Announcement: Cell Discovery publications will adopt new PDF layout from January of 2018. Please read the Guide to Author carefully before submitting your manuscript.

Submission Process

Before submitting a manuscript, please gather the following information:

• For all authors:
  • First name, middle initial and last name
  • Postal address
  • E-mail address
  • Telephone number (corresponding author only)
  • Fax number (corresponding author only)
• Title (can be cut and pasted from your manuscript)
• Abstract (can be cut and pasted from your manuscript)
• Cover letter file (note: this will not be accessible by the reviewers)
• Manuscript files (for formatting guidelines, click here)
• Figures/tables/videos (for formatting guidelines, click here)
• Supplementary material (related manuscript, figures, etc.) For information on submitting supplemental material, please click here
• Contact information (name, e-mail address and institution) for suggested and/or excluded reviewers (if any)
• File size: Authors should submit article files that are less than 1-2 Megs (without embedded figures) and for figure files to be under 2-3 Megs total. The average figure should be approximately 100-300 Kbytes. Please note that most files are fine at 72 dpi (screen resolution) or 300 dpi (printer resolution); anything larger is unnecessary upon initial submission.

• Please note that our system cannot convert encrypted files. If your file is encrypted we would ask that you please recreate the file without encryption before attempting to submit it electronically. You can check to see if your file is encrypted by looking at the file properties. If you are unable to recreate your file without encryption then you will get an error message. Our editorial staff will print out the file and scan it in manually. If your file was a pdf then this will not result in any loss of resolution; however, if your file was an image file then most likely there will be a loss of resolution and image clarity.
• Occasionally you may notice that unwanted characters appear in your text in place of the intended text. This is caused by not having the optimal browser character settings. The best advice we can offer to prevent this from happening is to suggest that you make your character settings as broad as possible by choosing a Unicode or ISO character set. By choosing "View" on your browser, then "Encoding", you will be able to see what your browser is currently set to. If you change it to be Unicode or ISO, you have less of a chance of transferring characters EJP does not recognize.

Please note: Springer Nature make use of conversion engines to standardise all figure and article files into PDF format. There are certain files which our production department are able to accept but the engines cannot convert, these include: AI, FHX, Corel, PICT and PRS files. We do however operate a procedure whereby authors are able to upload a PDF version of their original source file after the conversion engines attempt to convert the file 3 times. If you wish to use these file types or are experiencing problems with any other files, please wait until the conversion engines have attempted to process the files, (this may take up to 1 hour) then use the ‘UPLOAD PDF’ link on the submission page.

Also Internet Explorer 5.5, or higher, running on Windows 2000, or higher, will provide you with the most satisfactory results.

The manuscript submission process is broken down into a series of 4 primary tasks that gather detailed information about your manuscript and allow you to upload the pertinent text and figure/image files. The sequence of screens is as follows:

1. The ‘Files’ primary task allows you to select the actual file locations (via an open file dialogue). You will be able to 'Browse' for the relevant files on your computer. Please include the figure number in the title line for each figure. On the completion screen, you will be asked to specify the order in which you want the individual files to appear in the merged document. Editors and/or reviewers will also be able to look at the individual PDF files if necessary.
2. The ‘Manuscript Information’ primary task which asks for author details, the manuscript title, abstract, other associated manuscript information and types/number of files to be submitted. Please note, if you are the corresponding author please submit your details in the corresponding author fields; DO NOT re-enter the same details in the contributing author fields.
3. The ‘Validate’ primary task gives you the opportunity to check and verify the manuscript files and manuscript information uploaded. If you are submitting manuscript files separately, we create a merged PDF containing your manuscript text, figures and tables to simplify the handling of your paper. You will need to approve the merged PDF file, and a PDF or any other file not included in the merge, to submit your manuscript. You may also update and/or change manuscript files and manuscript information by clicking on the ‘Change’ or ‘Fix’ links respectively.
4. The ‘Submit’ primary task is the last step in the manuscript submission process. At this stage the Manuscript Tracking System will perform a final check to ensure that all mandatory fields have been completed. Any incomplete fields will be flagged by a red arrow and highlighted by a red box. Click on the ‘Fix’ link to return to relevant section for completion. Once your manuscript has been finalised, click on the ‘Approve Submission’ button to submit your manuscript for consideration. A ‘Manuscript Approved’ message will display on your author desktop to confirm the submission.

If your manuscript was submitted in error, please let us know by email so that steps can be taken to withdraw the manuscript from our database.

Presubmission Inquiries

To expedite the process, authors of PRESUBMISSION INQUIRIES are not required to submit the full details for contributing authors at this time. In addition, please note that you will be required to submit one article file; this can be the abstract itself. If you are invited to submit the full manuscript, the e-mail conveying our decision will contain a link that will allow you to submit the manuscript files under the same tracking number.

Getting Help

If you need additional help, you can click on the help signs spread throughout the system. A "help" dialog box will pop up with context-sensitive help.

If you require further assistance, please contact the Platform Support Helpdesk.

Manuscript Status

After you approve your converted manuscript, submission is complete. You can check where your manuscript is in the review process by:

1. Logging into the system with your password.
2. Clicking on the link represented by your manuscript tracking number and abbreviated title.
3. Clicking on the "Check Status" link at the bottom of the displayed page.

Starting the Process

The manuscript submission process starts by clicking on the "Submit Manuscript" link on the "Home" page. Please be sure you have gathered all the required information listed above BEFORE starting the submission process. Note: larger files (particularly complex figures and videos) may take some time to upload, and your browser may not respond during this time; please be patient.

Press HOME to continue.