When preparing your paper for submission, please use the following checklist to address some of the more common errors and grammar mistakes. This will help expedite the submission process.

Grammar and Syntax

• Check your paper thoroughly for spelling errors, especially in your medical/technical terminology.

• Use correct word inflection. Inflection is the addition of affixes to the word to change its relationship to the other words in a sentence. For example, the -s in dogs or the -ed in played.

• Use proper syntax in the entire document. Syntax refers to the combination of words and symbols that form correct sentence structure.

• Check for correct subject-verb agreement. (‘They is going…’ should be corrected to ‘They are going...’)

• Check for proper use of definite articles (the) and indefinite articles (a, an).

• Check for proper use of prepositions (of, to, on, onto,etc.).

• Check for complete and correct punctuation (full stops at the end of sentences, proper use of commas, semicolons, etc.).

• Check for spelling inconsistencies of the same word within the article.
  

• Be consistent in the use of units of measurement.

• Avoid inconsistencies in active form (John threw the ball.) and passive form (The ball was thrown by John.).
  
  

• Be mindful of the rules and structure for switching between first and third person (switching from using the ‘I’ form to using the ‘he, she, you or they’ forms)

• Ensure proper use of metaphors and figures of speech.

• Be consistent in the use of British or American English spelling.

• Check for consistency in the use of a decimal comma (47,9) or a decimal point (47.9).

Style and Formatting

• Check your journal's Guide for Authors for information about symbols and characters, and for artwork instructions.
  
  
• If English is not your native language, we recommend that you use a language editing service to improve the English language quality in your paper. We have successfully negotiated with a number of language editing companies to provide their services to you at competitive rates.
  
  
• Review and complete your submission checklist. A generic submission checklistGuide for Authors is available, but be sure to check your journal's  generic submission checklistGuide for Authors. Many Guides include a more specific submission checklist.