Submission Preflight & Cover Letter (cell-submission)

Submission Preflight & Cover Letter (cell-submission)

When to trigger

• The manuscript is "done" and you're about to upload to Editorial Manager.
• You want a single gate confirming every other cell-* skill's output landed.
• A revision is going back and you need to confirm nothing regressed.

Master preflight checklist

Significance & narrative

• Clears the complete-mechanistic-story bar (cell-fit rung ≥ 4, multiple converging lines).
• Single narrative arc (hypothesis → mechanism → significance); no parallel mini-stories.
• Title is declarative, names the actor + effect.

Cell signature artifacts

• Highlights: 3–4 bullets, each ≤ 85 characters incl. spaces.
• eTOC / In Brief blurb: ~50 words, third person, lay language.
• Graphical Abstract: single panel, clear flow, minimal text, RGB, correct size.

Summary & writing

• Summary: single paragraph ≤ ~150 words, mechanism named, ≥1 quantified result, no citations.
• Main text ~45,000 characters (incl. legends); display items within ~7–8.
• Results have claim-style subheadings; Discussion is interpretive, not a recap.

Figures & display items

• Sized to 85 / 114 / 174 mm; min font ~6–7 pt; RGB.
• Data shown (points + n + replicate type); error bars defined; scale bars present.
• Colorblind-safe; legends stand alone (title + per-panel + statistics).
• Image integrity: uncropped key blots in supplement; source data retained.

STAR Methods

• Key Resources Table complete (antibodies w/ Cat#+RRID; deposited data w/ accession; software w/ version).
• Resource Availability has all three subsections: Lead Contact / Materials Availability / Data and Code Availability.
• Experimental Model and Subject Details incl. ethics (IRB/IACUC, consent, authentication).
• Method Details reproducible; Quantification and Statistical Analysis consolidated.

Data & code

• Data deposited; accession numbers/DOIs in hand; mirrored into KRT "Deposited Data."
• Code public + archived (Zenodo/Mendeley DOI).