Nutrients Formatting Requirements: Complete Author Guide

Nutrients uses a simple, unstructured abstract format.

• Word limit: 200 words maximum
• Structure: Unstructured single paragraph, no subheadings
• 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 200-word 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."

One MDPI-specific detail: the abstract appears directly in the HTML version of the article without any formatting. Don't include special characters, subscripts, or superscripts in the abstract if you can avoid them, because they sometimes render incorrectly in the HTML view.

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)
• Figures should not be placed inside text boxes in Word; use the MDPI template's figure environment

Tables in Nutrients follow a specific MDPI format. They must have a title above the table and notes below. The MDPI template handles this layout. Tables should not use vertical lines, and horizontal lines should be minimal (typically header line and bottom line only).

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, which differs from most publisher styles in one notable way: journal names are not abbreviated.

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. Full 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
• Full journal names (not abbreviated). This is a major MDPI quirk. Write "Nutrients" not "Nutr.", "The Journal of Nutrition" not "J. Nutr."
• Article titles in sentence case
• Year follows journal name, preceded by a space
• Volume in bold, followed by article number or page range
• DOIs required for all references that have them

The full journal name requirement is the single most common reference formatting error in MDPI submissions. If you're using a citation manager, you'll need to change the output style to MDPI format. Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote all have MDPI styles available, but double-check that journal names come out unabbreviated.

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 as "Supplementary Figure S1" or "Supplementary Table S1." MDPI uses a specific format: "Figure S1" (not "Supplementary Figure 1" or "SF1").

All supplementary material is peer-reviewed and published alongside the article. It's 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 mandatory from the start. Unlike most Elsevier or Springer journals, MDPI requires template compliance at initial submission. The system will reject manuscripts that don't use the MDPI template. Download the latest version before each submission because MDPI updates templates periodically.

Author information is detailed. MDPI requires full first and last names (no initials-only authors), ORCID iDs for all authors (strongly encouraged, mandatory for corresponding author), and a one-sentence author biography. The biography appears in the published article's HTML version.

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.

No "Introduction" alternative. MDPI mandates that the first section be titled "Introduction" (numbered as Section 1). You can't skip it or use an alternative like "Background." The section structure is: 1. Introduction, 2. Materials and Methods (or equivalent), 3. Results, 4. Discussion, 5. Conclusions. You can combine Results and Discussion if appropriate.

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. Full journal names in references. The single most common error. Citation managers default to abbreviated names. Switch to MDPI style and verify every reference manually.

1. MDPI template not used. Free-format submissions are rejected immediately. Use the MDPI Word or LaTeX template.

1. ORCID iDs missing. MDPI strongly pushes ORCID integration. The corresponding author must have an ORCID. All co-authors should have one. The submission system will prompt for them.

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.

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

Mandatory MDPI template not used for manuscript preparation. Nutrients requires all submissions to use the current MDPI Word or LaTeX template, available from the MDPI instructions page. Manuscripts prepared in plain Word format or in a non-MDPI template are returned for reformatting before entering the peer review queue. The MDPI system checks template compliance at submission processing. MDPI updates its template periodically; authors using an outdated version are asked to reformat.

Abstract exceeds 200 words or contains citations, undefined abbreviations, or mathematical notation. The MDPI abstract policy for Nutrients is strict: 200 words maximum, unstructured, no literature citations, no abbreviations undefined within the abstract text, and no mathematical formulas. Exceeding the word limit by even a few words triggers a correction request. The abstract must stand alone as a complete summary of the objective, methods, key results, and conclusions of the study.

ORCID iD not provided for the corresponding author. MDPI requires that the corresponding author provide their ORCID iD at submission. This is enforced at the submission system level. Manuscripts where the corresponding author has not registered for ORCID, or where the ORCID is not linked through the Sciforum submission system, are flagged before processing. Co-author ORCID iDs are encouraged but not mandatory.

References use abbreviated journal names rather than MDPI's required full names. Nutrients follows the MDPI reference style, which uses full, unabbreviated journal names. Authors from chemistry, biology, or medical backgrounds typically use abbreviated journal names from reference managers pre-configured for other publishers. The MDPI format requires "Nutrients," "Journal of Nutrition," and "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition," not abbreviated forms. Manuscripts with abbreviated reference lists are returned for correction.

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.