Initial Submission Checklist

Choose an ASM journal that’s a good fit for your manuscript. To learn more, review its About the Journal menu:

• Editorial Board / Board of Editors / Masthead
• Scope
• FAQs

Menu on an ASM Journal page

Initial submissions are format-neutral (see Step 3).

Visit the ASM Journals Formatting Information for Specific Journals page to find the following information for each journal:

• Article Types page
  
  • Word count guidance
  • Content requirements for article types published by the journal
  • Reference style guidance
  • Links to templates (LaTeX templates and MRA Word document templates)
• Submission and Review Process page
  • Information about submitting initial and revised manuscripts
  • FAQs related to the review process

We offer format-neutral initial submissions. At this stage, since you may already have your paper formatted, you don’t have to worry about following our formatting rules for word counts, reference style, sections, importance paragraph, etc. If you'd like to review or follow these rules, see Step 2.

The following files are required at initial submission:

1. A cover letter that explains your paper's scientific importance and its interest to your journal’s readers
2. A manuscript text file that includes the full article and any tables

You may include figures and supplemental material in the manuscript text file or upload them as separate files.

Requirements	Minimum (format-neutral) Initial Submission	Final Revision
Cover letter	✔	✔
Authors (indicate corresponding author(s) and affiliations)	✔	✔
Title	✔	✔
Abstract word count (see step 2)	✔	✔
Data availability paragraph*	✔	✔
Word (.docx / .rtf); LaTex (.tex)	PDFs permitted	✔
Formatting, abbreviations, title page, sections, word counts, etc. per your journal’s requirements listed on the Formatting page (see Step 2)		✔
Separate files for supplemental materials and figures		✔
Figure file size (review our file size tips if you need help)	15 MB	20 MB
Continuous line numbers (will be automatically added to your Word file)		✔

*Per our format-neutral process, you are not required to use a specific format or section for data availability in your document, but we expect to see the following information represented:

• Data description
• Name(s) of the repository/repositories
• Digital object identifiers (DOIs) or accession numbers (add URLs)

We provide guidance on data sharing, open access, reproducibility, and data citation.

During the submission process, you will be asked to agree to, or briefly explain how your manuscript fits in with, several ASM policies:

• Image Integrity
• Conflict of Interest
• Duplicate Publications
• Biosafety/biosecurity
• Licensing and Open Access
• For the Data Citation and Data Availability sections, please review the following:
  • Data Citation
  • Open Data Policy
  • Repositories
  • Availability of Materials and Data

Also note that during the submission process, you will be asked to verify that you have your institution's IRB/IACUC approval, if applicable.

During the submission process, you will be asked to agree to pay any applicable publication fees should your paper be accepted. (ASM does not charge a submission fee.) We recommend you review ASM’s green and gold open access (OA) options and an overview of how ASM meets funder requirements before submitting to make sure you are in compliance with any funder mandates related to OA publication.

ASM members receive discounts on page charges, article processing charges (APCs), and/or supplemental fees.

During the submission process, you will be asked to provide specific information about your paper. Some of it may require research, or consulting co-authors, so you may wish to prepare it in advance.

About the Authors, Editors, and Reviewers

• Required
  • All author names
  • All author emails
  • All author affiliations (if author(s) not already added to our submission system)
  • If your manuscript includes a study group/consortium, you will need to include an email address for a group representative who isn't already listed in the author byline. 
  • ORCID iD of the corresponding author only
  • Names of any preferred editors (identify using journal's editorial board page – see Step 2)
  • Name, email, and institution of at least 3 preferred peer reviewers

• Optional
• ORCID iDs of the contributing authors
• Author contributions or CRediT roles
• Contact information for authors’ institution(s) (e.g., address)
• Authors' social media handles
• Name, email, and institution of any non-preferred peer reviewers

About Your Research and Manuscript

• Required (if applicable)
• Funding information, including grant reference numbers
• Keywords – may also be used to help find reviewers and research areas associated with the manuscript
• Preferred journal section and research area(s)
• Information about any companion manuscripts
• Preprint server and DOI (note that you may be asked if all authors agree to cross-post to bioRxiv)

• Optional
• A social media blurb about your paper (250 characters max) that we may use to promote it, if published
• Public Information Office or media contact information for your institution (if you would like them to be notified for press release purposes)

Links to the submission portal for every ASM journal can be found here.

Create an account or log in. Follow the steps to upload your file(s), enter information, review, and complete your submission.

Contact your journal’s staff for help with your account.

Submission portal

All authors will receive a confirmation email letting you know that your submission was successful.

Per Step 2, check your journal's Submission and Review Process page for details on when to expect to hear back on your paper's status. Contact your journal's staff with any questions.

We wish you the best of luck on your submission!