Journal Of Clinical Oncology Pre Submission Checklist: 12 Items Editors Verify Before Peer Review

For JCO-targeted manuscripts, the 12 items below organize into 5 verification groups tuned to JCO's specific desk-screen patterns. Three items address scope and significance, calibrated to the practice-changing oncology research signal that JCO editors look for in the abstract and cover letter. Three items cover methods and data with JCO's reviewer-pool expectations on protocol detail, repository deposits, and code availability. Two cover ethics and compliance against JCO's declarations regime. Two items address citation cleanliness with retracted-DOI auditing tuned to recent retractions in the JCO corpus including 10.1200/JCO.21.02635. Two items cover submission-package framing, including reviewer-suggestion list quality and adherence to JCO's figure and word-count constraints. Each item is verifiable against the manuscript before you click submit at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jco.

Scope and significance

• [ ] Scope-fit named in abstract. The abstract names practice-changing oncology research within the first 100 words. JCO editors triage on scope-fit at the abstract level; manuscripts that defer the contribution to the discussion section get desk-screened.
• [ ] Cover letter explicit on contribution. The cover letter explicitly addresses why this paper fits JCO's editorial scope, not generic "we believe this work would be of interest." Editors at JCO look for that fit signal in the first paragraph.
• [ ] Significance visible in title. The title makes the contribution visible without requiring specialist translation. Two-line titles with subordinate clauses signal scope-bounded papers, which JCO editors triage out faster.

Methods and data

• [ ] Methods section reviewer-complete. JCO reviewers expect protocol and reproducibility detail in the main text rather than supplementary materials. Preclinical-only oncology papers without clinical-translation pathway get desk-rejected within 7-10 days.
• [ ] Data-availability statement names a repository. "Available on request" is not accepted at most JCO-tier journals. Use a repository with a DOI: Zenodo, Dryad, or a domain-specific equivalent, with the DOI active at submission time.
• [ ] Code-availability statement (where applicable). If the analysis depends on custom code, the statement must point to a versioned repository, a GitHub release tag or Zenodo deposit, not a generic "code available on request."

Ethics and compliance

• [ ] Ethics declarations complete for JCO. IRB approval ID with institution name for human-subjects research at JCO, animal-care protocol number for animal research, or explicit statement that the work does not require ethics approval. JCO's editorial team returns manuscripts with generic "ethics approval was obtained" wording that lacks identifiers, particularly when the methods involve sensitive materials, biological samples, or any context that warrants explicit ethical oversight.
• [ ] Conflict-of-interest disclosure follows ICMJE. All authors complete the ICMJE COI form. Funder statements include grant numbers.

Citation cleanliness

• [ ] Reference list audited against Crossref + Retraction Watch. Recent retractions in the JCO corpus that should NOT appear in any submitted reference list include 10.1200/JCO.21.02635, 10.1200/JCO.22.01128, and 10.1200/JCO.23.00891. Citing a retracted paper without a retraction-notice acknowledgment is an automatic desk-screen flag.
• [ ] References reflect current state of the field. Reference list contains citations from the last 18 months covering the headline finding's most recent counter-evidence. JCO reviewers frequently flag manuscripts that ignore work published after the project started.

Submission-package framing

• [ ] Reviewer-suggestion list contains 5 names from at least 3 institutions. All suggested reviewers are active in the JCO reviewer pool; none is a co-author or close collaborator within the last 5 years.
• [ ] Figures and tables follow JCO's constraints. 300-word abstract limit and 4,500-word main-text cap (JCO enforces during desk-screen). Supplementary figures supplement, not replace, main-text content.