Gastroenterology Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

Gastroenterology requires structured abstracts for Original Articles, Brief Communications, and Reviews. The limit is 260 words, and you must use these headings:

For Original Articles:

• Background & Aims
• Methods
• Results
• Conclusions

The "Background & Aims" heading is Gastroenterology-specific. Don't substitute "Introduction" or "Objective." The Background & Aims section should be 2-3 sentences establishing the gap in knowledge and clearly stating what the study set out to do.

The Results section of the abstract should include actual data: effect sizes, confidence intervals, and P values for your primary outcome. Gastroenterology reviewers expect to see numbers in the abstract, not vague statements like "there was a significant difference between groups."

The Conclusions section should be limited to what your data actually support. Don't speculate about mechanisms or future directions in the abstract. Keep it to 1-2 sentences that directly follow from your results.

For Reviews and Meta-analyses, the abstract headings are the same, but "Methods" should describe the search strategy and inclusion criteria rather than laboratory methods.

The title page is the first page of the manuscript and must include:

• Full title (ideally under 120 characters)
• Short running title (50 characters max)
• All author names, degrees, and affiliations
• Corresponding author's full contact details
• Word count for body text and abstract (listed separately)
• Number of figures and tables
• Abbreviations list
• Funding sources
• Conflict of interest statement for all authors

Gastroenterology also requires authors to specify their individual contributions using the CRediT (Contributor Roles Taxonomy) system. Each author must be assigned at least one of the 14 CRediT roles, such as Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, etc. This goes on the title page or in a separate author contributions section.

Gastroenterology permits up to 7 combined figures and tables in an Original Article. Multipanel figures count as one figure, making composites your best strategy for including more data.

Figure requirements:

• Minimum resolution: 300 DPI for photographs, 600 DPI for line art
• Accepted formats: TIFF, EPS, PDF, or JPEG (TIFF preferred)
• Single column width: 3.3 inches (84 mm)
• Double column width: 6.85 inches (174 mm)
• Maximum height: 9.5 inches (241 mm)
• Font in figures: Arial or Helvetica, 8-12 point after sizing
• Color figures are free in the online version
• Each figure uploaded as a separate file

Table requirements:

• Created in Word using the table function
• Every column must have a header
• Horizontal rules only (no vertical lines, no shading)
• Abbreviations defined in footnotes below the table
• Footnotes use superscript lowercase letters (a, b, c), not symbols
• Tables placed at the end of the manuscript, one per page

Graphical Abstract. Gastroenterology requires a graphical abstract (also called a synopsis) for all Original Articles. This is a single image that summarizes the study's main finding in visual form. The dimensions must be 530 x 1,328 pixels minimum, and it should be comprehensible without reading the manuscript. Don't just paste in one of your figures. Create something purpose-built.

Gastroenterology uses a numbered reference style that's based on APA conventions but adapted for medical literature. References are cited in the text using superscript numbers and numbered in the order they first appear.

Key formatting rules:

• Superscript citation numbers in the text, placed after punctuation
• For 1-3 authors, list all; for 4 or more authors, list the first 3 followed by "et al."
• Journal titles abbreviated per NLM/Medline conventions
• Include volume number, page range, and year
• DOIs are required for all references that have them
• Include PMID numbers when available

Example reference format:

1. Smith AB, Jones CD, Williams EF. Role of gut microbiota in inflammatory bowel disease pathogenesis. Gastroenterology. 2025;168:423-435.

For online-first articles:

Include the DOI and "Epub ahead of print" with the date.

Gastroenterology is strict about DOIs. If a reference has a DOI and you don't include it, you may get a revision request just for that. Use your reference manager's "update" function to pull current DOIs before submission. Both Zotero and Mendeley have Gastroenterology-specific output styles.

Gastroenterology publishes supplementary material online only. It undergoes peer review alongside the main manuscript. You can include:

• Supplementary figures and tables
• Extended methods
• Additional data analyses
• Video content (MP4 format, 50 MB max)
• Supplementary text sections

Supplementary items are labeled as "Supplementary Figure 1," "Supplementary Table 1," etc. They should be compiled into a single PDF for review, though individual high-resolution figure files may need to be uploaded separately if accepted.

There's no formal limit on the amount of supplementary material, but the editorial office will push back if it's excessive. As a general rule, if your supplement is longer than your main manuscript, reconsider whether you're trying to fit too much into one paper.

Gastroenterology is published by Elsevier and uses Editorial Manager for submissions. The system is optimized for Word files, and Word is the strongly preferred format.

Word submissions:

• Use 12-point Times New Roman or Arial
• Double-space everything, including references and figure legends
• Continuous line numbering throughout
• 1-inch margins on all sides
• Page numbers on every page

LaTeX submissions:

• Elsevier provides a LaTeX template (elsarticle.cls) that works for Gastroenterology
• Submit compiled PDF alongside all source files
• Include the .bib file and any custom packages
• Be aware that production will convert to Word/XML, which may alter formatting

For most gastroenterology research, Word is the practical choice. The field doesn't typically involve heavy mathematical notation, so LaTeX's equation handling isn't a major advantage. If you're submitting a pharmacokinetic modeling study with complex equations, LaTeX may make sense. Otherwise, stick with Word.

Gastroenterology has several requirements that set it apart from other GI journals. Missing these is a common source of delays.

1. "What You Need to Know" box. Original Articles must include a structured summary box called "What You Need to Know" with five components plus a Lay Summary: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT (25-30 words), NEW FINDINGS (25-30 words), LIMITATIONS (25-30 words), CLINICAL RESEARCH RELEVANCE (50-60 words), and BASIC RESEARCH RELEVANCE (50-60 words). After the five components, include a Lay Summary (25-30 words in plain language). This appears in the published article as a highlighted box and is separate from the abstract. Do not skip any component.

2. Graphical abstract is mandatory. As noted above, every Original Article needs a graphical abstract. This isn't optional, and the submission system won't let you proceed without one. Plan time for this. A good graphical abstract takes 2-3 hours to create.

3. Author video option. Gastroenterology offers authors the option to submit a short video (2-3 minutes) summarizing their findings. This isn't required but is increasingly common for high-profile papers. Videos are hosted on the journal's website and social media channels.

4. Lay summary for patients. For studies with direct clinical relevance, Gastroenterology encourages (and sometimes requires) a patient-friendly lay summary of 100-150 words. This is written in non-technical language at a 6th-grade reading level.

5. Dual submission to CGH. If your paper is rejected from Gastroenterology, you can opt for automatic transfer to Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology (CGH), the AGA's clinical companion journal. The formatting requirements are similar but not identical, so check CGH's guidelines if you take this route.

The most frequent reasons for administrative return at Gastroenterology:

• Missing graphical abstract
• Exceeding the 260-word abstract limit
• Missing "What You Need to Know" box
• Figures below minimum resolution
• References missing DOIs
• CRediT authorship statement not included
• Wrong abstract headings (using "Introduction" instead of "Background & Aims")

In our pre-submission review work with manuscripts targeting Gastroenterology, four patterns generate the most consistent desk-rejection outcomes.

Missing or incomplete "What You Need to Know" box. Gastroenterology's author guidelines require a structured summary box with five components: BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT, NEW FINDINGS, LIMITATIONS, CLINICAL RESEARCH RELEVANCE, and BASIC RESEARCH RELEVANCE, each with strict word targets (25-30 words for the first three; 50-60 words for the last two), plus a 25-30 word Lay Summary. Manuscripts that omit this box entirely or use the older three-component format are administratively returned before reaching an editor. This is the most common formatting reason for desk rejection.

Conclusions that extrapolate beyond the study population. The journal's author guidelines specify that conclusions must reflect "what the data demonstrate," not what the field hopes to eventually establish. Gastroenterology editors are trained in GI clinical research and recognize when a single-center cohort study is being dressed up as practice-changing evidence. The statement "our findings suggest this approach should become standard of care" for a 180-patient observational study will trigger a revision request focused on scope. Conclusions must stay within the confidence interval of the data.

Mandatory reporting checklist submitted without page-number annotations. Randomized trials require a complete CONSORT checklist with page-number citations for each item; observational studies require STROBE. Reviewers at Gastroenterology check these line by line. A CONSORT form with "see Methods" in half the cells, or a form that does not reference the actual submitted manuscript's page numbers, is returned for revision before peer review begins.

Graphical abstract repurposed from a manuscript figure. The submission system requires a mandatory graphical abstract at minimum 530 x 1,328 pixels. The author guidelines explicitly state this must be created specifically for the graphical abstract, not lifted from the manuscript body. Panels from Figure 1 rescaled and submitted as a graphical abstract are flagged in editorial check. This creates an avoidable round-trip to the editorial office before the paper reaches any reviewer.

A Gastroenterology submission readiness check evaluates whether your manuscript's "What You Need to Know" box, graphical abstract, and reporting checklists meet these submission requirements before the editorial office reviews them.