Open journal data
Submission requirements across 7,239 journals, analyzed
Word limits, abstract rules and reference caps, aggregated from the author guidelines of 7,239 academic journals. Last updated 2026-08-27. The dataset is free to cite and reuse.
Article word limits
1,692 journals publish a numeric word limit for their primary research-article type. The median limit is 7,500 words, and half of all journals sit between 5,000 and 10,000 words.
Number of journals by article word limit, primary research-article manuscript type only.
Abstract word limits
The abstract is the most standardized rule in academic publishing: 91% of the 4,715 journals with a published abstract limit use one of just four values (150, 200, 250 or 300 words). The median is 250 words.
Limits by field
Median limits for research articles, grouped by each journal's primary field in OpenAlex.
| Field | Journals | Word limit | Abstract | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medicine | 1,411 | 4,000 | 250 | 45 |
| Social Sciences | 839 | 9,000 | 200 | — |
| Engineering | 648 | 7,500 | 250 | — |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 567 | 5,300 | 250 | 50 |
| Environmental Science | 410 | 7,500 | 250 | 50 |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 365 | 7,500 | 250 | — |
| Psychology | 345 | 8,000 | 250 | — |
| Computer Science | 323 | 8,000 | 250 | — |
| Economics, Econometrics and Finance | 314 | 8,000 | 250 | — |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 304 | 9,000 | 250 | — |
| Neuroscience | 209 | 5,000 | 250 | — |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 193 | 8,000 | 250 | — |
| Health Professions | 169 | 4,400 | 250 | 37.5 |
| Physics and Astronomy | 165 | — | 250 | — |
| Arts and Humanities | 164 | 9,000 | 200 | — |
| Chemistry | 154 | 5,600 | 250 | — |
| Materials Science | 148 | 5,800 | 250 | — |
| Mathematics | 124 | — | 250 | — |
| Immunology and Microbiology | 88 | 6,000 | 250 | — |
| Decision Sciences | 84 | 10,000 | 250 | — |
| Dentistry | 56 | — | 250 | — |
| Nursing | 47 | — | 250 | — |
| Energy | 46 | — | 250 | — |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutics | 40 | — | 250 | — |
Only fields where at least 15 journals publish the respective limit are shown.
All numeric limits at a glance
Beyond word counts, journals cap references, pages, figures and keywords. 403 journals publish a reference limit; the median allows 50 references.
| Rule | Journals | Median | Typical range |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article word limit | 1,692 | 7,500 | 5,000–10,000 |
| Abstract word limit | 4,715 | 250 | 200–250 |
| Reference limit | 403 | 50 | 35–60 |
| Page limit | 717 | 25 | 12–35 |
| Figure limit | 178 | 6.5 | 5–10 |
| Display item limit | 459 | 7 | 5–8 |
| Maximum keywords | 2,065 | 6 | 5–8 |
Methodology
Scraiber collects submission requirements from the author guidelines each of the 7,239 journals publishes on its own website and normalizes them into typed, per-manuscript-type rules. This page aggregates the published subset of that database: numeric limits for each journal's primary research-article manuscript type. Values outside plausible bounds are excluded from the medians.
Fields and domains come from OpenAlex: each journal is matched by ISSN to its OpenAlex source record and grouped by the field of its primary topic.
Use the data
The dataset behind this page, journal metadata plus every published requirement value, is available as CSV under CC BY 4.0. If you use it, cite Scraiber and link to this page.
Dataset on GitHub · Archived with DOI on Zenodo
Cite as: Scraiber (2026-08-27). Journal Submission Requirements Dataset. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22134469
Check your manuscript against any journal
Choose a journal and manuscript type to preview proposed text changes using the recorded requirements. Review the suggestions against the official guidance before submission.