Format your manuscript to the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery requirements — abstract, references, and required declarations — and submit without a formatting rejection.
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Authored by Sumalatha Gangadhar | Published on 26 August, 2026
Submitting to Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery goes smoothly when your draft already matches the journal's own rules. Editors screen new manuscripts against the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 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 Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery. 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 Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 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 Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 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 Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 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 ScholarOne (Manuscript Central).
| Element | Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery requirement |
|---|---|
| Abstract | All abstracts should be 300 words. Original Articles and Short Communications: structured with ‘Objectives’, ‘Methods’, ‘Results’ and ‘Conclusions and relevance’. Case Series: structured with ‘Case series summary’ and ‘Relevance and novel information’. Review Articles: either unstructured or structured with subheadings of the author’s choice. The abstract should not contain reference citations. Letters to the Editor are specified only with an 800-word limit (including references, tables and legends), and no abstract rule is stated for them |
| Main text | Recommended main-text limits and section order: Original Articles—3000 words, excluding abstract, plain language summary (optional), end statements, references, tables, legends and supplementary material; sections: ‘Introduction’, ‘Materials and methods’, ‘Results’, ‘Discussion’, ‘Conclusions’, ‘Acknowledgements’ (if applicable), ‘Author note’ (if applicable), ‘Ethical approval’, ‘Informed consent’, ‘References’. Review Articles—4000 words with the same exclusions; headings are the author’s choice, followed by ‘Conclusions’, ‘Acknowledgements’ (if applicable), ‘Author note’ (if applicable), ‘Ethical approval’, ‘Informed consent’, ‘References’. Short Communications—2000 words with the same exclusions; sections: ‘Introduction’, ‘Materials and methods’, ‘Results’, ‘Discussion’, ‘Conclusions’, ‘Acknowledgements’ (if applicable), ‘Author note’ (if applicable), ‘Ethical approval’, ‘Informed consent’, ‘References’. Case Series (minimum four cases)—2500 words with the same exclusions; sections: ‘Introduction’ (optional), ‘Case series description’, ‘Discussion’, ‘Conclusions’, ‘Acknowledgements’ (if applicable), ‘Author note’ (if applicable), ‘Ethical approval’, ‘Informed consent’, ‘References’. Letters to the Editor—800 words including references, tables and legends; no more than five references and either one table or figure; no further section order is stated |
| Declarations | Ethics approval/consent as applicable; competing interests; funding; data availability |
| Figures/tables | Publication-ready; cited in order |
| Supplemental | Upload separately when used |
| Keywords | A minimum of four keywords is required; keywords must not include ‘cat’ or ‘feline’. Keywords should be included at the beginning of the article. No MeSH requirement or upper limit is stated |
| References | SAGE Vancouver style; do not use footnotes. References for Original Articles, Review Articles, Short Communications and Case Series may be as many as needed/relevant. Letters to the Editor may have no more than five references |
| Peer review | Strictly double-anonymized (double-anonymous) peer review: reviewers’ names are withheld from authors and authors’ names from reviewers. The journal’s policy is to have two independent reviewers for each manuscript; reviewers may voluntarily reveal their names |
| Submission | mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jfms |
Read the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 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 Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery in under a page.
Skim two or three recent Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 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 Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery journal page requires it. Disclose any preprint or conference version with identifiers in the cover letter.
Do one focused pass against the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery guide for authors: scope, length, reference style, required declarations, and figure quality. Then submit through ScholarOne (Manuscript Central).