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PLOS is a non-profit organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy, and practice.

Building on a strong legacy of pioneering innovation, PLOS continues to be a catalyst, reimagining models to meet open science principles, removing barriers and promoting inclusion in knowledge creation and sharing, and publishing research outputs that enable everyone to learn from, reuse and build upon scientific knowledge.

We believe in a better future where science is open to all, for all.

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An easier way to submit research at PLOS

We’re always evolving our services to make sharing discoveries as easy as possible for researchers. To help authors save time and effort in the article submission process, all PLOS journals offer format-free initial submission for authors submitting research articles. Learn more about this service before you get started on your next submission.

What is Format-Free Submission?

Format-free submission is part of our 3-step submission process which includes:

  1. Initial submission. Participating journals waive all formatting requirements and will request formatting changes only after initial editorial evaluation or initial peer review depending on the journal. Simply upload your manuscript in a single PDF file (which can include text and figures) and submit to the journal’s online submission system. 
  1. Editorial assessment. Our editors and reviewers review and provide initial feedback on your submission as quickly as possible.
  1. Full submission. Make any additional formatting changes only after initial feedback is received. 

Together, these 3 steps are designed to help ease initial submission so you spend as little time in the article submission process as possible. 

Getting started

To ensure your format-free submission is complete and gets handled as quickly as possible, be sure to review the submission checklists and guidelines provided by our journal editorial teams. Click a journal name below to learn more:

PLOS ONE

PLOS Biology

PLOS Medicine

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases

PLOS Pathogens

PLOS Genetics

PLOS Computational Biology

PLOS Digital Health

PLOS Sustainability and Transformation

PLOS Water

PLOS Climate

PLOS Global Public Health

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