Author guidelines in the AI era: Writing for readers, search engines, and reproducibility. Insights from editorial practice.

Abstract

Scientific journals establish author guidelines to ensure manuscript consistency, enhance readability, and maintain editorial standards. However, the rationale behind specific requirements is not always apparent to submitting authors, leading to misunderstandings and noncompliance. This editorial examines the instructions for authors currently applied at Advances in Clinical and Experimental Medicine, explaining the purpose behind selected regulations that may initially seem arbitrary or overly prescriptive. We analyze requirements concerning manuscript titles (sentence case, study design specification, avoidance of nonstandard abbreviations), author affiliations (institutional hierarchy, geographic formatting), ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) usage, highlights preparation, taxonomic nomenclature (italicization of genus and species, distinction between genes and proteins), laboratory equipment reporting (manufacturer details, catalog numbers, software versions), abbreviation protocols, and supplementary file management. We demonstrate that these requirements serve essential practical functions: improving search engine optimization and discoverability, ensuring experimental reproducibility, preventing taxonomic and nomenclatural confusion, facilitating rigorous peer review, and enhancing reader comprehension across different formats and access points. The editorial also addresses the evolving nature of author guidelines in the era of artificial intelligence (AI) and digital publishing, emphasizing that editorial policies should function as adaptable documents that respond to technological advances and changing scholarly communication practices. By fostering open dialogue between editors and authors regarding the rationale behind publication requirements, journals can maintain high standards while remaining responsive to the legitimate concerns of the research community. We conclude that transparent communication about editorial policies not only improves compliance but also strengthens the collaborative relationship between journals and the researchers they serve.