Cell Discovery Template
Get your Cell Discovery 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 Cell Discovery Template | A Step-by-Step Guide
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 3 August, 2026
Submitting to Cell Discovery goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Cell Discovery 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 Cell Discovery Template?
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Cell Discovery. 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 Discovery journal page before you draft.
What's actually in a Cell Discov 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 Cell Discovery 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 Cell Discovery guide for authors before you submit.
What does this Cell Discovery 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 Cell Discov.
- Edit the prompt with your topic and article type, and note any requirement from the Cell Discovery 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.
Cell Discovery Template Structure at a Glance
| Element | Cell Discov requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Unstructured abstract with maximum word limit of 250 words for Articles and Review Articles. Correspondence and Editorial types do not require an abstract. The abstract should state the purpose, basic procedures, main findings and principal conclusions of the study. The abstract should not contain abbreviations or references |
| Main text | Articles: 6,000-8,000 words excluding abstract, references, figures and tables. Section order: Title page, Abstract, Introduction, Results, Discussion, Materials and methods, Acknowledgements, Conflict of interests, References, Contributions, Figure legends, Tables, Figures. Correspondence: 1,200 words excluding references, figures and tables. Editorial: 1,000 words excluding references. Review Article: 15,000 words maximum excluding abstract, references, figures and tables |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | Not specified in the official author guidelines |
| References | Nature style: References numbered in order of appearance in the text as superscript numbers, listed numerically at end. All authors listed for papers with up to five authors; for more than five authors, first author only followed by et al. First and last page numbers required. Maximum of 100 references for Articles, 10 for Correspondence/Editorial, 250 for Review Articles |
| Peer review | Single-blind peer review (reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but reviewer identities remain anonymous to authors) |
| Submission | mts-celldisc.nature.com/cgi-bin/main.plex |
Quick Tips for Using the Cell Discovery Template
Read the Cell Discovery 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 Discovery in under a page.
Best Practices
Skim two or three recent Cell Discov 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 Discovery 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 Cell Discovery guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.
