Gastroenterology Submission Guide: What Editors Screen Before Review

The guide describes both an article-type specification and AGA QuickSubmit. They answer different questions: what the finished article must contain, and what is needed for an eligible initial submission.

QuickSubmit for Full Length Original Research. Prepare an abstract, manuscript text, conflict-of-interest statement, and any figures or tables with captions. Check that the article type is eligible in the current guide and portal. Streamlined submission does not remove ethics or disclosure obligations.

Full Original Article package. Prepare the manuscript and supporting items following the detailed article-type and submission-checklist sections. Check file format, order, limits, declarations, reporting standards, and figure requirements together.

Another article type. Follow the requirements for that exact type. Do not apply the Original Article limits automatically to a Research Letter, review, or other submission.

If you use QuickSubmit, keep the full requirements available for the later stage when formatting is requested. Do not spend days formatting a package before checking whether a streamlined route is available, and do not mistake that route for a promise of editorial review.

These checks apply to the guide's Original Articles section as inspected on the review date.

The guide includes further requirements, including reporting standards appropriate to the design and additional summaries. Use its complete checklist, not this table alone. Suggested-reviewer counts differ between sections of the current guide; follow the portal prompt or ask the editorial office rather than choosing a number from an older checklist.

The journal describes a scope spanning clinical, translational, and basic research in digestive disease. Its stated publication priorities include originality, impact, design, and mechanistic insight. That is not a rule that every paper must be a clinical trial or contain human validation.

The following is a Manusights working tool for testing your submission argument, not a description of private editorial decisions.

For example, a single-center study may support a valuable finding while not supporting a claim about every health system. The useful repair is to explain the setting, test the inference where possible, and narrow unsupported generalization. Adding language about “clinical impact” without adding evidence does not resolve that problem.

The official process describes assessment by an associate editor and referral of appropriate, competitive papers to expert reviewers. It does not establish a universal day-by-day timeline or guarantee an outcome for a particular study design.

Keep three decisions separate:

• Administrative readiness: Are the required files and declarations present and consistent?
• Scientific argument: Do design, analysis, and limitations support the conclusion?
• Journal fit: Is the contribution appropriate for this readership and article type?

A manuscript can pass the first check without passing the others. Conversely, basic research or a single-center design should not be ruled out solely by a generic checklist. For timing questions, use the separate Gastroenterology review-time guide; historical journal averages are not deadlines for your paper.

Read the decision message before changing the manuscript. A request to complete files, an editorial rejection, and a request for revision call for different responses. For a missing-item request, reconcile the requested files and declarations against the submitted version. For a scientific criticism, identify the exact claim or analysis in question before deciding whether new work is needed.

The current AGA appeals policy says appeals are not accepted for manuscripts that were not externally peer reviewed. For an externally reviewed paper, it describes grounds such as an editorial misunderstanding or unethical conduct in review. An appeal is not simply another opportunity to argue that the topic is important. Check the complete policy and instructions in the decision letter before preparing one.

If you instead choose another journal, reassess the audience, article type, and submission package. Do not transfer Gastroenterology's limits to the new destination. A Gastroenterology manuscript-readiness check can help you examine the argument before a submission decision; it does not validate appeal eligibility or reverse an editorial decision.