Please make sure you have the following information available before submitting your manuscript:

Author information

Full names, email addresses, ORCID iD and affiliations of all authors listed in the manuscript.

In order to submit your manuscript to MSJ, authors need to provide a valid ORCID iD. The submitting author (principal contact for editorial correspondence) is required to add it on their personal profile. To do so, after logging on in your personal profile, go on Edit profile -> Public -> ORCID iD. We recommend doing so before starting the submission process.

If you do not own an ORCID ID, you can apply for one free of charge using a simple registration form on the orcid.org website.

Cover letter

When submitting your manuscript, this should be accompanied by a cover letter. It should include the following information, as well as any additional information requested in the instructions for your specific article type (see main manuscript section above):

• A clear statement explaining why your manuscript should be published in MSJ;
• A statement reporting any issues related to journal policies;
• A declaration of any potential competing interests;
• Confirmation that all authors have approved the manuscript for submission;
• Confirmation that the content of the manuscript has not been published, or under evaluation upon submission elsewhere;
• A statement specifying if the content is avilable as a pre-print;
• If you are submitting a manuscript to a particular special issue, please refer to its specific name in your cover letter.

Suggested reviewers

Here you can add a list of 2 or 3 possible reviewers you consider suitable for your manuscript (including their names and email address).

Excluded reviewers

Here you can indicate the names of any referee you wish to exclude from the reviewing process.

Main manuscript, individual figure files and optional supplementary information files

The main manuscript should be formatted according to the article type you are submitting. For further details see the Author Guidelines page. For first submissions (i.e. not revised manuscripts), you may incorporate the manuscript text and figures into a single file up to 30 Mb in size. Whilst PDF format is preferred, we also accept Word file. Figure legends and main figures can be included in the main file, following the text, or they may be submitted as a separate file.

Supplementary information should be combined and supplied as a single separate file, preferably in PDF format. If needed, a separate list of references must be provided in the supplementary information file.