Published: 2026-10-31 | Publisher: Future Journals — the official publishing platform of The Future Association
Most avoidable delays do not happen in peer review. They happen in the hour before submission, when a manuscript that is scientifically ready is not yet submission-ready: the wrong journal is chosen, the abstract does not match the results, or a co-author has not seen the final version. A short, systematic check prevents all of that.
Future Journals is an open-access publisher with 18 journals, editorial boards of more than 1,000 researchers and more than 100 disciplines, as stated on its main site. Its portal provides a step-by-step guide and accepts Word and PDF — but the checklist below applies to any careful submission.
1. Confirm the journal fit — one journal, the right readers
Start with fit, not prestige or habit. Re-read the scope of the journal you have chosen and ask one question: are this journal’s readers the people who should act on your findings? A clinical paper belongs with clinical readers, a population study with public health readers, a methods paper with the readers who will use that method.
Future Journals publishes distinct titles for distinct audiences, for example The Future of Biology (ISSN 2572-3006 / 2572-3111), The Future of Agriculture (ISSN 2687-8151 / 2687-8216), The Future of Education (ISSN 2694-3050 / 2694-3069), The Future of Artificial Intelligence (ISSN 2694-331X / 2694-3328) and The Future of Applied Science (ISSN 2767-181X online / 2767-178X print) for genuinely interdisciplinary work. Browse the full list of 18 titles at futurejournals.org before you decide, rather than forcing a paper into a title you already know.
Then confirm the basics: the manuscript is original, unpublished, and not under consideration elsewhere. Submit to one journal only. Duplicate submission wastes reviewers’ time and, when discovered, damages an author’s record far more than a rejection does.
2. Check the manuscript itself — title, abstract, and consistency
Read the title and abstract against the finished paper, not against the paper you planned to write. The title should name the population, system, or question accurately, without claiming more than the study did. The abstract should state the design, the main result with its numbers, and a conclusion bounded by the data. If a result changed during revision, the abstract must have changed with it — a mismatch here is one of the first things a reviewer notices.
Work through the body in this order:
- Methods match results. Every result reported should trace back to a method described, and every method described should produce a reported result or an explained absence.
- Numbers are consistent. Sample sizes, percentages and totals should agree between text, tables and figures. Pick three headline numbers and verify them against the source data.
- Tables and figures stand alone. Each should have a clear title, defined abbreviations and units, and should be readable without hunting through the text for its meaning.
- References are complete and in the journal’s style. Check the author guidelines linked from the submission portal for the required format, and confirm every in-text citation appears in the list and vice versa.
- Language is plain and precise. Define abbreviations at first use, keep one term for one thing, and remove claims such as “significant” where no statistical test supports them.
3. Confirm authorship, ethics, and disclosures
Before submission, every named author should have seen and approved this exact version. Confirm the author order, affiliations and corresponding author’s contact details, and make sure no one who meets your field’s authorship criteria has been left off, and no one who does not meet them has been added as a courtesy.
Check the declarations the journal requires on the pages linked from the submission portal, including publication ethics, and prepare honest statements on:
- Ethics approval and consent, where your study required them, naming the approving body as the guidelines direct
- Funding sources, and the role — or stated absence of a role — of any funder in the work
- Competing interests for all authors, or an explicit statement that there are none
- Data availability, where it applies: what data exist, and how a reader or reviewer can request access
Do not treat these as paperwork. Reviewers and readers use them to judge whether the work can be trusted, and an incomplete disclosure discovered later is far harder to correct than a complete one made now.
4. Prepare the files exactly as the portal asks
File problems are mundane, and they are common. Prepare a clean final manuscript in Word (.doc/.docx) or PDF, as the Future Journals submission portal accepts, and keep your source data, earlier drafts and reviewer-facing files in a separate folder so there is no doubt which file is the submission.
Give the file a clear name, open the final saved version once more, and scroll it end to end. Check that no tracked changes, comments, highlighting or placeholder text remain, that figures appear where they should at readable quality, and that no page is missing after conversion to PDF if you submit in that format. If the guidelines linked from the portal ask for separate figure files, a cover letter or supplementary material, prepare those now, in the format stated there — do not guess formats from another journal’s requirements.
Keep a private copy of exactly what you submitted, with the date. If a question arises later about which version was reviewed, that copy is your record.
5. Use the portal deliberately, then stop editing
The Future Journals submission portal provides a step-by-step guide. Follow it slowly: enter author details exactly as they should appear in print, select the single journal you have chosen, and upload the verified final file.
Before confirming, re-read the summary. Title, authors and journal are the fields most worth a second look, because errors there follow the paper through review. After you submit, do not immediately email a “better” version. If a genuine error is material, contact the journal once, clearly, explaining what changed and why.
Keep the submission acknowledgement with your submitted copy — that is the record you will need if you enquire about status later.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a pre-submission check take?
For most papers, 45 to 90 focused minutes. That is small compared with the time a preventable return, correction or re-submission can cost.
Can I submit the same manuscript to two Future Journals titles to see which accepts it?
No. Submit to one journal only, and do not submit work that is under consideration elsewhere. Choose the title whose readers will use your findings most.
What file formats does the Future Journals portal accept?
Word (.doc/.docx) and PDF, through the online submission portal, which provides a step-by-step guide. Follow the author guidelines linked from the portal for your chosen journal.
Where do I check ethics, peer review, and article processing charge information?
On the pages linked from the submission portal for your chosen journal. Read those pages directly for current requirements; this post does not quote APC figures or turnaround times.
What if I discover a mistake after submitting?
Keep calm and be transparent. If the mistake affects results, authorship or ethics, contact the journal promptly, once, with a clear explanation. If it is a minor typographical error, note it for the next revision stage the journal offers.
A careful hour now saves weeks later
Good research deserves a careful submission. Confirm the fit, check consistency, complete your disclosures, prepare the exact file, and submit once, deliberately. That discipline respects your co-authors, your reviewers and, most importantly, your readers.
Submit your manuscript here: https://home.futurejournals.org/future-journals/submission-portal/
Browse all 18 Future Journals titles: https://www.futurejournals.org
