Guide for Authors

  • All manuscripts must be submitted as a Microsoft Word document using a provided template.
  • Articles should be submitted via the Submissions page.
  • If you see anything that is incorrect, outdated or could be improved in the guidance below, please notify chris.herold@msacl.org.

Table of Contents

Article Types and Templates

Word counts are estimates and do not include either the abstract, non-specialist summary, references, or table/figure legends.

Figure and Table counts are estimates and, even with no limit, are expected to be within reasonable limits. Tables and Figures should be well-thought out and concise, rather than data dumps.

You are REQUIRED to use the relevant Word document template for structuring your manuscript.

Research Article

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Intended for presentation of original research. The information presented must be sufficiently detailed to enable readers to understand the material and permit replication of the work.

Research Article Specifications

  • Non-Specialist Summary: Yes
  • Abstract: Yes (structured); fewer than 251 words
  • Length: approximately 2,000–5,000 words recommended
  • References: No limit
  • Authors: No limit
  • Tables and/or Figures: up to 10
  • Supplementary Material: Permitted

Short Report

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Intended for brief or short communications. A shorter format for presenting original research, such as single findings with no more than four figures and/or tables.

Short Report Specifications

  • Non-Specialist Summary: Yes
  • Abstract: Yes; structured for original research or unstructured for other work; fewer than 251 words
  • Length: fewer than 2,000 words
  • References: No limit
  • Authors: No limit
  • Tables and/or Figures: 4
  • Supplementary Material: Permitted

Preparing to Submit

Submission Checklist

Review the Submission Preparation Checklist to verify that you are not missing any key components or formatting requirements. You will need to follow all of the specifications in the full guide, but the checklist is a useful final touch point.

Submission Declaration

When authors submit an article to JMSACL it is implied that:

the work described has not been published previously except as a preprint, abstract, published lecture, academic thesis or registered report.

  • the article is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
  • publication is approved by all authors and, tacitly or explicitly, by the responsible authorities where the work was carried out.
  • if accepted, the article will not be published elsewhere in the same form without the written consent of the copyright-holder.

To verify compliance with journal publishing policies, the manuscript may be checked with screening tools that include Large Language Models under subscription. Submitted data will not be used by the model for training.

Additional Documents and Forms

Additional documents may need to be completed separately and included with the submission.

Ethics and IRB Protocol Assessment form

Cover Letter

A cover letter is NOT required for NEW submissions. For REVISED submissions, a cover letter should summarize changes made in response to reviewer comments or on the authors’ own initiative.

Suggesting Reviewers

Authors are required to suggest between three and six reviewers as part of the submission process.

Editorial Policies

Open Access

The Journal of Mass Spectrometry and Advances in the Clinical Lab (JMSACL) is a fully open access journal. All articles are immediately and permanently free for everyone to read, download, copy and distribute.

Licensing

JMSACL offers authors a Creative Commons Attribution licence that defines the permitted reuse of articles.

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

  • Users may distribute and copy the article, create extracts or adaptations, include it in a collective work, and text or data mine it, including for commercial purposes, provided appropriate credit is given.

Authors retain copyright and full publishing rights without restriction.

Peer Review

JMSACL follows a single anonymized peer-review process. Submissions are initially assessed by the editors for suitability and, when appropriate, sent to a minimum of two reviewers for an independent assessment of scientific quality.

The decision to accept or reject an article is taken by the editors and the editorial decision is final.

Unit Abbreviations

Time units

Unit Symbol Notes

hour h lowercase, no plural

minute min lowercase, no plural

second s lowercase, no plural

Examples: 2 h, 30 min, 12 s

Mass-spectrometry units

Concept Symbol / Format Notes

mass-to-charge m/z always lowercase, e.g., m/z 300

retention time RT capitalized by convention

collision energy CE capitalized

scan ranges m/z 100–2000 space after m/z; en dash for range

MS levels MS¹, MS² superscripts preferred where supported