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Every journal publishes rules, and most manuscripts break a few of them. Each post takes one rule, quotes its source, and shows the before-and-after redline: citation order, abstract limits, reference styles, author statements. Small rules carry outsized signals, and reviewers read compliance as care. This is the series Waraq's own rule library grew out of.
Journals now ask authors to declare generative AI use in writing, figures, and analysis. Here is what the written rules require, and a template you can adapt.
Waraq · July 14, 2026
The CRediT taxonomy names 14 contributor roles. Here is what each one covers, who usually claims it, and how to write a statement your co-authors will sign.
Waraq · July 12, 2026
Six authors, then et al., at both PLOS ONE and Frontiers in Neurology. The number comes from each journal's reference spec, not from Vancouver or APA, and a reference manager set once formats for the wrong journal.
Waraq · July 11, 2026
The two reference systems journals actually enforce, what breaks when you paste APA citations into a Vancouver journal, and how to convert without retyping every entry.
Waraq · July 9, 2026
The abstract word limit is a compliance gate, not a style preference. The real numbers at Nature, PLOS ONE, The Lancet and Frontiers, and how to get under them without losing a finding.
Waraq · July 8, 2026
One rule, one before-and-after redline. How APA 7.12 handles multiple works in a single parenthetical, and why reviewers notice.
Waraq · June 24, 2026