Nutrients Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

Nutrients asks for a structured abstract for original research articles and systematic reviews.

• Word limit: around 250 words in the Nutrients instructions; up to 200 words in MDPI's general style guide (the documents differ, so aim for 200 or fewer)

• Structure: Structured, with the headings Background/Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions (Nutrients instructions); MDPI's general style guide describes a single paragraph without headings

• Citations: Not allowed in the abstract

• Keywords: 3 to 10 keywords, listed after the abstract

• Abbreviations: Avoid in the abstract where possible; define at first use if necessary

The abstract should cover the research question, methodology, main results (with specific numbers), and conclusions. Nutrients covers everything from molecular nutrition to public health, so the abstract needs to clearly position the work within its specific sub-field.

MDPI journals index keywords aggressively for SEO and discovery. Choose keywords that complement the title rather than repeating it. If your title mentions "vitamin D supplementation," your keywords should include related terms like "25-hydroxyvitamin D," "bone mineral density," or "deficiency prevalence."

Nutrients follows MDPI's standard figure guidelines, which are more relaxed than many traditional publishers.

Figure specifications:

There's no cap on the number of figures or tables. This is one of the advantages of MDPI's online-only format. You can include as many figures as needed without worrying about page charges or print constraints. That said, every figure should add something. Reviewers will question figures that could be summarized in a sentence.

MDPI-specific figure requirements:

• Figures must be cited in the text in sequential order

• Multi-panel figures use lowercase letters: (a), (b), (c)

• Figure captions go below the figure (handled by the template)

Tables in Nutrients follow a specific MDPI format. They must have a caption above the table, and a table footnote can be added below it. The MDPI template handles this layout. MDPI advises against vertical lines, blank rows and blank columns, and tables must be editable, not supplied as images.

Color is free because Nutrients is online-only. There's no concept of print color charges. Use color whenever it improves comprehension.

Nutrients uses the MDPI house reference style, a numbered style in which journal names are abbreviated according to ISO 4 rules.

In-text citations: Bracketed numbers [1], [2], [1,2], [1-3]. Sequential order based on first appearance.

Reference list format:

1. Author, A.B.; Author, C.D. Title of Article. Abbreviated Journal Name Year, Volume, Article Number or Pages.

Key formatting specifics:

• Author names: Surname, initials with periods (e.g., "Smith, J.K.")

• Use semicolons between authors

• Abbreviated journal names (ISO 4 rules), as in MDPI's own example "Am. J. Clin. Nutr." If you are not sure how to abbreviate a title, MDPI says to leave the full title and the Editorial Office will abbreviate it.

• Article titles in sentence case

• Year follows journal name, preceded by a space

• Volume follows the year, followed by article number or page range

• DOIs are not mandatory but are highly encouraged

If you're using a citation manager, you'll need to change the output style to MDPI format. The Nutrients instructions say style files for EndNote and Zotero are available, but double-check that journal names come out abbreviated as in MDPI's example.

There's no formal cap on references. Research articles typically cite 30 to 60 sources. Reviews can go much higher. MDPI doesn't penalize long reference lists.

MDPI journals handle supplementary material through their own hosting system.

Common supplementary content for Nutrients:

• Extended data tables (dietary intake data, nutrient databases)

• Additional statistical analyses

• Survey instruments and questionnaires

• Detailed participant flow diagrams

• Raw or processed datasets

Supplementary material is submitted through the MDPI submission system as separate files. Each file must be cited in the main text with the S prefix, as "Figure S1" or "Table S1." MDPI uses a specific format: "Figure S1" (not "Supplementary Figure 1" or "SF1").

Supplementary files are available to the referees during peer review and are published alongside the article. They are hosted on the MDPI website and freely accessible.

For large datasets, MDPI encourages deposition in public repositories (Figshare, Zenodo, institutional repositories). The DOI should be cited in the data availability statement.

MDPI's data availability statement: Required for all articles. This appears as a dedicated section at the end of the paper (handled by the template). You must specify where data is available, whether on request, in supplementary material, or in a public repository.

These are Nutrients and MDPI-specific details that catch authors off guard:

Template is encouraged, not mandatory, at first submission. Nutrients accepts free-format submissions and asks for formatting to the journal guidelines at the revision stage. Using the template substantially shortens copy-editing time after acceptance, so download the current version if you plan to use it.

Author information is detailed. MDPI requires full first and last names (the initials of any middle names can be added) and strongly recommends that authors have an ORCID iD. Authors are also encouraged to add an optional biography of 300 to 1,500 characters and post it to SciProfiles.

Section numbering is automatic. The MDPI template numbers sections automatically (1. Introduction, 2. Materials and Methods, etc.). Don't add your own section numbers. The template handles it.

Research article structure. The Nutrients instructions list the sections of a research article as Introduction, Materials and Methods, Results, Discussion, and Conclusions (optional). The Discussion may be combined with the Results.

Ethics statements are prominently placed. For human studies, the ethics statement (IRB approval number, informed consent) appears in its own section at the end of the paper, not buried in the Methods. The MDPI template includes dedicated sections for this.

Funding statement format. MDPI requires a specific format: "This research was funded by [Funder Name], grant number [Number]." Use the exact template wording.

Author contributions section. Required. Each author's role described using CRediT-like categories. The template provides a dedicated section for this.

These get flagged in MDPI technical review:

1. Journal names in references. MDPI's reference guide asks for abbreviated journal names (ISO 4 rules). Citation managers can output full names, so switch to MDPI style and verify every reference manually.

1. Required sections missing. Nutrients accepts free-format submissions, but the manuscript must still contain the required sections. The MDPI Word or LaTeX template makes that easier.

1. ORCID iDs missing. MDPI strongly recommends that authors have an ORCID account. The iD can be added in the submission system and is included in the published paper with an icon linking to the ORCID profile.

1. Data availability statement missing. MDPI requires this for all articles. It's a template section, so fill it in rather than deleting it.

1. Ethics statement for human studies. Any research involving human participants must include IRB approval details and informed consent statements. This is checked by the editorial office before review.

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

Required sections missing from a free-format manuscript. Nutrients accepts free-format submissions with no strict formatting requirements, but every manuscript must contain the required sections: Author Information, Abstract, Keywords, Introduction, Materials & Methods, Results, Conclusions, Figures and Tables with Captions, Funding Information, Author Contributions, Conflict of Interest and other Ethics Statements. The Editorial Office's technical pre-check verifies adherence to the Instructions for Authors, and a submission that fails it to the extent that further review is prevented does not proceed. The current MDPI Word or LaTeX template, available from the MDPI instructions page, is encouraged because it substantially shortens copy-editing.

Abstract does not follow the Nutrients structure or contains citations, undefined abbreviations, or equations. Nutrients asks for a structured abstract of around 250 words with the headings Background/Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions, while MDPI's general style guide gives a 200-word maximum; the two documents differ. The style guide also says the abstract must be self-contained, with abbreviations defined in the abstract and no reference to the bibliography or figures, and that it must not contain equations. The abstract must stand alone as a complete summary of the objective, methods, key results, and conclusions of the study.

ORCID iDs not added in the submission system. MDPI strongly recommends that authors have an ORCID account. The iD can be added in the submission system (SuSy) and is included in the published paper with an icon linking to the ORCID profile. Registration is free, so add the iDs for the corresponding author and co-authors before you submit.

References use full journal names rather than MDPI's abbreviated form. Nutrients follows the MDPI reference style, in which journal names are abbreviated according to ISO 4 rules (MDPI's own example is Am. J. Clin. Nutr.). Reference managers set to full journal names should be switched to the MDPI style and the list checked. If you are unsure how to abbreviate a title, MDPI says to leave the full title and the Editorial Office will abbreviate it.

A Nutrients formatting and readiness check evaluates manuscript structure, MDPI template compliance, abstract length, and reference format against these desk-rejection patterns before you submit.

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

Or see example reports before you finalize.