, for clinical trials that have not been registered prospectively, Taylor & Francis journals requires retrospective registration to ensure the transparent and complete dissemination of all clinical trial results which ultimately impact human health.

Study reporting guidelines

  • For animal studies, approval must have been obtained from the local or institutional animal use and care committee.
  • Authors must provide full methodological details and adhere to relevant reporting guidelines where applicable (e.g. CONSORT-AI, STARD-AI, GAMER, TRIPOD-AI, etc).
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What your package checks

Abstract: 250 words
Keywords: 3-6 keywords
Declarations: Data availability, Funding, Ethics, Author contributions, Artificial intelligence

Source transparency

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

Open official guideline source