Get your Cell Death and Differentiation paper right the first time: a ready-made structure with the right abstract and citations, so editors see your science, not formatting slips.
4.5
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 3 August, 2026
Submitting to Cell Death and Differentiation goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Cell Death and Differentiation 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.
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Cell Death and Differentiation. 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 Cell Death and Differentiation journal page before you draft.
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 Cell Death and Differentiation guide for authors lists, and cite figures and tables in order.
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 Cell Death and Differentiation guide for authors before you submit.
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.
| Element | Cell Death Differentiation requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Unstructured abstract, max. 300 words for Articles, Review Articles, and Perspectives. No abstract for Editorials, Comments, and Meeting Reports. Per the official guide: "Articles must be prepared with an unstructured abstract designed to summarise the essential features of the paper in a logical and concise sequence." Specifications by article type: - Article: Unstructured abstract, max. 300 words - Review Article: Unstructured abstract, max. 300 words - Perspective: Unstructured abstract, max. 300 words - Editorial: No abstract - Comment: No abstract - Meeting Report: No abstract |
| Main text | Word limits by article type (excluding abstract, tables/figures, and references): - Article: max. 3,500 words (main body of text) - Review Article: max. 5,000 words (main body of text) - Perspective: max. 2,500 words (main body of text, includes tables/figures and references) - Editorial: max. 1,200 words (includes tables/figures and references) - Comment: max. 1,200 words (includes tables/figures and references) - Meeting Report: max. 1,200 words (includes tables/figures and references) Section order for Articles: Title Page, Abstract, Introduction, Materials/Subjects and Methods, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, Conflict of Interest, Availability of Data and Materials, References, Tables, Figure Legends, Figures |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | At least 1, up to 4 subject terms required. Per the official guide: "Your article should be indexed with at least one, and up to four unique subject terms that describe the key subjects and concepts in your manuscript." Authors select from the journal's subject ontology upon submission. Not MeSH terms; author-selected from provided ontology |
| References | Vancouver style. Per the official guide: "References should follow the Vancouver format. In the text they should appear as numbers starting at one and at the end of the paper they should be listed (double-spaced) in numerical order corresponding to the order of citation in the text. Where a reference is to appear next to a number in the text, for example following an equation, chemical formula or biological acronym, citations should be written as (ref. X)." All authors listed for papers with up to 6 authors; for more than 6 authors, list first 6 followed by et al. Maximum references by article type: Articles max. 80, Review Articles max. 150, Perspectives max. 100, Editorials/Comments max. 15, Meeting Reports no references |
| Peer review | Single-blind / single-anonymous. Per the official guide peer review terminology: "Single anonymized" - reviewers are not identified to authors. The Editorial Process page states: "By policy, referees are not identified to the authors, except at the request of the referee." The PDF guide confirms: "Unless otherwise declared as a part of open peer review, the peer review process is confidential and conducted anonymously." Reviewers know author identities, but authors do not know reviewer identities |
| Submission | mts-cdd.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex |
Read the Cell Death and Differentiation 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 Cell Death and Differentiation in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Cell Death Differentiation 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 Cell Death and Differentiation journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Cell Death and Differentiation guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.