Author Guidelines

Manuscript preparation

• Submit in Word or LaTeX with continuous line and page numbering
• Use British or American spelling consistently
• Structure original research using IMRaD
• Abstracts: 250 words for research, 150 for case reports
• Provide three to eight keywords
• Define all abbreviations at first use

Reporting standards

Follow the relevant reporting guideline and include the completed checklist at submission: STROBE for observational studies, CONSORT for trials, PRISMA for systematic reviews, STARD for diagnostic accuracy studies, CARE for case reports, and TRIPOD+AI or CLAIM for prediction and AI studies.

Artificial intelligence studies

• Describe data provenance, scanner models, staining protocols and sites
• Report training, validation and test splits, including any patient-level leakage checks
• Report external validation where claims of generalisability are made
• Report subgroup performance where relevant
• State clearly whether the tool is for research use only

Figures and tables

• Minimum 300 dpi for photomicrographs, 600 dpi for line art
• State stain and original magnification or scale bar in every photomicrograph caption
• Remove all patient identifiers from images and metadata

Declarations

• Ethical approval and reference number, or a statement of exemption
• Patient consent for identifiable material
• Funding sources
• Conflicts of interest for every author
• Author contributions using CRediT roles
• Data availability statement
• Declaration of any generative AI use in manuscript preparation

Peer review

All research content is double-anonymised and assessed by a minimum of two independent reviewers. Editorial decisions are made by the handling editor and communicated in writing with reviewer comments.

After acceptance

• Proofs are issued for approval within 72 hours
• A DOI is assigned at publication
• Open access articles are published under CC BY 4.0
• Corrections, retractions and expressions of concern follow COPE guidance

Submit a manuscript