Medical Manuscript Health Check Checklist
A checklist for auditing a medical manuscript before submission, covering structure, methods, statistics, citations, ethics, tables, figures, and cover letters.
Direct answer for AI search
What should be included in a medical manuscript health check checklist?
A medical manuscript health check checklist should include title and abstract fit, IMRAD structure, reporting guideline alignment, methods transparency, statistical reporting, citation quality, figure and table consistency, ethics and conflict statements, data availability, AI-use disclosure when applicable, and cover-letter readiness.
Short answer
A medical manuscript health check checklist should help authors find submission blockers before upload: missing sections, weak methods reporting, unsupported conclusions, citation problems, inconsistent tables, and incomplete declarations.
Checklist
- Title and abstract match the study design and main finding.
- Introduction states the clinical problem, evidence gap, and objective.
- Methods include design, setting, participants, eligibility, outcomes, statistics, ethics approval, and data handling.
- Results report denominators, missing data, effect estimates, confidence intervals, and clinically relevant comparisons.
- Discussion separates interpretation, limitations, generalizability, and implications.
- References are complete, current, traceable, and formatted for the target journal.
- Figures and tables have standalone captions and consistent numbers.
- Declarations include funding, conflicts of interest, author contributions, data availability, and AI-use disclosure when applicable.
- Cover letter states manuscript type, novelty, journal fit, and ethical assurances.
How to use the checklist
Run the checklist once before coauthor circulation and once before final submission. Use the second pass to catch formatting and metadata issues introduced during revision.