Get your Intensive Care Medicine 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 17 August, 2026
Submitting to Intensive Care Medicine goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Intensive Care Medicine 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 Intensive Care Medicine. 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 Intensive Care Medicine 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 Intensive Care Medicine 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 Intensive Care Medicine 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 Editorial Manager.
| Element | Intensive Care Med requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Structured abstract required for Original Papers and Reviews: 150-250 words divided into Purpose (stating main purposes and research question), Methods, Results, and Conclusion. For prospectively or retrospectively registered trials, trial registration number and date must be included. Editorials, What's New in Intensive Care, Understanding the Disease) and Images do not require an abstract |
| Main text | Original Papers: maximum 3,000 words (excluding abstract, tables, and references), no more than 5 illustrations (i.e., 3 figures or 2 tables) in main manuscript. Review Articles: maximum 4,000 words (excluding abstract, tables, and references), no more than 5 illustrations. Editorials/What's New/Understanding Disease: maximum 1,000 words (excluding tables and references). Images: 100 words for clinical context, 200 words for take-home message |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | 3-5 keywords required for Original Papers and Reviews (4-6 keywords stated in general title page guidelines for indexing purposes). No keywords required for Editorials, What's New editorials, Understanding the Disease editorials, or Images |
| References | Numbered citation style (Vancouver-style): References cited in text by numbers in square brackets, numbered consecutively. Reference list format: Author names (all or use 'et al' for long lists), year, journal title (standard ISSN abbreviations), volume:pages, DOI link. Original Papers: up to 30 references; Review Articles: up to 75 references; Editorials/What's New/Understanding Disease: up to 15 references |
| Peer review | in the main journal guidelines. The guidelines mention external peer review after editorial pre-evaluation but do not explicitly state single-blind, double-blind, or open peer review. Sister journal (Intensive Care Medicine - Paediatric and Neonatal) uses single-blind peer review, which is typical for Springer journals |
| Submission | www.editorialmanager.com/icme |
Read the Intensive Care Medicine 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 Intensive Care Medicine in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Intensive Care Med 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 Intensive Care Medicine journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Intensive Care Medicine guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through Editorial Manager.