
All data must be shown either in the main text or in the Supplementary Materials or must be available in an established database with accession details provided in the acknowledgements section. All tables and figures should be cited in numerical order. Symbols, abbreviations, and acronyms should be defined the first time they are used. The introduction should provide sufficient background information to make the article intelligible to readers in other disciplines, and sufficient context that the significance of the experimental findings is clear. The manuscript should start with a brief introduction describing the paper’s significance. Two levels of subheadings may be used if warranted please distinguish them clearly. Use descriptive clauses, not full sentences. Subheadings are used only in Research Articles, and Reviews. Main Text is not divided into sub-headings for Reports. For Perspectives and Policy Forums please include a one-sentence abstract. The abstract should be 125 words or less. Please do not include citations or abbreviations in the Abstract. The Abstract is distinct from the main body of the text, and thus should not be the only source of background information critical to understanding the manuscript. The final sentence should outline the main CONCLUSIONS of the study, in terms that will be comprehensible to all our readers. This should be followed by an explanation of the OBJECTIVES/METHODS and then the RESULTS. They should start with some brief BACKGROUND information: a sentence giving a broad introduction to the field comprehensible to the general reader, and then a sentence of more detailed background specific to your study. These should be a maximum of 125 characters and should complement rather than repeat the titleĪuthors and their affiliated institutions, linked by superscript numbers, should be listed beneath the title on the opening page of the manuscript.Ībstracts of Research Articles and Reports should explain to the general reader why the research was done, what was found and why the results are important. One-sentence summaries capturing the most important point should be submitted for Research Articles, Reports and Reviews. Short titles should be no more than 40 characters (including spaces). Titles should be no more than 96 characters (including spaces). Table #: (Begin each table caption with a label “Table 1.”, etc. 1.” for example, as a new paragraph) (or Scheme #) #: (Begin each figure caption with a label, “Fig. Please do not use paragraph breaks in the title, author list, or abstract.įig. Several of these headings are optional, for example, not all papers will include tables, or supplementary material. So that we can easily identify the parts of your paper, even if you do not use our template, please begin each section with the specific key words listed below, some of which are followed by a colon. (For easy accurate assembly, download a copy of our Word template here.) Manuscripts should be assembled in the following order:

For best results use Times and Symbol fonts only.


Electronic files should be formatted for U.S. Use double spacing throughout the text, tables, figure legends, and References and Notes. LaTeX users should use our LaTeX template and either convert files to Microsoft Word. docx or PDF format To aid in the organization of Supplementary Materials, we recommend using or following the Microsoft Word template supplied here. The Supplementary Material should be submitted as a single separate file in.

docx format (Word 2007, 2010, or 2008 or 2011 for a Mac) – download a copy of our Word template here. For a manuscript submitted after peer-review and revision, the same style guidelines apply, but we require slightly different file preparation – see instructions specific to a revised manuscript.įor the main manuscript, Science prefers to receive a single complete file that includes all figures and tables in Word’s. The instructions below apply to an initial submission. Information on manuscript types, including length constraints, can be found on our general information for authors page. Format and style of supplementary material
