Get your Frontiers in Digital Health 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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Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 11 August, 2026
Submitting to Frontiers in Digital Health goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Frontiers in Digital Health 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 Frontiers in Digital Health. 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 Frontiers in Digital Health 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 Frontiers in Digital Health 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 Frontiers in Digital Health 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 | Frontiers Digital Health requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | The abstract should be no longer than a single paragraph and should be structured, for example, according to the IMRAD format. For the specific structure of the abstract, authors should follow the requirements of the article type or journal to which they're submitting. Minimize the use of abbreviations and do not cite references, figures, or tables. For clinical trial articles, include the unique identifier and URL of the publicly accessible website on which the trial is registered. No specific word limit is stated beyond 'single paragraph' |
| Main text | Varies by article type: Original Research, Systematic Review, Methods, Review, Policy and Practice Reviews, Hypothesis and Theory, Clinical Trial: 12,000 words maximum. Mini Review, Perspective: 3,000 words maximum with no more than 2 Figures/Tables. Case Report: 3,000 words maximum with no more than 4 display items. Manuscript length includes only the main body of the text, footnotes, and all citations within it, and excludes the abstract, section titles, figure and table captions, funding statement, acknowledgments, and references |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | Pick 5-8 keywords using a mix of generic and more specific terms on the article subject(s). Keywords are used for discoverability but no mandatory count or MeSH requirement is specified |
| References | Vancouver (numbered) reference style. Many Frontiers journals use the numbered referencing system. In-text citations should be numbered consecutively in order of appearance and identified by Arabic numerals in parentheses. References should be numbered and listed chronologically according to the order they appear in the text |
| Peer review | Single-anonymized (also called single-blind): reviewers know who the authors are, but reviewers remain anonymous to the authors during the review process. The names of all endorsing reviewers are disclosed upon publication |
| Submission | www.frontiersin.org/submission/submit?domainid=2&fieldid=129&specialtyid=0&entitytype=2&entityid=1534 |
Read the Frontiers in Digital Health 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 Frontiers in Digital Health in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Frontiers Digital Health 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 Frontiers in Digital Health journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Frontiers in Digital Health guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.