Production and publishing guide
Manuscript formatting checklist
Prepare the final Word document so it converts perfectly into the online reading version: no missing figures, no vanished formulas, no broken tables.
The most common mistake
Diagrams built from several Word shapes, SmartArt, or an embedded chart are invisible to the conversion tool and vanish with no warning. Always group multi-piece drawings and Save as Picture before inserting them, and set every image to "In Line with Text."
Who this is for
Anyone preparing the final, ready-to-publish Word file for a manuscript, typically during copyediting and proof review, right before the file is uploaded through the site's docx-to-HTML conversion tool.
Eight rules
What to check before you send the file
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1
Section titles (headings)
Use Word's built-in Heading styles for every section title, not hand-bolded text. The body must open with a section literally titled "Introduction" or "Background".
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2
Formulas and equations
Build every formula with Word's own Equation tool (Insert → Equation, or Alt+=). Avoid MathType, the old Equation 3.0 tool, or a screenshot of a formula.
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3
Pictures, diagrams and drawings
Group multi-piece drawings, SmartArt, and charts, then flatten each into a single picture (Save as Picture). Set every image to "In Line with Text".
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4
Figure and table captions
Captions belong as plain text directly above or below the image ("Figure 1.", "Table 1."), never inside a floating text box.
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5
Tables
Real data goes in a genuine Word table. A diagram-style "table" (for example a scoring matrix) should be flattened into a picture instead and captioned as a table.
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6
Reference list
One reference per paragraph, in final order, under a heading titled exactly "References". Include each DOI as plain text so it auto-links.
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7
Closing sections
Funding, Acknowledgements, Ethics and similar sections use a bold label and colon, for example "Funding: This work received no external funding."
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8
Before you send the file
Accept every tracked change, delete every comment, remove text boxes, and keep the body to a single column.
Why this matters
Once the final Word document is uploaded, the website automatically turns it into a clean, readable web page that sits alongside the PDF: the "Full text" reading version readers see first. That conversion can only work with what Word actually stores in the file, so a small number of preparation habits make the difference between a perfect conversion and one with silently missing content.
Get the full checklist
The PDF includes worked examples for every rule and a tick-box list to run through before you hand over the final file.