For specific article types, use the following formats:

1. Corrigenda:

‘Corrigendum: [Title of original article]’

2. General Commentaries:

• ‘Commentary: [Title of original article]’
• ‘Response: Commentary: [Title of original article]’
• ‘Editorial: [Title of Research Topic]’

Authors and Affiliations

List all author names together, separated by commas. Ensure that names are accurate and correctly spelled, as they will be indexed in official archives. Affiliations should be linked to the author’s name using superscript numbers and formatted as follows:

• Laboratory, Institute, Department, Organization, City, State, and Country (excluding detailed address information like zip codes or street names).

Example:

Elon Maximus1‚†, John Ekwere2‚†, and Barbara Kwame1 ‚†

Correspondence

Mark the corresponding author(s) with an asterisk in the author list. Provide their exact contact email address in a separate section.

Example:

Elon Maximus*

emax@science.edu

If any authors have a change of address, list the new address below the correspondence details, using a unique superscript symbol keyed to the author(s) in the author list.

Equal Contributions

Authors who contributed equally should be marked with a symbol (†) in the author list in both the document and the PDF files of the manuscript submitted.

Use the following standard statements to indicate equal contributions:

• Equal contribution: These authors contributed equally to this work.
• First authorship: These authors share first authorship.
• Senior authorship: These authors share senior authorship.
• Last authorship: These authors share last authorship.
• Equal contribution and first authorship: These authors contributed equally to this work and share first authorship.
• Equal contribution and senior authorship: These authors contributed equally to this work and share senior authorship.
• Equal contribution and last authorship: These authors contributed equally to this work and share last authorship.

Consortium/Group and Collaborative Authors

Consortium/group authorship should be listed in the manuscript alongside other authors.

If authorship is retained by the consortium/group, list the consortium/group as an author, separated by a comma or ‘and’. The consortium/group name will appear in the author list, citation, and copyright. If provided, consortium/group members will be listed in a separate section at the end of the article.

Example:

 John Smith, Barbara Smith, and The Collaborative Working Group

In cases where work is presented by authors on behalf of a consortium/group, include it in the author list separated by ‘for’ or ‘on behalf of.’ The consortium/group will not retain authorship and will only appear in the author list.

Example:

 John Smith and Barbara Smith on behalf of The Collaborative Working Group

Artificial Intelligence

These guidelines cover acceptable uses of generative AI technologies, such as Large Language Models (ChatGPT, Jasper) and text-to-image generators (DALL-E 2, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion), in the writing or editing of manuscripts submitted to JTR.

AI Use by Authors

Authors should not list generative AI technology as a co-author or author of any submitted manuscript. AI technologies cannot be held accountable for all aspects of a manuscript and do not meet authorship criteria.

If an author uses written or visual content produced by or edited using AI technology, it must follow JTR guidelines and policies. The author is responsible for verifying the factual accuracy of any AI-generated content, including quotes, citations, or references. Figures created or edited using AI must accurately reflect the data presented. Authors must ensure that AI-generated content is free from plagiarism.

If AI technology is used, this must be acknowledged in the acknowledgments section and methods section, if applicable. Include the name, version, model, and source of the AI technology. Authors are encouraged to upload input prompts and outputs from the AI technology as supplementary files.

Abstract

The abstract should clearly convey the general significance and conceptual advance of the work to a broad readership. It should be a single paragraph, structured according to the IMRAD format, and should follow the specific requirements of the article type or journal. Minimize abbreviations and avoid citing references, figures, or tables.

For clinical trial articles, include the unique identifier and the URL of the publicly accessible website where the trial is registered.

Keywords

All article types require a minimum of five and a maximum of eight keywords.

Text

The entire document should be single-spaced with page and line numbers for review facilitation. Manuscripts should be written using either Word or LaTeX. Templates are provided above.

Nomenclature

Keep abbreviations to a minimum. Define non-standard abbreviations upon first use in the main text if they appear at least four times. Consider providing a list of non-standard abbreviations before the acknowledgments.

Equations should be editable and inserted using the equation editor.

Italicize gene symbols and use approved gene nomenclature. For human genes, refer to the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (HGNC). Report common alternative gene aliases but do not use them alone. For other species, refer to relevant nomenclature committees.

Use Standard International Units in all manuscripts.

Refer to chemical compounds and biomolecules using systematic nomenclature, preferably following IUPAC recommendations.

Refer to astronomical objects using the nomenclature given by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).

List Life Science Identifiers (LSIDs) for ZOOBANK registered names or nomenclatural acts in the manuscript before the keywords.

Sections

Organize the manuscript with appropriate headings and subheadings. Up to five heading levels are allowed (e.g., 3.2.2.1.2 Heading Title).

For Original Research articles, organize the manuscript into sections like:

Introduction: Succinct, no subheadings.

Materials and Methods: Divided by subheadings, with enough detail for replication. Include an ethics approval statement for research involving animals or humans.

Results: Divided by subheadings, with no footnotes.

Discussion: Divided by subheadings, discussing key findings, prior research, potential shortcomings, integration into current understanding, future research directions, and theoretical postulations.

Refer to the journal’s ‘Article types’ page for more information.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledge contributions from colleagues, institutions, or agencies. If the manuscript content has appeared online, such as in a thesis or preprint, mention it here and list the source in the reference list.

Scope Statement

Summarize the manuscript’s scope and relevance to the journal or specialty section in 200 words. This information will be used during the validation and review process to assess the manuscript’s suitability. The statement will not be published.

Figure and Table Guidelines

CC-BY License: All figures, tables, and images will be published under a Creative Commons CC-BY license. Authors must obtain permission for copyrighted material and follow citation instructions from third-party rights holders.

Figure Requirements and Style Guidelines:

Submit figures individually, in the same order as they are referred to in the manuscript. Mention each figure in the text in numerical order. For figures with multiple panels, indicate panels with labels (A), (B), (C), etc., but do not embed labels in the image.

Ensure each figure is mentioned in the text and in numerical order. For LaTeX files, include figures in the PDF. High-resolution files may be required upon acceptance in EPS, JPEG, or TIF/TIFF format.

Captions: Place captions at the end of the manuscript, preceded by the appropriate label (e.g., ‘Figure 1’). Refer to figure panels with bold capital letters in brackets: (A), (B), (C), etc.

Image Size and Resolution: Prepare figures with PDF layout in mind, with a width corresponding to 1 column (85 mm) or 2 columns (180 mm). Ensure a resolution of 300 dpi at final size.

Format and Color Image Mode: Accepted formats are TIF/TIFF, JPEG, and EPS. Images must be in RGB color mode.

Chemical Structures: Use ChemDraw or a similar program. Follow specified drawing settings and assign bold, Arabic numerals to compounds.

Table Requirements and Style Guidelines

Tables should be appended to the paper in a format that may be easily modified. If you utilise a word processing software, construct your table within the Word application. If you utilise a LaTeX processor, construct your table using LaTeX. It is necessary to include a blank line both before and after the table.

The table captions should be positioned directly preceding the table. Before including captions, it is necessary to include the suitable identifier, such as ‘Table 1.’ Kindly limit the caption to a single paragraph.

Ensure that each table is explicitly referenced in the text and in sequential numerical sequence.

Due to formatting constraints, it is not possible to add extensive tables spanning multiple pages in the final PDF. The tables will be released as supplemental content.

Tables that do not adhere to the aforementioned rules will result in significant delays during the production process.

Accessibility

Make figures and visual elements accessible for the visually impaired. Ensure sufficient contrast between text and background and avoid using red or green indicators alone. Use other visual aspects, such as shape, labels, and size, to convey information.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1

Contrast Ratio: Ensure sufficient contrast, with a ratio of at least 4.5:1 (Level AA) or 7:1 (Level AAA). Verify contrast with online ratio checkers like WebAIM or Color Safe.

Supplementary Material

Non-essential data or data that cannot be included in the article due to size constraints or format limitations (such as videos, raw data traces, and PowerPoint presentations) can be uploaded as supplementary material during the submission process. These supplementary materials will be displayed alongside the published article. Supplementary files are stored permanently on figshare and are assigned a DOI.

Supplementary material should not be formatted. Therefore, it is important to provide all information properly without any tracked modifications, highlighted text, or line numbers. Additionally, make sure to add the relevant caption in the file. In order to prevent inconsistencies between the published article and the extra material, please refrain from including the title, author list, affiliations, or correspondence in the supplemental files.

The additional content can be uploaded in the following manner:

Document containing information (in formats such as Word, Excel, CSV, CDX, FASTA, PDF, or Zip files)

• presentation files (PowerPoint, PDF, or Zip)
• The acceptable image formats are CDX, EPS, JPEG, PDF, PNG, or TIF/TIFF.
• Choose a file format for the table: Word, Excel, CSV, or PDF.
• sound files (MP3, WAV, or WMA formats)
• The supported video formats include AVI, DIVX, FLV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, and WMV.
• Prerequisites for additional images:
• 300 dots per inch (DPI)
• The RGB colour mode.

To access supplemental material templates in LaTeX and Word formats, please refer to our collection of supplementary material templates.

References

Contributions to JTR must be based on pertinent and current scholarly research that has undergone peer review. This requirement should be evident in the reference lists provided.

Authors are encouraged to utilise online referencing tools when preparing their article. Several notable resources are RefMe, Zotero, and Mendeley.

• Authors should refrain from referencing material that is not immediately pertinent to the article’s scope and the journal’s focus.
• Reference lists should accurately represent the current state of knowledge in the subject, be free from prejudice, and not be dominated by a large number of citations from the same authors, sources, or schools of thought.

• The length of the reference list should be commensurate with the article genre, encompassing the pertinent material through adequate citing.
• Authors must verify the accuracy of references, ensure the accessibility of all links, and conform to the reference formats specified below for citations and references.

JTR’s journals employ either the Harvard (author-date) or Vancouver (numbered) reference styles. It is important to follow these forms for both in-text citations and reference lists. Kindly go to our help centre for guidance on the appropriate formatting for the journal to which you are submitting.

• All references to published works in the text, figures, or tables must be included in the reference list, and conversely, all items in the reference list must be cited in the text, figures, or tables.
• It is necessary to supply the names of the first six authors, followed by “et al.” and the DOI (if available).
• Authors’ given names should be reduced to their initials, such as J. Smith and C.S. Lewis.
• The reference list should exclusively consist of articles that have been published or formally accepted.
• Citations of unpublished data, submitted manuscripts, or personal communications should be included inside the text itself, but only for article types that permit such inclusions. When there are more specific information, it will be provided in the form of footnotes.
• When referring to works that have been accepted but not yet published, replace page numbers with the phrase ‘in press’.
• Data sets that have been submitted to an online repository should be listed in the reference section. When possible, please provide the version and unique identification.
• Written consent should be obtained to document personal communications.
• Website URLs should be appended as footnotes.
• When including exact material, it is important to enclose it in quotation marks and explicitly indicate the original source.

Preprints may be cited if a DOI or archive URL is accessible, and the citation explicitly states that the work is a preprint. If there is a peer-reviewed journal publication available for the same preprint, the official journal publication should be considered as the preferred source. For additional information, please go to the preprints section corresponding to each reference style listed below.