Blood Template
Get your Blood paper right the first time: a ready-made structure with the right abstract and citations, so editors see your science, not formatting slips.
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How to Use the Blood Template | A Step-by-Step Guide
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 30 July, 2026
Submitting to Blood goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Blood guide for authors before peer review, so formatting, structure, and required statements should be right on the first draft rather than repaired during upload. This template sets that structure up for you.
What is the Blood Template?
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Blood. It covers front matter, the abstract the journal expects, a body organized to the journal's article types, and a reference list in the journal's required style. Confirm current scope and article types on the Blood journal page before you draft.
What's actually in a Blood submission:
Prepare the title, authors, affiliations, and ORCID iDs. Write the abstract to the journal's rule and word limit, organize the body to the article type, and apply the required reference style from the first citation. Complete every declaration (ethics, competing interests, funding, data availability) the Blood guide for authors lists, and cite figures and tables in order.
What separates a clean submission from one that gets kicked back:
The common failure modes are formatting or reference style that does not match the guide for authors, missing required statements, and an incomplete portal checklist. Clear all three against the Blood guide for authors before you submit.
What does this Blood Template include?
The shell mirrors what editorial staff check first: article-type fit, the abstract rules, required declarations, and the journal's reference style. For more detail see the author resources. When your draft is ready, upload it through the journal's submission system.
Steps to Use This Template with SciSpace Agent
- Click Start Writing on this page. The SciSpace Agent prompt screen opens with the template loaded.
- Use the loaded template, or upload a version your group already uses for Blood.
- Edit the prompt with your topic and article type, and note any requirement from the Blood guide for authors.
- Run the prompt. The agent drafts into the correct structure and reference style.
- Use View Outputs to verify required statements and formatting are present.
- Export and submit through the journal's submission system.
Blood Template Structure at a Glance
| Element | Blood requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | 250 words maximum, unstructured (single paragraph, no subheadings) for Regular Articles and Review Articles; 200 words for Brief Reports and How I Treat articles; 40 words for Letters to Blood |
| Main text | Regular Articles: 4,000 words (Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion only); Brief Reports: 1,500 words; Review Articles: 4,000 words; How I Treat: 4,000 words; Letter to Blood: 1,200 words; Perspectives: 4,000 words; Blood Spotlight: 1,500-2,000 words |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | Blood uses 'Key Points' instead of traditional keywords. Typically 2 Key Points required, each maximum 140 characters including spaces |
| References | AMA Manual of Style, 11th edition (numbered reference style, similar to Vancouver/NLM, consecutively numbered in order of first citation, cited using superscript numbers) |
| Peer review | Single-anonymized (reviewers remain unknown to authors, are known to reviewers) |
| Submission | blood.msubmit.net |
Quick Tips for Using the Blood Template
Read the Blood guide for authors once before drafting and once before upload. Draft the abstract after results are stable. Set the reference style before adding citations. Keep a cover letter that states your contribution and fit to Blood in under a page.
Best Practices
Skim two or three recent Blood papers to calibrate depth and figure style. Make the novelty clear in the first two pages. Deposit data and code when the policy on the Blood journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Before You Submit: Final Check
Do one focused pass against the Blood guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.
