Author Guidelines

Syntheses is a peer-reviewed, open-access, multidisciplinary scientific journal dedicated to the integration, synthesis, and advancement of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries.

The journal welcomes high-quality scholarly contributions from the physical sciences, chemical sciences, biological and life sciences, Earth and environmental sciences, astronomy and astrophysics, mathematics and computational sciences, engineering and technology, health and biomedical sciences, psychology and behavioral sciences, social sciences, philosophy of science, and related fields.

Although the journal has a broad scientific scope, its defining editorial characteristic is its emphasis on synthesis. Manuscripts should demonstrate meaningful integration of evidence, concepts, theories, methodologies, or perspectives and should contribute to a broader scientific understanding beyond the presentation of isolated findings.

Authors are therefore encouraged to clearly explain the integrative or synthetic contribution of their manuscript.

2. Suitability for the Journal

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should consider whether the work is appropriate for the aims and scope of Syntheses.

The journal particularly welcomes manuscripts that:

• integrate knowledge from different scientific disciplines;
• synthesize diverse bodies of evidence;
• connect theoretical and empirical perspectives;
• reconcile apparently conflicting findings;
• identify relationships between previously separated areas of research;
• develop new conceptual or theoretical frameworks;
• integrate experimental, observational, computational, or mathematical approaches;
• generate new hypotheses from converging evidence;
• connect phenomena across different levels or scales of analysis;
• provide interdisciplinary interpretations of established scientific knowledge; or
• offer new scientific perspectives arising from the integration of multiple approaches.

A manuscript does not necessarily need to involve several disciplines to be considered. A single-discipline study may be appropriate when its findings provide a substantial contribution to a broader scientific synthesis or have significant implications beyond the immediate specialist field.

Authors should avoid presenting a manuscript as interdisciplinary merely by citing literature from several disciplines. The integration should be substantive and scientifically meaningful.

3. Types of Manuscripts

Syntheses considers the following types of submissions:

Original Research Articles

Reports of original experimental, observational, computational, theoretical, or methodological research.

Original research articles should clearly describe the research question, methodology, results, interpretation, and scientific significance. Where applicable, authors should explicitly identify how the findings contribute to a broader synthesis of knowledge.

Review Articles

Comprehensive and critical evaluations of a defined research area.

Reviews should go beyond descriptive summaries and should identify patterns, relationships, controversies, gaps, limitations, and emerging directions in the literature.

Integrative Reviews

Reviews that intentionally combine evidence, theories, or perspectives from different disciplines or research traditions.

Systematic Reviews

Structured reviews conducted according to a clearly defined and reproducible methodology for identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing relevant literature.

Scoping Reviews

Systematic mapping of the available literature in a broad or emerging research area, particularly where the field crosses disciplinary boundaries.

Meta-Analyses

Quantitative synthesis of results from multiple independent studies using appropriate statistical methods.

Theoretical and Conceptual Articles

Articles developing new theoretical models, conceptual frameworks, hypotheses, or explanatory approaches.

Such manuscripts should demonstrate a clear intellectual contribution and should establish how the proposed framework relates to existing scientific knowledge.

Interdisciplinary Research Articles

Studies that explicitly integrate methodologies, theories, datasets, or findings from multiple disciplines.

Methodological Articles

Articles presenting new methods, analytical frameworks, computational approaches, models, or methodological innovations that have broader scientific relevance.

Perspectives

Authoritative and forward-looking discussions of important scientific questions, emerging concepts, or developing research directions.

Critical Reviews

Focused critical analyses of established or emerging areas of research, emphasizing unresolved questions, conceptual tensions, methodological limitations, and future directions.

Research Notes and Short Communications

Concise reports of important observations, preliminary findings, methodological developments, or focused scientific contributions.

Commentaries

Scholarly discussions addressing important scientific developments, published research, conceptual issues, or emerging debates.

Letters to the Editor

Brief scholarly communications concerning articles published in the journal or matters of scientific interest to the readership.

4. General Submission Requirements

Manuscripts submitted to Syntheses should:

1. be original work;
2. not have been published previously in substantially similar form;
3. not be under consideration by another journal;
4. comply with applicable ethical standards;
5. accurately report the research and its findings;
6. provide appropriate references to previous work;
7. clearly identify the contribution of the manuscript;
8. comply with the journal's authorship and conflict-of-interest policies; and
9. follow the journal's formatting and submission requirements.

Submission of a manuscript implies that all authors have approved the submitted version and agree with its submission to Syntheses.

5. Manuscript Preparation

Authors should prepare manuscripts in clear, concise, and grammatically correct English.

Manuscripts should generally contain the following elements, as appropriate to the article type:

• Title
• Author names
• Institutional affiliations
• ORCID identifiers, where available
• Corresponding author information
• Abstract
• Keywords
• Introduction
• Materials and Methods / Methodology
• Results
• Discussion
• Conclusions
• Data Availability Statement
• Funding Statement
• Conflict of Interest Statement
• Author Contributions
• Acknowledgements
• References

The precise structure may vary according to the type of manuscript.

Authors should use informative section headings and maintain a logical progression from the research question through methodology, findings, interpretation, and broader significance.

6. Title

The title should be concise, informative, and accurately reflect the content of the manuscript.

Authors should avoid unnecessary abbreviations, excessive technical terminology, promotional language, or claims that cannot be supported by the manuscript.

For synthesis-oriented papers, the title should, where appropriate, communicate the central relationship, framework, or scientific synthesis addressed by the work.

7. Abstract

The abstract should provide a concise and self-contained summary of the manuscript.

For original research articles, the abstract should generally address:

• Background or scientific problem
• Objective
• Methods
• Principal findings
• Interpretation
• Scientific significance

For reviews, theoretical articles, perspectives, and other article types, the structure may be adapted to the nature of the contribution.

The abstract should clearly communicate the central scientific contribution and, where relevant, the synthetic or integrative insight of the manuscript.

Authors should avoid citations, unnecessary abbreviations, and unsupported claims in the abstract.

8. Keywords

Authors should provide 4–8 keywords that accurately represent the major concepts, methods, scientific fields, and phenomena addressed in the manuscript.

Keywords should facilitate discoverability in academic databases and should avoid unnecessary duplication of words already present in the title.

For interdisciplinary manuscripts, authors are encouraged to include keywords representing the principal disciplines or conceptual domains integrated by the study.

9. Figures and Tables

Figures and tables should be necessary, clearly presented, and appropriately referenced in the manuscript.

Each figure and table should have:

• a descriptive title or caption;
• appropriate numbering;
• sufficient explanatory information;
• clearly defined abbreviations and symbols; and
• appropriate attribution where material is reproduced or adapted.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that they have permission to reproduce copyrighted material where required.

Figures should be of sufficient resolution for publication.

10. References

Authors should cite relevant and reliable scholarly sources.

References should be:

• accurate;
• complete;
• directly relevant to the manuscript;
• consistently formatted; and
• sufficiently up to date for the field.

Authors should avoid excessive self-citation, citation manipulation, and unnecessary citation of sources that do not directly support the manuscript.

For synthesis-oriented articles, the reference selection should adequately represent relevant perspectives and, where appropriate, different disciplinary traditions.

11. Research Data and Transparency

Authors are encouraged to promote transparency and reproducibility.

Where appropriate, manuscripts should include a Data Availability Statement describing whether supporting data are:

• publicly available;
• available from a recognized repository;
• available upon reasonable request; or
• unavailable because of ethical, legal, privacy, security, or other legitimate restrictions.

Where datasets, code, analytical tools, protocols, or other research materials are essential for reproducing the findings, authors are encouraged to make these materials accessible whenever ethically and legally possible.

12. Ethical Considerations

Authors are expected to conduct research in accordance with applicable ethical standards, regulations, and professional guidelines.

Research involving human participants, identifiable human data, animals, biological materials, or other ethically regulated subjects should include appropriate ethical approval or exemption information where applicable.

Authors should provide informed consent statements when required.

The journal does not tolerate:

• fabrication;
• falsification;
• plagiarism;
• duplicate publication;
• inappropriate image manipulation;
• citation manipulation;
• unethical research practices;
• undisclosed conflicts of interest; or
• other forms of research misconduct.

13. Authorship

Authorship should reflect substantial intellectual or scholarly contributions to the work.

All listed authors should:

• have made a meaningful contribution to the research;
• participate in drafting or critically revising the manuscript;
• approve the final version;
• agree to the submission; and
• accept responsibility for their contribution to the work.

The corresponding author is responsible for communication with the journal and should ensure that all authors have approved the submitted manuscript.

The journal encourages authors to provide an Author Contributions statement using the CRediT taxonomy where appropriate.

14. Changes in Authorship

Requests to add, remove, or reorder authors after submission should be submitted to the editorial office with an explanation and written agreement from all affected authors.

Changes in authorship after acceptance may require additional editorial review.

Authorship disputes should be resolved by the authors and their institutions before publication whenever possible.

15. Conflict of Interest

All authors must disclose any financial, professional, institutional, personal, or other relationships that could reasonably be perceived as influencing the research or its interpretation.

If no conflicts exist, authors should explicitly state:

“The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.”

16. Funding

All sources of financial or material support for the research should be disclosed.

The funding statement should identify:

• the funding organization;
• grant or award number, where applicable; and
• the role of the funder in the research, if any.

If the research received no specific funding, authors should state this clearly.

17. Use of Artificial Intelligence

Authors should disclose the use of generative artificial intelligence or other AI-assisted technologies when such tools have materially contributed to manuscript preparation, data analysis, image generation, coding, translation, or other aspects of the research or publication process.

AI tools should not be listed as authors.

Authors remain fully responsible for:

• the accuracy of the manuscript;
• the originality of the work;
• the integrity of the data;
• appropriate attribution and citation;
• compliance with ethical standards; and
• the final content submitted to the journal.

AI-generated or AI-assisted content should not be used to fabricate data, references, experimental results, images, quotations, or other scientific evidence.

18. Reporting Standards

Where applicable, authors are encouraged or required to follow recognized reporting standards appropriate to their study design.

Examples include:

• CONSORT for randomized controlled trials;
• STROBE for observational studies;
• PRISMA for systematic reviews and meta-analyses;
• CARE for case reports;
• ARRIVE for animal research;
• COREQ for qualitative research; and
• other recognized discipline-specific reporting guidelines.

Authors should use the reporting standard most appropriate for their study.

19. Originality and Duplicate Publication

Manuscripts submitted to Syntheses must represent original scholarly work.

Authors must not submit substantially identical manuscripts simultaneously to multiple journals.

Previously published material should not be reproduced without appropriate justification, citation, and permission where required.

Translations or substantially overlapping publications should be disclosed to the editorial office.

20. Plagiarism and Research Integrity

All submitted manuscripts may be screened for plagiarism or other forms of inappropriate textual or conceptual overlap.

Authors are responsible for ensuring that all borrowed ideas, text, data, figures, and other material are appropriately acknowledged.

Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to:

• direct copying without attribution;
• substantial unattributed paraphrasing;
• inappropriate appropriation of ideas;
• duplicate publication; and
• self-plagiarism involving substantial previously published material.

Concerns regarding research integrity may be investigated in accordance with recognized publication-ethics principles.

21. Peer Review

Syntheses uses a rigorous peer-review process designed to evaluate the scientific quality, originality, methodological soundness, relevance, and significance of submitted manuscripts.

Depending on the article type and editorial assessment, manuscripts may undergo:

1. initial editorial screening;
2. assessment of suitability for the journal;
3. external peer review;
4. editorial evaluation;
5. revision, where required; and
6. final editorial decision.

The editorial team may decline manuscripts that fall outside the journal's scope, lack sufficient scientific rigor, or do not demonstrate an appropriate level of originality or synthesis.

22. Editorial Evaluation of Synthesis

Because synthesis is central to the identity of the journal, manuscripts may be evaluated specifically according to the following questions:

• What bodies of knowledge are being integrated?
• Why is this integration scientifically necessary or valuable?
• Does the manuscript generate an insight beyond a simple summary of existing findings?
• Does the synthesis reveal relationships that may not be apparent within individual disciplines?
• Are the theoretical or empirical components appropriately connected?
• Does the proposed synthesis withstand critical examination?
• Does the work generate new hypotheses, models, or research directions?
• Could the central contribution meaningfully advance understanding beyond a single specialist field?

A manuscript need not answer all of these questions affirmatively, but its integrative scientific contribution should be clear.

23. Language and Scientific Style

Manuscripts should be written in clear, precise, and professional English.

Authors should avoid:

• unnecessary jargon;
• ambiguous terminology;
• unsupported generalizations;
• excessive rhetorical language;
• redundant statements; and
• claims that exceed the evidence presented.

Where terminology differs between disciplines, authors should define important terms clearly so that the work remains accessible to researchers outside the immediate specialist field.

This is particularly important for interdisciplinary manuscripts.

24. Accessibility and Reproducibility

Authors are encouraged to present their research in a manner accessible to an interdisciplinary scientific audience.

Where appropriate, manuscripts should:

• define discipline-specific terminology;
• explain methodological concepts that may not be familiar to researchers from other fields;
• provide sufficient methodological detail for reproducibility;
• make relevant datasets or code available;
• clearly distinguish established evidence from interpretation or hypothesis; and
• explicitly describe the broader implications of the findings.

25. Submission Checklist

Before submitting a manuscript, authors should ensure that:

• The manuscript fits the aims and scope of Syntheses.
• The manuscript demonstrates a meaningful scientific contribution.
• The integrative or synthetic component is clearly explained.
• The manuscript is original and is not under consideration elsewhere.
• All authors have approved the submission.
• The title and abstract accurately reflect the manuscript.
• Keywords have been provided.
• Figures and tables are appropriately prepared and cited.
• References are accurate and complete.
• Ethical approval or exemption is reported where applicable.
• Informed consent is reported where applicable.
• Funding information has been disclosed.
• Conflicts of interest have been disclosed.
• Author contributions have been provided where appropriate.
• Data availability information has been provided where applicable.
• AI-assisted tools have been disclosed where required.
• Relevant reporting guidelines have been followed.
• Permissions have been obtained for copyrighted material where necessary.

26. Final Editorial Principle

Syntheses welcomes the diversity of modern science while maintaining a clear and distinctive editorial identity.

The journal is intentionally broad in disciplinary scope but selective in its intellectual focus.

The presence of multiple disciplines alone does not constitute synthesis.

A successful submission should demonstrate that bringing different bodies of knowledge together produces something scientifically meaningful: a new relationship, a new interpretation, a new model, a new hypothesis, a new methodological approach, or a deeper understanding of an important scientific problem.

The journal therefore encourages authors to make the synthetic contribution of their work explicit throughout the manuscript.

Syntheses seeks to publish research that does more than add another isolated piece to the scientific literature. It seeks research that connects pieces of knowledge and, through their integration, reveals a larger scientific picture.