Nature Medicine Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

Nature Medicine's abstract limit is 150 words, and the abstract is unreferenced. The author guidelines do not describe required headings like you'd find in a JAMA or BMJ submission.

Effective Nature Medicine abstracts tend to follow a predictable pattern:

• 1-2 sentences establishing the problem and why existing solutions fall short

• 1 sentence stating what you did

• 3-4 sentences presenting key results with specific numbers

• 1 sentence on the clinical significance

Don't waste abstract space on background that any reader of Nature Medicine already knows. "Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide" is not useful. Start with the specific gap your research addresses.

The abstract must be self-contained and easy for any scientist to understand. It is unreferenced, and the journal's writing guidance asks authors to keep abbreviations to a minimum and define them when first used, so avoid all but universally recognized ones like DNA or RNA, and don't cite figures in the abstract.

Nature Medicine doesn't ask for a formal cover page in the same way clinical journals do. The manuscript file must contain the names and affiliations of all co-authors (with double-anonymized peer review, that information goes in the cover letter instead), so the first page of your manuscript should include:

• Title (Nature Medicine publishes no title length limit)

• Full author list with affiliations (the primary affiliation for each author should be the institution where the majority of their work was done)

• Corresponding author email address

Nature Medicine titles are notably short. Be precise and don't waste words on phrases like "A study of" or "Investigation into." State what you found, not what you studied.

Nature Medicine allows up to 6 display items in an Article (2 in a Brief Communication). These can be any combination of figures and tables.

Figure requirements (for the version prepared after acceptance in principle):

• Resolution: figure panels at a minimum of 300 dpi, saved at a maximum width of 180 mm

• Font in figures: a 5-7 pt sans serif font for standard text labelling, and Symbol font for Greek characters

• Colour charges: charges apply to authors of primary subscription content who publish figures in colour in Nature Portfolio print journals; the author guidelines direct questions to editorial enquiries

Table requirements:

• Include tables at the end of your text document; complex tables can be submitted as a separate Excel file

• Tables that include statistical analysis should describe their standards of error analysis and ranges in a table legend

Extended Data (up to 10 additional items):

Nature Medicine provides Extended Data space for figures and tables that are peer-reviewed and published alongside the paper. These are distinct from Supplementary Information. Extended Data items appear in the online article and are referenced in the text as "Extended Data Fig. 1" etc.

Supplementary Information:

Beyond Extended Data, you can include Supplementary Information for large datasets, videos, source code, and other material. Supplementary Information is posted online but isn't part of the formatted article.

Nature Medicine uses the Nature Portfolio reference style, which is numbered.

Key formatting rules:

• References are numbered sequentially in the order they are cited: main text, tables, figure legends, boxes, Methods, the Data Availability section, then Extended Data

• Only one publication is given for each reference

• Unpublished meeting abstracts, papers in preparation, and papers under review or in press without an available preprint should not appear in the reference list; mention them in the text instead

• Titles of cited articles are required for Articles and omitted for Brief Communications

• URLs for web sites are cited parenthetically in the main text, not in the reference list

Example journal article:

1. Chen, L. et al. Single-cell profiling of tumor microenvironment heterogeneity in hepatocellular carcinoma. Nat. Med. 32, 415-428 (2026).

Example book reference:

1. Weinberg, R. A. The Biology of Cancer 3rd edn (Garland Science, 2025).

Note the formatting details: issue numbers are not included, the year is in parentheses at the end, and page ranges use an en dash. Reference managers with Nature style presets handle most of this.

This is one of Nature Medicine's most distinctive formatting features. The Methods section appears after the References, not within the body text. This structure keeps the main narrative focused on results and interpretation.

Online Methods should contain everything needed to interpret and replicate the results, typically:

• Study design and participant selection criteria

• Sample size justification or power analysis

• Data collection procedures

• Statistical analysis methods and the software used

• Ethics approvals (IRB, animal protocols)

• Clinical trial registration numbers (if applicable; the trial number must be clearly indicated in the abstract and Methods)

• Data and code availability statements

The Online Methods section has no formal word limit. The author guidelines ask for Methods to be written as concisely as possible while containing all elements necessary to allow interpretation and replication of the results, so use the space you need, but don't pad it with unnecessary detail.

For studies involving human participants, Nature Medicine requires authors to identify the ethics committee approving the research, including its name and reference number, and to include a statement affirming that informed consent was obtained from all human research participants.

1. The "Online Methods" placement. New authors to Nature journals are often confused by methods appearing after references. Your main text should contain a brief methodological overview, but detailed methods go in the Online Methods section after the reference list.

2. Reporting Summary requirement. Where relevant, manuscripts sent for review must include a completed Reporting Summary, and authors of life sciences research articles are required to provide one. This standardized form covers elements of experimental and analytical design that are frequently poorly reported. It is made available to editors and reviewers and published alongside accepted papers.

3. Clinical trial registration and reagent reporting. Nature Medicine requires investigators to register clinical trials in an acceptable registry before enrollment of the first participant, and manuscripts describing primary results of nonregistered trials will not be considered. Authors who use cell lines are asked to report on the source and authentication of the lines.

4. Data availability statement is mandatory. Your manuscript must include a Data Availability section that makes the conditions of access to the minimum dataset needed to interpret, verify and extend the research transparent to readers. Where data are publicly available, accession codes or other unique identifiers must be provided, and depositing data in public repositories is the preferred approach (mandatory for certain data types).

5. Author contributions statement. Nature Medicine requires a statement of responsibility that specifies the contribution of every author. The author guidelines do not prescribe a format.

6. Competing interests declaration. The corresponding author submits a competing interests declaration on behalf of all authors, and the published article includes a statement on whether the authors have competing interests.

A standard Nature Medicine Article follows this structure:

1. Title

1. Abstract (150 words)

1. Main text (up to 4,000 words: an Introduction without a heading, then Results divided by topical subheadings, then a Discussion without subheadings)

1. References

1. Online Methods

1. Acknowledgements

1. Author contributions

1. Competing interests

1. Figure legends

1. Figures and tables

1. Extended Data legends and items

The main text typically doesn't use standard IMRAD headers. Instead, Nature Medicine Articles use descriptive subheadings that tell the story of the research. For example, rather than "Results," you might have "Single-cell profiling reveals distinct tumor subpopulations." This narrative style is part of the Nature Portfolio identity.

Nature Medicine has become increasingly strict about statistical reporting and reproducibility over the past several years.

Required statistical information:

• Exact sample sizes for all experiments

• Definition of center and dispersion measures (mean plus or minus s.d., median with IQR, etc.)

• Statistical tests used with justification for the choice

• Exact P values wherever suitable

• Adjustment methods for multiple comparisons

• Software used for analysis

Reproducibility standards:

• Number of independent experimental replicates must be stated

• For animal studies: randomization method, blinding procedure, and exclusion criteria

• For clinical data: patient demographics, inclusion/exclusion criteria, and CONSORT or STROBE adherence

• Source data should be provided for your figures wherever possible (the author guidelines encourage it, and require full-length unprocessed gels and blots for relevant figures)

These are the errors that most often trigger administrative returns at Nature Medicine:

• Exceeding the 4,000-word main text limit

• Putting detailed methods in the main text instead of Online Methods

• Writing an abstract longer than 150 words or adding references to it

• Forgetting the Reporting Summary where it applies

• Exceeding 6 display items in an Article

• Missing data availability statement

For a comparison with another Nature Portfolio journal, see our Nature Biotechnology formatting requirements guide. If you're still deciding where to submit, our guide on whether Nature Medicine is a good journal covers scope and fit.

For the official specifications, visit the Nature Medicine author guidelines page.

For manuscripts targeting Nature Medicine, four patterns generate the most consistent desk-rejection outcomes.

Translational claim not grounded in human data or direct clinical application. Nature Medicine's aims and scope say that its criteria for translational and clinical research are originality, timeliness and impact on improving human health by addressing unmet clinical needs. In our experience, editors evaluate whether the translational claim is supported by human samples, clinical data, or an ex vivo model with direct clinical relevance. Submissions where the primary evidence is from mouse models, cell lines, or animal systems without a human component or a clear and imminent clinical application are redirected to journals with a more basic or preclinical scope.

Reporting standards for clinical or epidemiological studies not met. Nature Medicine follows ICMJE and EQUATOR Network recommendations for registering and reporting clinical studies. Randomized trials must conform to CONSORT 2025 and the CONSORT checklist should be submitted with the manuscript files; observational studies must be reported according to STROBE, prediction-model studies follow TRIPOD, biomarker studies follow STARD, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses follow PRISMA. Reports that do not conform to the CONSORT guidelines may need to be revised before formal review.

Data and code availability not addressed at submission. As a Nature Portfolio journal, Nature Medicine requires a data availability statement with all original research manuscripts, and a Code Availability statement where custom code is central to the conclusions. Depositing data in public repositories is the preferred approach, with accession codes provided where data are public. Supporting source data and code must be made available to editors and peer reviewers where requested, at the time of submission, and failure to make data accessible could delay editorial processing.

Significance does not reach the threshold of "transformative biomedical advance." Nature Medicine's aims and scope describe the selection criteria as originality, timeliness and impact on improving human health by addressing unmet clinical needs. Submissions where the clinical implication is incremental or confirmatory, or where the advance is clearly field-specific rather than broadly relevant to translational medicine, are declined at desk. Editors routinely note in declination letters that while the work is technically sound, it does not reach the journal's significance threshold.

A Nature Medicine submission readiness check evaluates manuscript structure, translational evidence, and reporting compliance against these desk-rejection patterns before you submit.

For a manuscript-specific signal before you submit, run a Nature Medicine submission readiness check.

Or see example reports before you finalize.