Pre-submission checklist

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Pre-submission
Pre-submission Checklist

1. Pre-submission checklist

Current Criminology is an online-only journal; all articles and associated materials are published in digital form, and no print edition is produced. Final versions of articles are made available as online PDFs and/or HTML pages, accompanied by any approved supplementary materials.

Before submitting, please confirm that you have prepared and uploaded all required files listed below.

Required files: (1) Title Page, (2) Anonymous manuscript, (3) Figures, and (4) Supplementary materials (if applicable).

Important: The anonymous manuscript must contain the complete text of the article, including the full set of tables and figures. Figures must also be uploaded as separate high-quality files (see section 1.3).

1.1. Title Page (separate file)

The Title Page is used for editorial and production purposes and will not be shared with reviewers.

  • Confirm that the Title Page is uploaded as a separate file.
  • Ensure that it includes:
    • Article title.
    • Full author names (without degrees).
    • Institutional affiliations (department, institution, city, country).
    • Corresponding author’s e-mail address.
    • Please indicate the corresponding author with an asterisk (*) next to their name.
    • Any acknowledgements.
    • Funding information (if applicable).
    • Conflict-of-interest (competing interest) statements.
    • Ethics approval details (where applicable).
    • Author contribution / CRediT statements (where applicable).
  • Confirm that all identifying information appears only on the Title Page and not in the anonymous manuscript.

1.2. Anonymous manuscript

The anonymous manuscript is the version used for double-anonymous peer review. It is the only manuscript file required and must not contain any information that could identify the authors.

  • Confirm that the anonymous manuscript includes:
    • Article title (in a neutral form that does not reveal identity, if necessary).
    • Abstract.
    • Keywords.
    • Main text (all sections).
    • Figures and tables (or figure legends) in their final form.
    • Reference list.
    • All required declarations (e.g. ethics, data availability, permissions) written in a way that does not disclose author identity or institutional details.
    • Editable equations: if the manuscript contains equations, please ensure that they are provided in an editable format (for example, created with the Word equation editor or LaTeX) and not as images, so that they can be accurately typeset.
  • Remove or anonymize all identifying information, including:
    • Author names and affiliations.
    • Acknowledgements and funding statements that reveal identity.
    • Self-references that explicitly identify the authors (for example, citations that make it obvious that the authors of the paper and the cited work are the same).
    • Any personal or institutional details in the text, tables, figures, or captions that could identify the authors.
  • Check that file properties and metadata (for example, author fields in the document file) do not reveal the authors’ identities.
  • Ensure that no labels, captions, file names, or in-text references within the anonymous manuscript reveal author identity.

1.3. Figures (separate uploads)

All figures must be included within the anonymous manuscript and also uploaded as separate files for production.

  • Confirm that all figures are uploaded as separate high-quality image files in addition to appearing in the anonymous manuscript.
  • Figures should be high quality (1200 dpi for line art, 600 dpi for grayscale and 300 dpi for colour, at the correct size).
  • Acceptable formats include TIFF, high-resolution JPEG, PNG, or vector formats such as EPS, provided they are suitable for online publication.
  • Ensure that figures created in other applications are supplied in their original formats or exported at publication quality.
  • Number all figures consecutively using Arabic numerals (Figure 1, Figure 2, etc.) and provide clear, descriptive captions.
  • Make sure that all text, labels, and symbols within figures are legible at the final published size.
  • If any figure has been previously published, obtain written permission from the copyright holder and clearly acknowledge the original source in the caption and in the reference list.

1.4. Supplementary materials

Authors may upload optional supplementary materials that are essential to the study but not suitable for inclusion in the main article.

  • Confirm whether you have any supplementary materials (for example, additional tables or figures, datasets, extended methods, questionnaires, or multimedia files).
  • Ensure that each supplementary file:
    • Is clearly labelled (for example, “Supplementary Table 1”, “Supplementary Figure 1”, “Supplementary File A”).
    • Is referenced appropriately in the main text.
    • Is prepared in a commonly readable format (for example, PDF, Excel, Word, image, or standard multimedia formats).
  • Note that supplementary materials will be linked to the online article as separate files and will not be fully integrated into the main article PDF layout.