Start with the DOCX file. The default settings are suitable for a general scientific manuscript, so you can usually click Check manuscript without changing anything else.
Drop your Word manuscript here
or click to browse
It screens abbreviations, references, numbers, units, writing structure, terminology, figures, tables, and equations. Each module applies its own structural exclusions so captions, references, front matter, equations, and other non-prose content are not treated like ordinary sentences.
Defaults are designed for general scientific manuscripts. Change these only when your journal, institution, or workflow requires different rules.
Set the word-length thresholds used by the readability checks.
Sentence range: 10–100. Paragraph range: 20–1000; maximum must be greater than minimum. Section-aware exclusions still apply.
One per line. Abbreviations listed here are assumed universally known and are not flagged as undefined. The default list is deliberately short. Add your own field terms (for example COD, BOD, TSS) only if your target journal accepts them without definition.
Use the CSL library to validate reference formatting against a selected journal or citation style. Core field detection remains independent of CSL rules. Import your CSL ZIP once, select a style, and Manuscript Check will load only that style when needed. Complex CSL branches that cannot be interpreted confidently are left unvalidated rather than guessed.
Search the full Zotero CSL style catalogue, including journal-specific dependent styles. The 2,858-style local ZIP supplies the unique parent formatting rules. A selected style affects formatting validation only; it never changes whether author, year, title, source, volume, pages, or DOI fields are detected.
The imported ZIP and the searchable style catalogue are stored only in your browser using IndexedDB when available. The catalogue is refreshed from Zotero when internet access is available and then remains searchable offline. The ZIP supplies the unique parent CSL rules; journal-specific dependent styles are resolved to those parent rules.
Journal/style catalogue and CSL rules are based on the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Zotero Style Repository. CSL styles are distributed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
If you do not want to import the CSL library, paste one correctly formatted reference from your target journal. This remains a lightweight fallback and is used only when no active CSL style is available.
Open the sections below to review findings, manuscript instances, and recommendations.
Check by section
High-confidence finding that should normally be addressed.
Potential inconsistency that needs author judgement or journal-specific checking.
Lower-priority consistency or readability observation.
In ledgers: yes = field found · no = expected field missing · n/a = not required for that item.
Important: Manuscript Check is an editorial screening tool. A highlighted item is something worth checking, not proof that the manuscript is wrong. Scientific meaning and the target journal's instructions take priority.
This is a heuristic aid, not a substitute for a careful read. Detection of abbreviations and definitions is pattern-based and can still miss unusual cases. All-caps paper titles and other excluded front matter are not treated as abbreviation sources. Definitions are recognised from both conventional acronym expansions and scientific notation introduced semantically, such as "BET surface area (SBET)" or "micropore volume (Vp)", including reverse/list-style forms. Requirements can vary by journal or institution, so confirm the final abbreviation convention against the applicable author or thesis guidelines.
A similar procedure... is not confused with a defined variable A.MFC-AL within MFC-AL/AN are never treated as standalone undefined abbreviations.Selemion AMV, CMI-7000, or an instrument model are classified by occurrence rather than treated automatically as abbreviations. Recognition does not depend on a vendor whitelist, so unseen product grades can be handled while genuine scientific abbreviations remain subject to the normal definition rules.SEM may be inferred from an earlier explicit definition such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) when the letter-to-word mapping is exact. Because journal first-use policies vary, this is reported as a Review item rather than as a Critical error.CREDIT followed by recognised author-contribution roles is treated as the CRediT Contributor Role Taxonomy rather than as an undefined scientific abbreviation.MFCs is treated as the plural of MFC, while MFC’s performance is treated as a valid possessive use. A final uppercase letter remains part of the abbreviation, so TSS, VSS, TDS, and GIS are not shortened.KOH, NaOH, H₂SO₄, Ca(OH)₂, Fe₂(SO₄)₃, NH₄⁺, and hydrates is classified as chemical notation rather than an abbreviation. Formula fragments inside larger expressions are protected as well. Ambiguous plain capital-letter strings are excluded only when formula grammar or local chemistry evidence is strong, so genuine abbreviations such as PBS, COD, BOD, and MFC remain eligible for abbreviation checking.humic acid (HA) is a definition, whereas measurement and condition uses such as 5.0 mg/L HA, containing 5.0 mg/L HA, with HA, or HA concentration are ordinary uses and cannot create duplicate or conflicting definitions.electrical double-layer versus electrical double layer, capitalization, simple singular/plural variation, and selected nonessential contextual modifiers are normalized for comparison. Conflicting definitions is reserved for materially different meanings.reduction in charge transfer resistance (Rct) is interpreted as charge transfer resistance, rather than storing the surrounding clause as the formal descriptor.artificial reef (AR), the AR token belongs to the definition event and is not simultaneously counted as an earlier ordinary use. Exact within-sentence order is still respected, so AR modules ... artificial reef (AR) remains a genuine late-definition case.The reference ledger uses context-aware bibliographic field detection. Journal articles are parsed by field order and protected spans, while books, chapters, reports, theses, standards, websites, datasets, patents, preprints, and other non-journal sources retain type-specific rules. Fields marked no are expected for that source type; n/a means the field does not apply. Ambiguous items are kept for review rather than being forced into an incompatible field pattern.
[CrossRef] or [PubMed] do not hide reference boundaries.n/a rather than as errors.This combines numeral usage, pH reporting, and scientific numeric-precision checks. References and headings are excluded. Word tables are checked for precision patterns only within genuinely comparable measurement columns. Precision is assessed only within comparable numeric groups, including numerical series, ranges, uncertainties, percentages, p-values, and scientific notation. The checker never invents measurement resolution or silently adds or removes significant digits; uncertain cases are flagged for author review.
This check focuses on internal unit consistency. References and affiliations are excluded. The checker looks for meaningful inconsistencies in repeated unit notation or numerical precision; harmless exponent typography such as m2, m^2, and m² is treated as equivalent. Superscript numbers are classified from Word structure and context before unit analysis so confirmed citation or note numbers do not become part of a unit. Ambiguous superscripts are handled conservatively. The checker does not require SI notation and does not compare unrelated units.
2 in m² remains a unit exponent, while a separate superscript reference number immediately after m² is removed from the unit token when citation evidence is strong. Genuinely ambiguous cases are left unforced rather than reported as definite errors.mg/L, mg L⁻¹, and mg·L⁻¹ are recognized as the same unit; mixed use is reported only as an internal consistency issue.10 mg/L versus 10.0 mg/L.mg N/L, mg NO3-N/L, and mg COD/L retain their analytical basis rather than being merged solely by physical dimension.BOD (mg/L) supplies unit context to the numeric cells below it. Precision is compared only within the same parameter and unit.This module intentionally avoids general grammar and language editing. It reports sentence/paragraph length indicators and manuscript-internal terminology consistency for author review.
wastewater/waste water.This check uses the structure of the uploaded Word document to distinguish captions/items from ordinary cross-references. Figures, tables, equations, and supplementary items are validated as independent sequences. Placement is flagged only when the Word structure provides sufficient evidence; otherwise the report states that placement could not be verified reliably.
FIGURE 2<TAB>XPS spectra..., Figure 2. XPS spectra..., and Figure 2 XPS spectra... are treated as equivalent when structural evidence supports a caption. Real embedded image objects are preferred over decorative Word shapes during figure association.the inset in (d), shown in (b), or panel (c) do not create duplicate panels. Introductory structures such as SEM images of (a) sample A, (b) sample B and coordinated assignments such as (a) and (b) MSD results, EPR spectra for (d) and (e), or (f), (g), and (h) Raman spectra are treated as declared panel groups.