For authors
Instructions for Authors
What to check before submitting, what a manuscript must carry with it, and what happens after it arrives.
This page is the practical companion to Aims and Scope and Editorial Policies. It consolidates what an author has to do rather than restating the policies in full.
Present complete outcomes with clear methodology, transparent analysis and conclusions proportionate to the evidence, state what the data can and cannot show, and explain how the result informs future research.
The journal
- Published by
- Open Access Pub
- ISSN
- 2641-9181
- Short code
- IJNR
- Access
- Open access, CC BY 4.0
Before you write
Checking fit
Manuscripts from any scientific discipline are in scope when they fall within the remit below; this includes unexpected findings that do not confirm the hypothesis tested.
IJNR publishes rigorously conducted research reporting negative, null, non-confirmatory or inconclusive findings across scientific disciplines, including unsuccessful replications, evidence-supported methodological limitations, and systematic reviews or meta-analyses of such findings. Eligible manuscripts are assessed on methodological quality, ethical standards and transparent reporting. Positive confirmatory findings fall outside the journal's remit.
Example research domains, the further areas the journal considers and the work outside its remit are set out on Aims and Scope.
If you are unsure whether a manuscript fits, send the title and abstract to the editorial office before preparing a full submission.
Article types
Choosing an article type
The journal accepts four article types. Submit the manuscript under the type that matches its content. Requirements depend on the article type, and the guidance below sets out what each type includes.
Original Research
Experimental, observational or computational studies reporting negative, null, non-confirmatory or inconclusive findings, including unsuccessful replications.
Review Article
Systematic reviews, meta-analyses and critical evidence syntheses addressing negative findings, reproducibility or publication bias.
Methods and Tools
Evidence-supported evaluations documenting methodological limitations, unsuccessful approaches or tools that fail to achieve their intended performance.
Short Communication
Concise reports of complete, well-supported negative or null findings with sufficient methodological detail.
Original Research: what to include
State the hypothesis or question tested. Where applicable to the design, report prespecified endpoints or outcomes, justify the sample size or power (not required for computational or qualitative work where it does not apply), give statistics appropriate to the design with effect sizes and uncertainty, and follow the relevant reporting guideline, for example CONSORT, STROBE or ARRIVE. Preregistration is encouraged; interventional clinical trials must be registered.
Review Article: what to include
State the review question, for example in PICO or an equivalent form, and the prespecified outcomes, with the protocol or registration where applicable, for example PROSPERO. Report the search, selection and synthesis methods, with heterogeneity and risk of bias where applicable, and follow PRISMA where applicable. Sample-size and power calculations do not apply.
Methods and Tools: what to include
State the intended performance or claim evaluated, the evaluation criteria and benchmarks, and the comparison against baselines or reference methods. Provide enough detail to reproduce the evaluation, including data, code and settings. Preregistration is not required.
Short Communication: what to include
State the hypothesis or question tested concisely and report complete findings with sufficient methodological detail. Outcomes, sample size, statistics and reporting guidelines follow the Original Research expectations where applicable, in concise form.
The manuscript
What a submission carries
These apply to all submissions. Items that depend on the study design or article type apply where applicable, as set out in the guidance by article type above.
Title, abstract and keywords
A title that states the subject and, where applicable to the article type, the negative, null, non-confirmatory or inconclusive nature of the finding; a structured abstract with objectives, methods, results and conclusions, or the equivalent for the article type; keywords that place the article in the literature.
Question and outcomes
State the hypothesis or research question tested, the review question for a Review Article, or the performance or claim evaluated for a Methods and Tools paper. Where endpoints or outcomes were prespecified, report them as defined before analysis, and give registration identifiers where applicable.
Methods in reproducible detail
Describe, as applicable to the article type, protocols, materials, search strategies, software versions, analysis scripts, data preprocessing and exclusions in enough detail for another group to repeat the study or evaluation.
Statistical reporting
Where applicable to the study design, report sample-size calculations and power analysis, the statistical tests used, effect sizes and confidence intervals, protocol deviations and missing data, and say whether the study could have detected the effect of interest. Report non-significant outcomes in full, state what the data can and cannot show, and do not overstate the absence of an effect.
Reporting guidelines
Where applicable, follow the guideline that fits the design: CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, ARRIVE, STARD, or the discipline-specific standard.
Ethics and trial registration
Where applicable, state ethics approvals and consent arrangements. For animal research, state the IACUC or equivalent approval and the measures taken to protect animal welfare, and report in line with the ARRIVE guidelines. Interventional clinical trials must be registered in an accepted public trial registry at or before the first participant provides consent for enrollment. The registry name, registration number, and registration date must be reported in the manuscript.
Data availability
Every empirical research manuscript must include a data-availability statement. Where data or analysis code are deposited, give the repository and the identifier; where access is restricted, justify the restriction and describe the route by which it can be obtained.
Competing interests and funding
Declare financial and non-financial competing interests and every source of funding, with grant numbers. Both are published with the article.
Authorship
Every listed author must have contributed substantially to the work, be accountable for it and have approved the submitted version. Identify the corresponding author and supply an ORCID iD for each author where available.
AI use
Disclose any AI-assisted analysis or writing tools and describe how the outputs were validated.
Permissions
Figures, tables, imagery or data reproduced from another source require written permission and a full citation in the caption.
Preparing the files
Format requirements
How to prepare the manuscript file, figures, tables and reference list.
Manuscript file
Microsoft Word (.docx), or LaTeX with a compiled PDF. The manuscript is written in English.
Structure
Title page, abstract of up to 250 words, 5–8 keywords, main text, Acknowledgments, References, figure legends and tables. Original Research and Short Communications use Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion and Conclusions; Review Articles and Methods and Tools papers may use headings suited to their content.
Figures
TIFF, EPS or high-resolution PNG at a minimum of 300 DPI, each supplied as a separate file, in RGB color mode.
Tables
Editable Word or Excel tables, not images, up to 10 per manuscript; further tables go in supplementary files.
References
Vancouver (numbered) or APA (author–date) style, used consistently. Every cited work appears in the reference list, and DOIs are given where available.
Double-blind review
For double-blind review, remove author names, affiliations, acknowledgments, funding details, institution names, and other identifying information from the reviewer manuscript. Provide identifying information separately in the title-page file or submission form.
After submission
What happens next
Four stages, from receipt of the manuscript to publication.
01
Screening
All submissions undergo initial editorial screening. Manuscripts that meet the journal's scope and minimum requirements proceed to independent peer review.
02
Peer review
Single-blind by default; double-blind review is available on request. Manuscripts that proceed to external peer review are normally evaluated by at least two independent subject-matter experts.
03
Decision
Editorial decisions are based on scope, scientific quality, methodological rigor, ethical compliance, reporting quality, and relevance to the journal.
04
Acceptance and publication
On acceptance the article processing charge becomes payable (USD 1,800 for all article types); there is no submission fee. The article is then copyedited, typeset, assigned a DOI and published open access under CC BY 4.0, with copyright retained by the authors. Withdrawal after submission is subject to the journal’s withdrawal policy.
Submitting
Where to send the manuscript
Use one of the routes listed here. Charges and withdrawal terms are on the Article Processing Charges page, and the full framework on Editorial Policies.
The editorial office answers questions about preparation, fit and documentation at [email protected].
Submission routes
Primary route
Alternative route
Assisted route
Authors must use only one submission route for the same manuscript.