Pre-Submission Check

Pre-Submission Check

Treat your manuscript like code: run the checks in order, fix the gaps, keep the report.

Every check on this page runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. A machine can see whether a statement is present or a reference resolves. Whether each is adequate, and whether the manuscript is ready, is your judgment. A clean run is not a clearance.

The check chain

  1. Statements and structure: ethics, consent, funding, competing interests, data availability, registration, AI disclosure; section headings.Runs on this page, step 1 below.
  2. Reporting guideline: STROBE, CONSORT or PRISMA, item by item, next to the group's own fillable checklist.Runs on this page, step 2 below.
  3. Citations in the document: missing bibliography entries, duplicates, broken or flattened Zotero fields.Zotero Citation Checker, step 3 below.
  4. The reference list: DOIs against Crossref and DataCite for mismatches, retractions, duplicates.Reference check, step 4 below.
  5. Claim wording: uncited claims, overclaiming, vague evidence language.Citation quick check, step 5 below.
  6. Writing patterns: the sentences worth looking at again, in the order you wrote them.Pattern mirror, step 6 below.
  7. Claim–source support: does each cited source support the exact claim it is attached to?CiteVahti, step 7 below.
  8. What to fix: the gaps still open and the calls that are yours.Builds as you go, step 8 below.

Step 1 · runs here

Statements and structure

No account · no upload · nothing leaves your browser.

How to read this

Found means a sentence looks like the statement. Read it and judge whether it says what your journal asks for. Not found means the usual wording is absent; yours may be phrased differently, or it may be missing. The scan matches wording, nothing more, and requirements vary by journal, so the author instructions decide.

Step 2 · runs here

Reporting guideline

Pick the guideline matching your design, then mark each item. Marks are saved in your browser only, and the labels here are abbreviated, so the fillable checklist each guideline group publishes is the authority; the link appears once you pick one. Unsure which applies? The EQUATOR Network lists guidelines by study type.

Step 3 · Zotero Citation Checker

Citations in the document

Before anything about the sources themselves: whether the citations in the file are intact. Drop the Word manuscript into the Zotero Citation Checker and it reports citations with no bibliography entry, duplicates, and fields that are broken or flattened to plain text. Runs in your browser.

Self-reported, and the list at step 8 says so.

Step 4 · Reference check

The reference list

Paste the reference list into the reference check. It resolves DOIs, arXiv IDs and ISBNs against Crossref, DataCite and OpenLibrary, and flags mismatched titles or authors, duplicates, and retractions. A retracted source in your list is the one a reviewer will name.

Self-reported, and the list at step 8 says so.

Step 5 · Citation quick check

Claim wording

The citation quick check reads a paragraph for citation-risk wording: claims with no citation nearby, certainty language the source may not carry, vague evidence phrasing, citation pile-ups. It flags where a human should look; it does not read the cited papers or decide whether a claim is true.

Self-reported, and the list at step 8 says so.

Step 6 · Pattern mirror

Writing patterns

Paste a section into Pattern mirror and you get the sentences worth looking at again, in the order you wrote them, each with the reason and the case for leaving it alone. Documented patterns that weaken scientific prose, and no score: what to change is your decision, sentence by sentence.

Self-reported, and the list at step 8 says so.

Step 7 · CiteVahti

Claim–source support

The one check wording heuristics cannot do: whether each cited source actually supports the exact claim it is attached to. CiteVahti runs it claim by claim, you rate first and the AI second, with an auditable trail and an undoable Zotero write. Local, free, and the slowest step here for a reason.

Self-reported, and the list at step 8 says so.

Step 8 · what to fix

What to fix

Only what still needs work: gaps to close, and calls that are yours to make. Anything the checks cleared is counted, not listed. Copy it as Markdown for a supervisor mail or a repo note.

Working with an AI agent?

This page exposes the statements scan to in-browser agents via WebMCP. The agents page documents every Vahtian tool for machine use; the chain runs the same either way.

How agents can use Vahtian tools → Templates and worked examples in the kits