GENERAL STYLE POINTS
Use the active, not passive voice throughout the text: "We examined the retinas of the mice.", not "The retinas of the mice were examined."
Abbreviations are not used in abstracts. Spell out abbreviations at first use in body of text.
Mutants are referred to with superscript as follows: "C1qa+/+" and not "C1qa+/+" or "+/+". Gene designation only is italicized; the designation for 'zygosity' is superscripted and not italicized.
The "P" for P values is upper-case and italicized.
The "n" for number is lower-case and italicized.
Kilodalton is abbreviated kDa.
Full postal and email address is required for each author.
We strongly recommend that the article be read by a native English-speaking scientist not directly related to your field of research.
Display Items
In the text, refer to figures as (Fig. 1a, b and c) or (Table) in parentheses, at end of text referring to figure (not "As shown in Fig. 1, ...")
"Fig." is abbreviated and followed with a period; "F" is upper-case (Fig.). Panel letter should be lower-case, and boldface.
Figures must appear in text in order: 1a, 1b, 2a, 2b.
Tables must be supplied as part of a simple word document, if possible, convert the table to text using tabs to separate entries.
Provide a brief title (one sentence of less than 10 words) describing the figure or table as a whole in the figure legend.
Methods
Remove all methodology and discussion from the figure legends. This includes concentrations, incubation times temperatures, and so on.
Oligonucleotide sequences are written 5'-GATCGACT-3' (note: no spaces between the upper-case nucleotide letters).
Provide locations of manufacturers, without abbreviations (city and state, for US; city and country for non-US): (Vector, Burlingame, California).
Units except for % should be preceded by a space (7 °C; 12mM; 55%).
Use symbol font for "micro": µM, not uM. If using Microsoft Word, go to "insert/symbols" to make sure the symbols do not drop out when the font changes.
FORMAT FAQ
1. How many figures can I include with my article? A- You may submit up to six figures (images and/or tables) for a long article and up to three figures for a short article.
2. How should I submit tables? A- Please submit tables in the body of the word processing document. Do not submit them as scannable images. Also, do not set up elaborate tables in the word processing document as the information is rearranged when drawing the Nature Medicine pages. To ensure the correct rendering of the table, convert the table to text and separate the entities with tabs.
3. Where should I put the figure legends? A- Please place the figure legends at the end of the article text, immediately following the reference section.
REFERENCE LIST GUIDELINES
Only published materials and those in press are included in the reference list.
Everything else (meeting abstracts, web site urls, unpublished data and personal communictions) is cited in the text. Manuscripts submitted or accepted, but not yet in press, are described simply as "unpublished data".
Abstracts should be cited as (J. Smith, personal communication); manuscripts under consideration should be cited as (J. Smith et al., unpublished data) unless the author is an author of the current paper (J.S. et al., unpublished data).
Reference numbers must be in order in the text (1,2,3...)
Reference numbers are superscripted when next to full words, for example, "protein12,13"
Reference numbers are not superscripted next to numbers or abreviations, for example, 1.45 (ref. 12); dATP (ref. 13)
For the reference list, please ensure that references are correct and complete: Smith, J.B., Brown, G. & Jones, W. Title of paper in full. J. Abbrev. XX, XXX-XXX (19XX).
All abbreviations are followed by a period.
Authors are cited as "Smith, J.B."
The final author cited should be preceded by "&", which should not be preceded by a comma.
For papers with more than 5 authors, cite the first author followed by et al. Note that "et al." is italicized and followed by a period, and there is no comma preceding "et al."
Provide full titles of articles; only the first letter of the first word is upper-case.
Provide Index Medicus abbreviations of journal titles; these are italicized.
Volume number is bolded and followed by a de-bolded comma.
Provide page ranges (not just first page), with full page numbers.
Year of publication is in parentheses, followed by a period.
Book references: Author, A. in Title of Book Vol. X 2nd edn. (ed. Editor, E.) 123-456 (Press, City, State, 19XX).
