Investigational New Drugs Template
Get your Investigational New Drugs 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 Investigational New Drugs Template | A Step-by-Step Guide
Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 17 August, 2026
Submitting to Investigational New Drugs goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Investigational New Drugs 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 Investigational New Drugs Template?
It is a manuscript shell aligned to Investigational New Drugs. 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 Investigational New Drugs journal page before you draft.
What's actually in an Investigational New Drugs 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 Investigational New Drugs 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 Investigational New Drugs guide for authors before you submit.
What does this Investigational New Drugs 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 Investigational New Drugs.
- Edit the prompt with your topic and article type, and note any requirement from the Investigational New Drugs 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.
Investigational New Drugs Template Structure at a Glance
| Element | Investigational New Drugs requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | Structured format, 150-250 words. Research articles (phase I-III studies, preclinical studies, short reports): structured abstract required, 250-word limit. Reviews: structured format 'whenever possible', 250-word limit. Letters to the Editor: no abstract. The guidelines state abstracts 'should be in a structured format (see specifics below)' but the specific mandatory headings are not detailed in the author guidelines. Trial registration number required as last line of abstract for clinical trials |
| Main text | Research articles (preclinical, phase I-III studies, short reports, clinical trial methodologies): 3500 words maximum body text, maximum 5 tables/figures (total), up to 50 references. Reviews: 3000 words maximum body text, maximum 5 tables/figures (total), up to 60 references. Letters to the Editor: 750 words, no abstract, 1 figure maximum, up to 3 references, maximum 3 authors |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | 4 to 6 keywords required for indexing purposes |
| References | Numbered citation style (Vancouver-style). References cited in text using numbers in square brackets [3], [5], [1-3, 7]. Reference list numbered consecutively. Journal names abbreviated per ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations. DOIs included as full DOI links (https://doi.org/...). Format: Author(s) (year) Title. Journal abbreviation volume:pages. DOI |
| Peer review | - The official author guidelines do not explicitly state the peer review model. The guidelines mention that 'standards could vary slightly per journal dependent on their peer review policies (i.e. single or double blind peer review)' and include conditional language 'If the journal uses double-anonymous peer review' in the data availability section, but do not confirm which model applies to this specific journal |
| Submission | submission.nature.com/new-submission/10637/3 |
Quick Tips for Using the Investigational New Drugs Template
Read the Investigational New Drugs 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 Investigational New Drugs in under a page.
Best Practices
Skim two or three recent Investigational New Drugs 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 Investigational New Drugs 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 Investigational New Drugs guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through the journal's submission system.
