Modified April 2021

  
 
            MANUSCRIPT BODY FORMATTING GUIDELINES  Level 1 Heading

1  Abstract  Use Level 1 heading

for all major sections
(Abstract, Introduction,
2  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Materials and
3  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, vitae blandit tortor methods, Results,
4  interdum. Donec tincidunt porta sem nec hendrerit. Vestibulum nec Discussion, etc.).
5  pharetra quam, vitae convallis nunc. Mauris in mattis sapien. Fusce  Bold type, 18pt font.
6  sodales vulputate auctor. Nam lacus felis, fermentum sit amet nulla  Only use italics and
7  ac, tristique ultrices tellus. Integer rutrum aliquet sapien, eu text formatting where
8  fermentum magna pellentesque vitae. Integer semper viverra mauris needed (e.g. genus
9  vel pulvinar. Suspendisse sagittis malesuada urna. Praesent mauris and species names,
10  diam, fringilla id fringilla ac, posuere non lorem. Vestibulum mauris genes, etc.).
 Headings should be
11  ante, fringilla quis tortor sit amet, accumsan fermentum quam. Nulla
written in sentence
12  dictum consectetur leo. Ut vulputate ipsum purus, a interdum nibh case (capitalize only
13  viverra et. Praesent aliquam sapien vel massa sodales bibendum. the first word of the
14  Nulla interdum accumsan lectus, sed auctor elit accumsan a. heading, the first word
15  Suspendisse quis rhoncus nibh. The verum est de illic. of the subheading, and
any proper nouns and
16  NOTE: Before submitting, review the full submission guidelines
genus names).
for the journal to which you are submitting: PLOS ONE, PLOS
Biology, PLOS Medicine, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS
17  Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Pathogens NOTE: Do not cite
figures, tables,
supporting information,
18  Introduction or references in the
Abstract.
19  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
20  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, vitae blandit tortor
21  interdum. Donec tincidunt porta sem nec hendrerit. Vestibulum nec
22  pharetra quam, vitae convallis nunc.
Figure Citations
23  Level 1 heading  Cite figures as “Fig 1”,
“Fig 2”, etc.
24  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.  Cite figures and tables
25  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, vitae (Fig 1) in order.
26  interdum. Donec tincidunt porta sem nec hendrerit. Vestibulum nec  Do not cite “Fig 2”
before “Fig 1”.
27  pharetra quam, vitae convallis nunc. Mauris in mattis sapien. Fusce
 Cite multiple figures as
28  sodales vulputate auctor. Nam sit amet nulla lacus a, Figs 1 and 2 “Figs 1 and 2”, “Figs 1-
29  ultrices tellus. Integer rutrum aliquet sapien, eu fermentum magna 3”, etc.
30  pellentesque vitae.

31 
Figure Captions
32  Fig 1. This is the Fig 1 Title. This is the Fig 1 legend.
 Each figure caption
33  Fig 2. This is the Fig 2 Title. This is the Fig 2 legend. should appear directly
after the paragraph in
34    File Naming for Figures which they are first cited.
 Do not include tables
1   Figure files should be saved as “Fig1.tif”, “Fig2.eps”, etc. within captions.
   Acceptable file formats for figures are “.tif”, “.tiff”, and “.eps”  Use bold type for the
 Figures should be uploaded separately as individual files. figure titles.
   Modified April 2021
  
 
            MANUSCRIPT BODY FORMATTING GUIDELINES 
35   
Display/Numbered Equation
36  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
37  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, vitae blandit tortor  Format display equations in
Mathtype or Equation Tools.
38  interdum. Donec p2 et q 2 tincidunt porta sem nec hendrerit.
 Do not use Graphic Objects.

39  p 2  2 pq  q 2  1 (1)

40  Vestibulum nec pharetra quam, vitae convallis nunc. Mauris Inline Equation
41  in mattis sapien. Fusce sodales vulputate auctor. Nam lacus felis,
 Format in regular text or as
42  fermentum sit amet nulla ac, tristique ultrices tellus. Integer rutrum an inline equation in
43  aliquet sapien, eu fermentum magna pellentesque vitae. Integer Mathtype or Equation Tools.
44  semper viverra mauris vel pulvinar dolor sit amet en ( p  q ) 2  1 .  Do not use Symbol Font.
 Do not use Graphic Objects.
45   

46  Level 2 heading Level 2 Heading

47  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.  Use Level 2 headings for
48  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, vitae blandit tortor sub-sections of major
49  interdum. Donec tincidunt porta sem nec hendrerit. Omnes tuum sections.
 Bold type, 16pt font.
50  basi sunt pertinent ad nos. Mauris in mattis sapien. Fusce sodales  Only use italics and text
51  vulputate auctor. Nam lacus felis, fermentum sit amet nulla ac, formatting where needed.
52  tristique ultrices tellus. Integer rutrum aliquet sapien, eu fermentum  Use sentence case.
53  magna pellentesque vitae. Integer semper viverra mauris vel
54  pulvinar et alst.
Level 3 heading
55  Level 3 heading
 Use Level 3 headings for
56  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. sub-sections within Level
2 headings.
57  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, vitae blandit tortor  Bold type, 14pt font.
58  interdum. Donec tincidunt porta sem nec hendrerit. Vestibulum nec  Only use italics and text
59  pharetra quam, vitae convallis nunc. Mauris in mattis sapien. Fusce formatting where needed.
60  sodales vulputate auctor. Numquam iens dare tibi up.  Use sentence case.

61  NOTE: This document is presented in single-space paragraph

format for ease of use. Please submit your manuscript in
double-space paragraph format.
62 

63 

64 

2 
 
   Modified April 2021
  
 
            MANUSCRIPT BODY FORMATTING GUIDELINES 

65  Level 1 heading

66  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
67  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, et bland Table 1  
68  Donec tincidunt porta sem nec hendrerit. Vestibulum nec pharetra
Tables and Table Citations
69  quam, vitae convalli. Fido nemo.
 Tables should be cited
70  Table 1. This is the Table 1 Title. as “Table 1”, “Table 2”,
etc.
Chemical Chemical Chemical Chemical  Cite multiple tables as
W X Y Z “Tables 1 and 2”,
“Tables 1-3”, etc.
Chemical 1 Reaction Reaction Reaction Reaction  Tables should be
1W 1X 1Y 1Z included directly after
the paragraph in which
Chemical 2 Reaction Reaction Reaction Reaction they are first cited.
 Tables must be cell-
2W 2X 2Y 2Z based in Microsoft
Word or embedded
Chemical 3 Reaction Reaction Reaction Reaction with Microsoft Excel.
3Wa 3X 3Yb 3Z  Do not use empty rows
to create spacing.
Chemical 4 Reaction Reaction Reaction Reaction  Do not include graphic
4W 4X 4Y 4Z objects, images, or
colored text.
Chemical 5 Reaction Reaction Reaction Reaction
5W 5X 5Y 5Z

71  This is the Table 1 legend.

a
72  Table footnotes belong here.
b
73  Footnotes should have corresponding symbols in the table.
74 
75 

76  Conclusion Reference Citations

77  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing [1-5].  Cite references in brackets
78  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, vitae blandit tortor (for example, “[1]” or “[2-5]”
or “[3,7,9]”).
79  interdum. Donec tincidunt porta sem nec hendrerit. Vestibulum nec
 References must be cited
80  pharetra quam, vitae convallis nunc. Mauris in mattis sapien. Fusce in order at first mention.
81  sodales vulputate auctor S1 Fig. Dolor sit amet S1 and S2 Tables.

82 

83  Supporting Information Citations

 Format Supporting Information Citations as “S1 Fig”, “S1 Table”, etc.

 Cite multiple files as “S1 and S2 Figs”, “S1-S3 Figs”, etc.
3   It is not required to cite each Supporting Information file.
   Supporting information should be uploaded separately as individual files.
   Modified April 2021
  
 
            MANUSCRIPT BODY FORMATTING GUIDELINES 
84 

85 
Acknowledgments
86  Acknowledgments
 Do not include funding or
competing interests
87  Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
information in
88  Vestibulum adipiscing urna ut lectus gravida, vitae blandit tortor Acknowledgments.
89  interdum.

90 

91  References

 References should be
92  References listed after the main text,
before the supporting
information.
93  1. Doe J, Data A, van Stats J, Testperson M, Ribosome D Jr,  References with more
94  McBio GHT, et al. This is the article title. PLoS ONE. than six authors should
95  2017;12(12):e00000. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0000000 list the first six author
names, followed by “et al.”
96  2. Doe J, Data A, van Stats J, Testperson M, Ribosome D Jr,  References should be
97  McBio GHT, et al. Bunny dynamics in cartoon landscapes. formatted according to the
98  PLoS ONE. Forthcoming 2017. NLM/ICMJE style:
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/b
sd/uniform_requirements.
99  html

100 

101  Supporting information Supporting Information

Captions
102  S1 Fig. This is the S1 Fig Title. This is the S1 Fig legend.
 List Supporting
103  S2 Fig. This is the S2 Fig Title. This is the S2 Fig legend. Information captions at
the end of the
104  S1 Table. This is the S1 Table Title. This is the S1 Table legend. manuscript in a section
titled “Supporting
105  S2 Table. This is the S2 Table Title. This is the S2 Table legend. information”.
 Use a Level 1 heading.
106  S1 File. This is the S1 File Title. This is the S1 File legend.  Use bold type for the
titles.
File Naming for Supporting Information  Supporting Information
107 
files do not require full
 Supporting Information files should be saved as “S1_Fig.tif”,
108  “S1_File.pdf”, etc. captions; only labels
 All file types are supported. (“S1 Fig”) are fully
required.
109 

4  Before submitting, review the full submission guidelines for the journal to which you are
  submitting: PLOS ONE, PLOS Biology, PLOS Medicine, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases,
PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Pathogens