Article Types

Presubmission inquiries are always welcome. You may submit them using our online submission system.
¹Includes Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion sections only
²220 at revision
³Should be submitted as a presubmission inquiry. Can exceed 4,000 words after consultation with the editors

Original research articles

Regular Articles

Maximum length for a Regular Article is 4,000 words of text - counting only the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Abstracts must not exceed 250 words and should be a single paragraph with no subheadings. Submissions are limited to a total of 7 figures, and digital images are required. We recommend a limit of 100 references. The sections of a Regular Article should be ordered as follows:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
  (must include sufficient information to allow readers to understand the article content)
• Results
• Discussion
• Acknowledgements
• Authorship Contributions
• Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
• References
• Tables
• Figure Legends
• Figures

Supplemental data - to be published online only - may include additional information regarding methodology, supplemental figures or tables, or primary data sets; it must be submitted with the original manuscript submission so it can be peer reviewed. (See "Supplemental data")

Any involvement of medical writers/researchers, particularly those employed or supported by the pharmaceutical industry, in the writing of an article must be clearly defined and disclosed in the Authorship and/or the Acknowledgements section(s) as appropriate. This type of involvement must also be disclosed to the Editor-in-Chief in the Cover Letter. For more information, see the journal Conflict of interest disclosure and the editorial policies for authors.

Definitive original research articles of exceptional scientific importance may be considered for designation as Plenary Papers. The decision to highlight an article as a Plenary Paper rests entirely with the Editors.

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

The journal welcomes submission of systematic reviews with meta-analysis, which should be submitted as a Regular Article. A literature review should be performed and summarized. Data (where available) should be systematically extracted, and summative statistics should be presented where possible.

Brief Reports

Short manuscripts definitively documenting either experimental results or informative clinical observations will be considered for publication in this category. Single-case reports or case series cannot be accommodated unless they elucidate very novel and important disease biology or approaches to therapy. Brief Reports are not intended to allow publication of incomplete or preliminary findings. The review process is equally rigorous as for Regular Articles and the acceptance rate is lower. Brief Reports may not exceed 1,500 words of text -counting only the Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion. Abstracts must not exceed 200 words and should be a single paragraph with no subheadings. Only 3 figures/tables and 25 references may be included. The sections of a Brief Report should be ordered as follows:

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Methods
  (must include sufficient information to allow readers to allow reproduction of the data)
• A combined Results and Discussion section
• Acknowledgements
• Authorship Contributions
• Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest
• References
• Tables
• Figure Legends
• Figures

Letter to Blood

The journal accepts original communications that bring out a focused but novel and important message on basic or clinical topics in hematology. All clinical submissions must have been approved by an ethics committee or institutional review board. Consideration for publication will be based on priority and interest to readership as determined by Editorial evaluation and peer review. In general, Letters to Blood report primary investigations that provide novel and important insights into hematologic biology or pathobiology, or the therapy of hematologic disease. Submissions are not intended to allow publication of incomplete or preliminary findings.

Single-case reports or small case series are considered in the journal only if they offer truly important data elucidating disease biology or therapy.

Letters to Blood include no more than 1,200 words of text, 25 references, and 2 figures or tables. Letters must include a focused abstract of no more than 40 words.  A clear title is required. Letters to Blood are posted to First Edition, indexed by Medline, and appear in PubMed. Submission fees and page charges do not apply to Letters.

Blood Work

Blood welcomes submissions of photomicrographs and brief case descriptions to emphasize the value that the microscope adds to the history and physical exam. Blood Work places importance on the peripheral smear. The figure must clearly demonstrate the feature(s) being described and the discussion should emphasize this teaching point(s).  The objective used (e.g. ×100 objective) should be stated within the text. Blood Work is an educational instrument to physicians and hematology students. Studies or case studies will not be accepted. 

Each submission must contain a single, high-resolution figure (may be a composite) formatted as a TIFF (minimum 300 dpi) and a discussion of no more than 200 words describing the clinical case linked to the image and summary teaching point. Each piece should have a maximum of two authors and should not contain references. All other policies governing submissions to the journal apply to Blood Work. There is no submission fee for Blood Work. For questions about submission to this section, please contact the Journal’s Editorial Office.

Accepted material will be submitted to the ASH Image Bank for the Editor-in Chief’s consideration.

Invited Articles

Review Articles

Review articles are welcomed by the journal and are generally solicited by the Editor-in-Chief; authors wishing to submit an unsolicited Review Article are invited to first submit a presubmission inquiry using our online submission system in order to screen the proposed topic for relevance and priority, given other review articles that may already be in preparation. Review articles should focus on recent scientific or clinical advances in an area of broad interest to those in the field of hematology. Such articles must be concise and critical and should include appropriate references to the literature. All Review Articles, including those solicited by the Editors, are rigorously peer reviewed before a final publication decision is made.

Review articles should not exceed 4,000 words in length; the abstract must not exceed 250 words; we recommend a limit of 100 references. We wish for Review Articles to be written by experts who are personally committed to writing the manuscript, and therefore limit authorship to a maximum of 3 authors. The use of tables and color figures to summarize critical points is encouraged; the journal offers assistance with preparation or improvement of figures by professional illustrators, once the article is accepted.

Pharmaceutical or medical device company employees and medical writers supported by a pharmaceutical or medical device company are not permitted to have any role in writing Review, Perspective, How I Treat, or Blood Spotlight articles. The use of editing services for non-English speakers is permissible, but it must be disclosed. Please direct any questions regarding this policy to the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission.

How I Treat

The journal welcomes articles written by expert clinicians offering up-to-date information and guidance regarding diagnosis and treatment of hematological diseases and clinical situations based on longstanding clinical experience. Each How I Treat article focuses on a single disease for which new information has recently emerged. Because many hematologic diseases are rare, their clinical management cannot always be based on large clinical trials. This increases the value of having articles authored by leading experts with in-depth experience in the chosen disease.

How I Treat articles need to allow the clinical reader to gain greater insight into the biology of the disease and how it shapes clinical decision making through the synthesis of an expert clinician. Furthermore, these articles provide directions in the therapeutic management of common or complex clinical situations of the disease. The How I Treat articles should contain a minimum of two illustrative clinical cases (a maximum of four clinical cases is recommended), which should enhance their practical usefulness among the readers. The exemplary clinical cases in the text focus on the daily reality of clinical practice and present the information in an easily digestible format. Thus, the clinical cases need to be functionally integrated into the text for a full understanding of the issues and offer a link to the scientific background and diagnostic and therapeutic considerations in a practically meaningful way.

For instance, a How I Treat article could comprise:

• I. Introduction
• II. Two to six cases each highlighting distinct clinically relevant issues and/or management dilemmas which are linked to the discussion that is presented
• III. Conclusion. Alternatively, one or two cases are presented that set the stage and are referred throughout the discussion.

Selected supporting figures and tables are recommended. For examples see eg AM Vannucchi, How I treat polycythemia vera, Blood (2014) 124 (22): 3212-3220; G. Ossenkoppele and B. Löwenberg, How I treat the older patient with acute myeloid leukemia, Blood (2015) 125 (5): 767-774.

These pieces are generally solicited by the Editor-in-Chief, though any interested author should first submit a presubmission inquiry using our online submission system to allow the editors to evaluate the suitability of the proposed subject matter. We wish for How I Treat articles to be written by experts who are personally committed to writing the manuscript, and therefore limit authorship to a maximum of 3 authors. The length should not exceed 4,000 words; the abstract must not exceed 200 words; we recommend a limit of 100 references.

Pharmaceutical or medical device company employees and medical writers supported by a pharmaceutical or medical device company are not permitted to have any role in writing Review, Perspective, How I Treat, or Blood Spotlight articles. The use of editing services for non-English speakers is permissible, but it must be disclosed. Please direct any questions regarding this policy to the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission. All How I Treat articles, including those solicited by the Editors, are rigorously peer reviewed before a final publication decision is made.

Blood Spotlight

Blood Spotlights are articles that focus on emerging scientific and clinical developments or a recent burst of advances on a particular theme in a circumscript area and are generally solicited by the Editor-in-Chief; authors wishing to submit an unsolicited Blood Spotlight are invited to first submit a presubmission inquiry using our online submission system to allow screening of the proposed topic for relevance and priority in relation to other Spotlight articles that may already be in preparation. Spotlights deal with scientific or clinical topics that typically have surfaced in the last 1-3 years and that fomented a significant interest in the field of hematology. Spotlights must offer critical discussions in a highly condensed and succinct format. They should include appropriate references to the literature. All Blood Spotlights, including those solicited by the Editors, are rigorously peer reviewed before a final publication decision is made.

Blood Spotlights should not exceed 1,500-2,000 words in length, should include an abstract of no more than 80 words, and we recommend a limit of 80 references. We wish for Blood Spotlight articles to be written by experts who are personally committed to writing the manuscript, and therefore limit authorship to a maximum of 3 authors. Article titles should be concise. The inclusion of no more than 2 tables and/or figures to highlight and summarize critical points is encouraged; the journal offers assistance with preparation or improvement of figures by professional illustrators, once the article is accepted.

Pharmaceutical or medical device company employees and medical writers supported by a pharmaceutical or medical device company are not permitted to have any role in writing Review, Perspective, How I Treat, or Blood Spotlight articles. The use of editing services for non-English speakers is permissible, but it must be disclosed. Please direct any questions regarding this policy to the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission.

Perspectives

Perspectives are articles discussing significant topics and controversies relevant to hematology, generally from a more personal or opinion-based standpoint than a Review Article. Interested authors should first submit a presubmission inquiry using our online submission system to allow the editors to evaluate the suitability of the proposed subject matter. The length of the article should not exceed 4,000 words; the abstract must not exceed 250 words; we recommend a limit of 100 references. We wish for Perspectives to be written by experts who are personally committed to writing the manuscript, and therefore limit authorship to a maximum of 3 authors. Typically, Perspectives should state the topic and background information concisely, discuss opposing viewpoints, and make recommendations for further investigations or actions.

Pharmaceutical or medical device company employees and medical writers supported by a pharmaceutical or medical device company are not permitted to have any role in writing Review, Perspective, How I Treat, or Blood Spotlight articles. The use of editing services for non-English speakers is permissible, but it must be disclosed. Please direct any questions regarding this policy to the Editor-in-Chief prior to submission.

Special Reports

Special Reports encompass manuscripts that are neither reviews nor original reports of primary research. They may include consensus statements, guidelines, statements from task forces, or recommendations. Pharmaceutical or medical device company employees cannot act as authors, and medical writers supported by a pharmaceutical or medical device company are not permitted to have any role in writing Special Reports.

These articles should not exceed 250 words for the abstract; a limit of 100 references is recommended, although this can be flexible. Supplemental files are permitted. The use of tables and figures to summarize critical points is encouraged; the journal offers aid with preparation or improvement of figures by professional illustrators, once the article is accepted. The journal may also consider interactive links associated with the online article.

Blood Commentary

The Editors invite experts in the field to write brief commentaries introducing and placing into context selected primary research articles included in each issue of Blood.

Article Comments

Short, relevant comments that would expand reader understanding of Blood articles can be submitted as Comments. These contributions undergo a rapid editorial review and are posted shortly after acceptance. Further requirements and policies:

• Comments must have no more than 10 authors
• no more than 1,500 characters of text, including spaces
• No more than 5 references
• Tables and figures cannot be submitted
• Any conflicts of interest (see Conflict of interest disclosure) must accompany Comments

Comments that are not directly related to a published article, that duplicate points similar to those of already posted comments, or that are characterized by profanity, personal attacks, unprofessional tone or content, or offensive, abusive or libelous language will not be posted. Authors should pay special attention to spelling and grammar.

Authors of published articles are encouraged to respond with their own comments to Comments that have been posted in reference to their articles. Comments are not indexed by Medline.

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