Manuscript Preparation

Before submitting your manuscript online at eJournalPress, please read and carefully follow the guidelines below. Key Points must be added at the revision stage, and should be included in the manuscript document file itself preceding the Abstract. Any deviations could result in significant delay in the submission and review process.

Please note that Blood adheres to the criteria of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, which has established Recommendations for the Conduct, Reporting, Editing, and Publication of Scholarly Work in Medical Journals.

Manuscript length restrictions

Please adhere to the length, figure/table and reference number restrictions described on the previous page for each article type. On the title page, include a text word count, abstract word count, the number of figures and tables, and the number of references. Submissions exceeding these limits will not be considered for review and will be returned to the author.

Manuscript organization

Organize the content of your manuscript file as follows: Title Page, Key Points, Abstract, Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgments, Authorship Contributions, Conflict of Interest Disclosures, References, Tables, Figure Legends, and Figures. For Brief Reports, Results and Discussion must be combined. Your text document must include page numbers, meaning there must be page numbers inserted into the header or the footer of your document.

Article title and title page

The title should succinctly and effectively convey to non-specialists the content of the article with no more than 120 characters, including spaces. Titles should be in active rather than passive voice, without the use of punctuation or abbreviations. If commonly-understood abbreviations are included in the title, they must be defined in the abstract. If the article reports on results utilizing solely non-human model systems, the species must be indicated in the title.

Title page must contain the following: article title; short title for the running head (not to exceed 50 characters, including spaces between words); full and accurate names of all authors (as you want them to appear in online searches and citations); affiliations of institutions where the research was done, reflecting the order of authorship by using superscripted numbers; corresponding author’s full name, address, e-mail address, and phone and fax numbers; word counts for text and abstract, figure/table count and reference count.

Regular Articles and Brief Reports should also include on the title page an appropriate scientific category chosen during submission

Key Points

Blood now publishes 1 to 2 Key Point summaries of research papers - specifically, Regular Articles, Brief Reports. The purpose of these short, bullet-pointed statements is to identify the most relevant outcomes of the paper and to provide a synopsis encapsulating the significance of the research and its implications for readers.

Key Points should be written clearly and succinctly. Avoid using scientific jargon whenever possible. Each Key Point should be no more than 140 characters, including spaces. Key Points are required upon manuscript submission, immediately preceding the Abstract in both the submission form metadata and the text document, and they will be reviewed by the assigned Editor.

Key Points are published online, in First Edition, and in print immediately preceding the Abstract and will be freely available upon publication. They will not be indexed by PubMed, but will be searchable via Google and other search engines.

Abstract

The abstract should contain 250 words or fewer (200 words or fewer for Brief Reports; check the word count limit in the description for other article types) and succinctly, in a logical progression state the rationale/hypothesis, objectives, findings/results, and conclusions of the study. Abstracts should be a continuous narrative and not broken up into subheadings, and should not contain references. Authors need to ensure that abstracts are easily readable and understandable to a broad readership. The abstract should accurately reflect the content of the article, be written in plain and succinct language and, as much as possible, avoid jargon and acronyms.

The abstract of a research paper should preferably contain the following elements (per ICMJE recommendations):

• The context or background for the study. The authors should consider that a vast majority of readers have either no or limited knowledge of the article context: one or two plain-language sentences should clearly describe this background.
• The study's purpose, i.e., why the study was done. The objectives of the research should be explicitly provided, rather than in general statements.
• Methods/procedures (selection of study participants, settings, measurements, analytical methods).
• Main findings, giving specific effect sizes and their statistical and clinical significance, if possible.
• Main conclusions and interpretation of findings with emphasis on new and important aspects of the study and/or observations.

Methods

The materials and methods section should be detailed enough to provide clear information on what was done experimentally, including all major experimental plans and procedures. The Journal will not consider manuscripts that include significant portions of the methods section as supplemental data.

Methods: clinical trials or human subjects research

• See policies below regarding reporting of investigations involving human subjects and clinical trial registration. Include in the Methods section as appropriate:
• A statement that the research was approved by the relevant institutional review boards or ethics committees and that all human participants gave written informed consent.
• A statement regarding the identity of those who analyzed the data and confirming access of all authors to primary clinical trial data.
• The clinical trial registration number and approved registry name for all clinical trials.

For phase 3 randomized clinical trials, we request that the authors provide a flow diagram in CONSORT format and include all of the information required by the CONSORT checklist within the body of the manuscript. When restrictions on length prevent the inclusion of some of this information in the manuscript, it may be provided instead as supplemental data. The CONSORT statement, checklist, and flow diagram are available at http://www.consort-statement.org.

For all clinical trials that report on a parenteral or high-intensity treatment regimen, information required for actual administration of the treatment regimen in practice should be included as a separate supplemental file. The following components should be included:

• Drug name (chemical, generic, and brand name or names)
• Dose (along with any modifications made for BMI, hematologic parameters, renal function, or other factors)
• Route (if parenteral, is central venous access required?)
• Type and volume of diluent if drug is not given IV push direct from vial; rate of administration
• Cycle length and number of cycles, or criteria for discontinuation
• Premedications and concurrent medications (including hydration, anti-emetics, growth factors, or any other relevant supportive medications)
• Patient-monitoring parameters (frequency of visits and blood draws during therapy)

Methods: high-throughput studies

The Journal requires that authors deposit their high-throughput data, including mRNA, miRNA, proteomic, and genomic DNA (arrayCGH, ChIP-chip, and SNP) arrays into a public database, such as Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) or Array Express, or provide open access to their own Web-based data repository. An accession number or Web site link, with valid access codes, active at the time of submission for access by Editors and reviewers, must be supplied in the Methods section of the text.

Methods: animal studies

Blood recommends that authors follow the ARRIVE guidelines when reporting in vivo experiments in animal research. (Kilkenny C, Browne WJ, Cuthill IC, et al. Improving bioscience research reporting: the ARRIVE guidelines for reporting animal research. PloS Biol 2010; 8(6): e1000412).

Methods: data sharing statement

Per Blood’s data sharing policy, authors must make datasets and protocols available to other investigators without unreasonable restrictions.

All original research submissions must include a subsection titled “Data Sharing Statement” on the title page. This subsection should include information regarding how to access any data that have been deposited to publicly accessible databases as well as a person to contact for data that are not publicly accessible.

Example statements:

• “For original data, please contact name@example.org.”
• “Microarray data are available at GEO under accession number XXXXXXX.”
• “X data may be found in a data supplement available with the online version of this article. Y data have been deposited to www.example.org.”

Methods: clinical trial data sharing

International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) guidelines require that clinical trial reports address the authors’ intent to share deidentified individual participant data. The Data Sharing Statement for clinical trial reports should include the following information:

• Will deidentified individual participant data be shared
• Which particular data will be shared
• Any additional documents that will be shared
• The method through which data will be shared
• The timeframe during which data will be accessible
• The conditions, if any, required to access to the data
• For more information regarding what should be stated please see the ICMJE’s recommendation page, which includes a table of detailed example statements that was the basis for the examples below.

Example statements:

• “Deidentified individual participant data are available indefinitely at www.example.org. The study protocol, analytic code…[etc.] are also available at the same website.”
• “Deidentified individual participant data that underlie the reported results will be made available 3 months after publication for a period of 5 years after the publication date at www.example.org. Proposals for access should be sent to name@example.org. The study protocol is included as a data supplement available with the online version of this article.”
• “Individual participant data will not be shared.”

While these guidelines do not mandate that individual participant data must be shared, refusal to share underlying data must be documented in the Data Sharing Statement as in the final example. For any questions regarding this policy, please contact Joanna Robertson, Senior Manager, Data Integrity–Publications.

Acknowledgments

Support received from individuals, organizations, grants, corporations, and/or any other sources must be acknowledged. For work involving a biomedical product or potential product partially or wholly supported by corporate funding, a note must be included stating: This study was supported (in part) by research funding from [company name] to [author’s or authors’ initials]. Grant support, if received, needs to be stated and the specific granting institution(s) name(s) and grant numbers provided when applicable. Any individuals involved in the writing/editing/researching of the paper not named as authors should be identified, their role specified, and their funding source specified; for example, “Joseph Smith, a medical writer supported by funding from [company name], provided drafts and editorial assistance to the authors during preparation of this manuscript.” Prior to submission of the manuscript, we recommend that authors notify all individuals being included in the acknowledgments section to ensure their names and roles are being identified accurately.

Authorship and conflict-of-interest statements

For each author, include in this section his or her category of contribution and list any potential conflicts of interest. These statements will be printed and posted online in the First Edition and in the final version in the Authorship section.

If the author(s) declare no competing financial interests, this must be explicitly stated and will be included in all versions of the article. Contributions and COI must appear both in the metadata and in the manuscript text.

References

Include references in numerical order at the end of the article according to the order of citation in the manuscript text. Text citations of reference should consist of superscript numbers. Format references per the instructions of the Blood Style Guide. If you use citation software, check it carefully to ensure that it formats your references according to the current Blood style.

Authors can now have Medline links in their HTML references for citations that have only been published via prepublication in Blood First Edition or in other prepublished articles. Since prepublished articles have PubMed records and a PubMed ID (PMID) is listed at the bottom of every PubMed record as the citation identifier, an author can include the PMID within his or her manuscript references to link the prepublication citation to its PubMed record. Citation of a paper prepublished in First Edition must also include its DOI number, as shown in the prepublished article.

Footnotes and abbreviations

Do not use footnotes; instead, sparingly use parenthetical statements within text. Abbreviations should be defined at first mention and thereafter applied consistently throughout the article. Do not use nonstandard abbreviations or abbreviate terms appearing fewer than three times. Give the chemical name of a compound after the first use of the common name. The common name may be used throughout the article. Abbreviate units of measure only when used with numbers. See the Blood Style Guide for more information.

Figures

All figures should be numbered and cited in numerical order. Figure numbers should be inserted on the figure images using Arabic numerals.

When submitting a manuscript for review, image file formats accepted for uploading include: GIF, JPEG (.jpg), PDF, TIFF, and EPS. PowerPoint (.ppt) files are acceptable but are strongly discouraged due to conversion issues and poor resolution in the published article.

High-resolution image files are not preferred for initial submission as the file sizes may be too large. The total file size of the PDF for peer review should not exceed 5 MB. However, high-resolution figures are required for accepted articles entering into prepublication and print production. To prepare print-quality figures, see Figure preparation and sizing for the final print publication. Detailed instructions for submitting digital artwork can be found at Digital artwork for production in Blood.

Important guidelines for image preparation

(This set of instructions is adapted with permission from the Journal of Cell Biology instructions to authors.)

Note that no specific feature within an image may be enhanced, obscured, moved, removed, or introduced. If groupings of images from different parts of the same gel or microscopic field, or from different gels, fields, or exposures are used, they must be made explicit by the arrangement of the figure (i.e., by inserting black dividing lines) and in the text of the figure legend, explaining what steps were taken to produce the final image and for what reason. Adjustments of brightness, contrast, or color balance are acceptable if they are applied to the whole image and as long as they do not obscure, eliminate, or misrepresent any information present in the original, including backgrounds. Without background information, it is not possible to evaluate how much of the original gel is actually shown. Nonlinear adjustments (e.g., changes to gamma settings) must be disclosed in the figure legend. The use of special software tools (e.g., erasing, cloning) available in popular image-editing software is strongly discouraged unless absolutely necessary, and any such manipulations must be explained in the figure legend.

All images in Figures and Supplemental information from manuscripts accepted for publication are examined for any indication of improper manipulation or editing. Questions raised by Blood staff will be referred to the Editors, who may then request the original data from the author(s) for comparison with the submitted figures. Such manuscripts will be put on hold and will not be prepublished in Blood First Edition until the matter is satisfactorily resolved. If the original data cannot be produced, the acceptance of the manuscript may be revoked.

Cases of deliberate misrepresentation of data will result in revocation of acceptance and will be reported to the corresponding author’s home institution or funding agency.

Figure legends

All legends must begin with a short, descriptive sentence that summarizes the intent and content of the figure. This sentence should be in boldfaced font. A more detailed explanation of the data contained in the figure and/or its parts should follow in standard (non-boldfaced) font.

Whenever possible, the following information should be provided in figure legends regarding the acquisition and processing of images:

• Make and model of microscope
• Type, magnification, and numerical aperture of the objective lenses
• Temperature
• Imaging medium
• Fluorochromes
• Camera make and model
• Acquisition software
• Any subsequent software used for image processing, with details about types of operations involved (e.g., type of deconvolution, 3D reconstructions, surface or volume rendering, gamma adjustments, etc.).

If some of the information is not available, an explanation must be provided.

Tables

Each table should have a brief, specific, descriptive title, giving sufficient explanation to make the data intelligible without reference to the text. Number all tables and cite in numerical order in the text, using Arabic numerals.

Supplemental data

The Journal encourages the submission of supplemental data linked to primary research articles, including videos and short movies, that enhance the understanding of the science discussed in the manuscript. Supplemental data must be included during the initial submission of the parent manuscript. All supplemental data, other than videos, must be contained in a single PDF or Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) file — not as separate files for each individual component. Do not include any supplemental data in the main manuscript text document, including appendices (e.g., lists of contributors to a consortium), methods, tables, figures, and legends of any kind. The Editors will review the supplemental material along with the manuscript, but acceptance of the manuscript does not guarantee ultimate acceptance of the supplement.

Supplemental data should not be used to circumvent the word count or figure limits of a submission.

When uploading supplemental data to the Blood submission system, please upload all supplemental data as a single PDF when possible, with content appearing in the following order:

• Methods
• Tables (with legends)
• Figures (with legends)
• Legends for videos or other separate supplemental files
• Appendices (e.g., list of participants in a multi-center study)

Tables and figures in the supplemental PDF must be labeled as “supplemental”, as in “Supplemental Table 1” and ”Supplemental Figure 1.” Videos must be labeled as “Video 1;” videos should not be labeled as “movies.”

For files in formats that may be difficult or impossible to combine into PDF (e.g., Excel or video), we ask that you upload those files separately and include the legends or descriptions for those supplements in the PDF.

Video Formatting and Preparation

Videos may be uploaded in one of the following formats:

• QuickTime (.mov)
• Audio Video Interleave (.avi)
• Windows Media (.wmv)

To avoid excessive delays for users accessing the files, please keep videos below 5 MB in size, normally running between 30 and 45 seconds in length. Cropping frames and image sizes can significantly reduce file sizes if necessary.

For each supplemental file that was uploaded during submission with an answer of “Yes” regarding whether or not to publish the file online, the most recent version of that file will be published as it was uploaded or combined into a PDF if applicable. Supplemental data may or may not appear alongside an accepted article at the time of its publication in First Edition, depending on the time needed to process the supplemental material. Blood instituted a publication fee of $105 for each standard data supplement accompanying an accepted paper. Any supplement exceeding 5 MB will incur an additional $105 (USD) fee; exceptions are possible for certain video files at the Editor’s discretion. The fee is waived for Review Articles, How I Treat, Perspectives.

Editing services for non-English speakers

Blood has partnered with Enago to provide language editing services for authors. It is available to any author. Pricing and timescale options vary and authors can choose the level of assistance that meet their requirements. Enago are experts in the field of technical and language editing as well as academic and technical translation.

To support our authors, Blood has negotiated an exclusive discount for authors with the editing services provider, Enago. Click here to create an account or to order an editing service.

Please note that having your work language edited by Enago will not in any way guarantee publication. The edited manuscript will still be subject to the same rigorous editorial assessments and checks at peer review; the editorial decision is based exclusively on the merits of the manuscript.

Revised Manuscripts

Following initial peer review, articles judged worthy of further consideration often require revisions, including additional experimentation. However, articles requiring extensive revisions will be at a disadvantage. Revised manuscripts should be received within 3 months of the date on the initial decision e-mail or they will be considered as a new submission, with a separate manuscript number and submission fee. An extension beyond this 3-month period may be granted in order to complete time-consuming new experiments requested by the reviewers, but such extensions must be requested from the Associate Editor at least 2 weeks before the end of the 3-month revision deadline.

Make sure all revisions are marked in the text document by using tools such as underlining, highlighting, and strikethrough. You may also use Microsoft Word Track Changes.