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To submit to Biometrics, the journal of the International Biometric Society, you upload a PDF through the ScholarOne Manuscripts site at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/biom, choose a manuscript type before the system lets you continue, and keep a methodology or practice paper within 25 pages. The rules sit on two sites, the Society’s author guidelines and Oxford University Press’s general instructions, so this guide merges them into one order of work. Details were checked on 2026-10-29.
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Suggested question: “Where do I submit to Biometrics?”
What Biometrics is (and what it is not)
Biometrics is a statistics and biosciences journal. Its scope, in the publisher’s words, emphasizes the role of statistics and mathematics in the biosciences. It is unrelated to biometric-recognition journals about fingerprint, face or iris identification, which cover a different field. If you work on that topic, this guide is not the right one.
For background on the discipline behind the journal, see what biostatistics is.
Who runs it and what it covers
The journal is published by Oxford University Press through Oxford Academic, on behalf of the International Biometric Society (IBS). Its online ISSN is 1541-0420. Oxford Academic’s About page lists indexing in MEDLINE/PubMed, Science Citation Index Expanded, Biological Abstracts, MathSciNet, Current Index to Statistics and zbMATH. Papers published as Advance Articles are treated as published when they are posted online.
How to submit, step by step
- Pick the manuscript type. The ScholarOne form will not proceed until a section is chosen from the Manuscript Type menu (see the table below).
- Prepare a single PDF. The guidelines state that a PDF is preferred: one column, one-inch margins, 12-point type, double-spaced, no more than 25 lines per page, no footnotes, with tables and figures at the end, separate from the main text.
- Build the title page. Oxford Academic asks for the title, all author names and affiliations, the mailing and email address of one corresponding author, a running head of 50 characters or fewer, an abstract and keywords.
- Write the abstract and keywords. The abstract is one paragraph of at most 225 words and avoids mathematical symbols. Give up to six keywords in alphabetical order, including one high-level descriptor of the broad area.
- Add alt text. Every figure needs alt text, placed in the main manuscript directly under the figure legend and preceded by “Alt text:”.
- Add the data availability statement. It is a required, unnumbered section placed after the acknowledgements and before the references.
- Upload related papers and supplementary material. Unpublished papers by any of the authors that are relevant to the submission are uploaded too, and the cover letter explains how the submitted paper differs from them. Supplementary Materials are uploaded together with the main paper.
- Complete the author declarations. At submission, authors select CRediT contributor roles, and conflicts of interest are labeled within the acknowledgements section. ORCID iDs are optional but encouraged. See the entry on the corresponding author role for who carries that responsibility, and the entry on a cover letter for journal submission for general practice.
For manuscript formatting that applies across journals, see manuscript format for journal submission. Where a journal-specific rule above differs, follow the journal.
Article types and length limits
| Type | Length rule stated by the journal |
|---|---|
| Biometric Methodology | Papers over 25 pages are returned without review |
| Biometric Practice | Papers over 25 pages are returned without review |
| Reader Reaction | Papers over 12 pages are returned without review |
| Correction | No more than 2 manuscript pages |
| Letter to the Editors | No page limit stated by the journal |
Page counts include acknowledgements, references and brief appendices. They exclude tables, figures, the title page and the abstract, and they apply to the main paper only, not to Supplementary Materials. Papers rarely have more than six tables and figures combined, and a paper with an extreme number may be returned without review. If more figures than typical are needed, say so in the covering letter. If the assigned Co-Editor judges the paper better suited to the other of the Methodology and Practice sections, it is reviewed in that context.
Data, code and supplementary materials
Software implementing a new method is strongly encouraged at submission, preferably as a generic package such as an R package or SAS macro. Data for illustrative examples is encouraged, along with the analysis code. Shared data must be archived in a public repository, linked from the data availability statement and cited in the references. Code and data are not formally reviewed and are posted as-is. The IBS does not own copyright of code and data, but it owns copyright of the paper and its Supplementary Materials after the primary authors sign the copyright assignment form.
Supplementary Materials go in a single document titled “Supplementary Materials for (title of manuscript) by (authors)”, with sections named Web Appendix A, Web Table 1 and Web Figure 1. They are part of the review, have no strict page limit, and are published as-is without copyediting after acceptance. Authors can also request an Open Science Badge at submission; eligibility is confirmed on acceptance. A repository is where the data goes, and what an institutional repository is explains one option.
Licensing and open access
Oxford Academic lists the standard OUP licence as having no licence charge, along with CC BY, CC BY-NC, CC BY-NC-ND, United States Government and Crown Copyright licences. Open access licences carry a charge, which the author pays or covers through an institutional agreement using the Journals Licensing and Online Payments portal. Under Read and Publish, a corresponding author at a participating institution may have the charge paid, but the institution must be the corresponding author’s primary affiliation at submission, and changing the corresponding author afterwards to reach those funds is not permitted. The journal does not state the amount of the charge, and it does not mention a submission fee or page charges. For how journals combine subscription and open access, see hybrid open access journals explained.
Strengths and limits of the process
- One system, stated limits. The page cap and the return-without-review rule are explicit, so length problems can be fixed before submission.
- No pre-screening. The guidelines say editors do not pre-screen papers for suitability; the assigned Co-Editor decides quickly, and inappropriate papers get a swift response.
- Duplicate and copied text is not accepted. Papers that substantially duplicate a paper being handled by another journal are not accepted, and text virtually identical to published work without proper citation is rejected.
- Rules are split across two sites. Title-page, alt-text and licensing rules are on Oxford Academic, while page limits and data policy are on the Society’s site.
- Not stated by the journal: turnaround times, acceptance rate, the open access charge amount and a preprint policy.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I submit to Biometrics?
Through ScholarOne Manuscripts at mc.manuscriptcentral.com/biom. The Society’s author guidelines page names this system, and you sign in there with your own account.
How long can a Biometrics paper be?
A Methodology or Practice paper over 25 pages is returned without review, and a Reader Reaction over 12 pages is too. References and brief appendices count; tables, figures, title page and abstract do not.
How long can the abstract be?
One paragraph of no more than 225 words, without mathematical symbols.
Is a data availability statement required?
Yes. Oxford Academic states it is a requirement for papers published in the journal. It sits after the acknowledgements and before the references. Code and data are not formally reviewed.
Does the journal charge to submit?
The journal does not mention a submission fee or page charge. It states that open access licences carry a charge, with the amount set through the Journals Licensing and Online Payments portal.
Is this the journal about fingerprint and face recognition?
No. This journal is the International Biometric Society’s statistics and biosciences journal.
Sources
- International Biometric Society, Biometrics Author Guidelines, https://biometrics.biometricsociety.org/home/author-guidelines (checked 2026-10-29).
- Oxford Academic, Biometrics General Instructions, https://academic.oup.com/biometrics/pages/general-instructions (checked 2026-10-29).
- Oxford Academic, Biometrics About, https://academic.oup.com/biometrics/pages/about (checked 2026-10-29).
