Article types

Core Format Specifications by publication types

Article

The article reports impactful original research with the goal of disseminating novel findings that advance our understanding of biological and life sciences. Articles start with a mandatory abstract with the word count limited to 300. The main text (excluding abstract, references, figure legends and tables) must be under 7000 words. Each article may include a maximum of 10 display items (combing tables and figures), and the number of references is limited to 100 at most. Additional supporting information will be published online as supplementary material.

Correspondence

Correspondence is a short-length format publication which reports concise and novel finding with conceptual or technical advances offering broad implications. There is no abstract and no subsections on Introduction, Results or Discussion. The first paragraph should present sufficient background information that would allow the readers to appreciate the background and rationale of the work. It contains only one composite multi-panel figure, and the main text should not exceed 2500 words (including title, author names and affiliations, figure legends and references). There should be no more than 15 references, and the total number of authors should generally not exceed 15 for a Correspondence. Additional supporting information, such as Materials and Methods, will be published online as supplementary information.

Review

Review articles present authoritative overviews of a specific field or topic. They should provide conceptual frameworks, critical analysis, and a forward-looking perspective that advances the fields. An unstructured abstract is required, with a maximum word count of 300 words. The text (excluding abstract, references, figure legends and tables) can be up to 15000 words. A maximum of 10 tables and/or figures are permitted. The number of references should not exceed 250.

Cutting Edge (Invited Only)

Cutting Edge is a brief expert commentary on some of the latest exciting scientific findings as featured in recently published papers, and it is designed to be broadly accessible to our general readership. It operates on an invitation-only basis, exclusively welcoming preeminent experts in the relevant fields. It contains a concise title of 5–6 words, followed by an abstract of 1–2 sentences at the beginning; there should be no more than 1 display item, a maximum of 10 references and a total word limit of 1100 words (encompassing main text, abstract, and figure legend).

Expert views (Invited Only)

The manuscript in the Expert Views section presents forward-looking scientific perspectives, grounded in established experimental data and scholarly literature. The main text (abstract not required) shall not exceed 2500 words. A maximum of 2 figures is permitted per manuscript. The reference list shall be limited to no more than 25 entries.