Tools Formatter
Formatter

Format your article to the journal guidelines without rewriting the text

Upload the DOCX, point to the instructions for authors, and get back the formatted document with a report of every change.

Version
2026.08
Last updated
Available since
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What this solves

Adapting a manuscript to a journal's instructions for authors is slow, manual work: margins, font, line spacing, heading levels, captions and reference layout. The Formatter reads the journal guidelines from a link or a file, applies them to your DOCX, and hands back the formatted document plus a report listing what changed and what still needs your attention.

How it works

  1. Upload the article in DOCX

    The document must be DOCX and no larger than 20 MB. Choose the document type (original article, review article, case report, short communication or other) so the right rules are applied.

  2. Point to the journal guidelines

    Paste the address of the instructions for authors page and the tool navigates the journal site to find the rules, or upload the guidelines or the journal template as a file in HTML, PDF, DOCX or TXT, up to 8 MB. One of the two is required.

  3. Download the result and the report

    Formatting runs in the background and the result page updates the status on its own. When it finishes, download the formatted DOCX and the report that lists the changes, the points that need review and what was not changed automatically.

Method

What happens to your file, step by step, and where the result stops being a decision made by a model.

How it works inside

A DOCX plus the journal guidelines (public URL or uploaded file) enter a background pipeline: source discovery, rule extraction, article analysis, formatting, report, audit. Rules come from a structured OpenAI extraction (gpt-5.5 by default) in which every value carries a verbatim quote from the guidelines. Formatting itself is regular program code without AI, applying page size, margins, columns, fonts, spacing and per-block styles. A content guard compares the document text and the paragraph, table and image counts before and after, and blocks delivery if anything changed beyond the two adjustments a journal template is allowed to make: merging a split caption and replacing headers and footers with the template's own.

Where AI is used, and where it is not

Models read and decide: one navigates the journal site, one extracts the rules, one labels every paragraph of the article, one audits, and one looks at rendered page images. Applying the format is regular program code without AI, and so is the gate: each quote is searched in the guideline text (an exact occurrence, or a word-by-word similarity of at least 0.80 over a sliding window), the text hash is compared, and only the objective audit can block. The AI auditor's objections are downgraded to advisories.

What it accepts

  • Article: DOCX only, up to 20 MB, checked to be a real ZIP container. PDF is not accepted on this screen.
  • Guidelines: a public web address (checked before download so it can only point to a public site, never to a private or internal server) or a file in HTML, HTM, PDF, DOCX or TXT up to 8 MB. At least one of the two is required.
  • Document type, as chosen on the form: Original article, Review article, Case report, Short communication or Other. Any other value is treated as Other.
  • Size ceilings inside the pipeline: guideline text is truncated at 120000 characters before extraction, and the article's structural inventory fails above 240000 characters.

What you get back

  • Formatted DOCX, downloadable only after the job finishes successfully.
  • HTML audit report with every action taken, the quote behind each rule, the text hashes before and after, approximate matches and unverified detections.
  • PDF of the formatted file, produced only when Microsoft Word or LibreOffice is available on the server; otherwise the page says so and you download the DOCX.
  • Anonymized DOCX built by keyword scan: paragraphs mentioning author, affiliation or acknowledgement, and the paragraphs after them until abstract, resumo or introduction, are replaced with a removal notice.
  • Status endpoint with the current stage, the confidence score (mean of the rule and requirement confidences) and an error code when the job fails.

What this tool does not do

  • It does not rewrite, translate or reorder content. The document text plus the paragraph, table and image counts are compared before and after, and any unexpected difference stops the job as content changed. Two exceptions exist when an official journal template is applied: a figure or table caption split across two paragraphs can be merged into one, keeping its words, and the template's headers and footers can replace the document's. Required section order is reported, never applied.
  • It does not reformat references. Reference entries receive the journal's paragraph style and nothing else: their visual layout can change, but the wording of an entry is never rewritten.
  • It does not guarantee a rule is really the journal's. When the model's quote cannot be found in the guideline text, the value is still applied and recorded as an unverified detection for human review.
  • It does not guarantee the journal will accept the file. Requirement checks (page count, file size, word count, item count, presence and absence) are computed and reported; they do not stop delivery.
  • The AI audit cannot reject the document. Its blocking issues are rewritten as advisories and the decision is forced to approved; only deterministic failures (an expected formatting step missing, a step marked failed, or a step applied with zero matching blocks) stop the job.
Plan
Pro
Cost
30 credits

What you get

  • Your text is not rewritten

    Only formatting changes: margins, font, line spacing, alignment, heading levels, captions and the visual layout of the reference list. The tool compares the text before and after, and blocks the result if the wording changed.

  • A report of every change

    The result page separates general changes from the ones specific to that journal, ranks what needs your review by priority, and lists what was not changed automatically.

  • Guidelines from a link or a file

    Give the tool the instructions for authors page and it navigates the journal site looking for the rules. If the journal only distributes a PDF, a DOCX template or a text file, upload it instead.

  • Extra versions for submission

    Besides the formatted DOCX and the report, you can download a PDF when the conversion is available on the server, and a version with authors, affiliations and acknowledgements replaced for blind review.

Changelog

Every line below is a change that actually shipped, dated by the day it went out.

  1. Latest
    • Credits are charged at the moment the formatted document is released for download, not afterwards.
    • If the balance runs out while the job is finishing, the job ends as failed, nothing is charged and nothing stays downloadable.
Show 5 earlier updates
    • The tool page follows the light and dark themes.
    • The page header now uses the standard tool title shared with the other tools.
    • The title animation on the tool page.
    • Fixed the inverted colors on the main button.
    • Formatting runs in the background: the result page opens right away and updates the status on its own.
    • A document left open in Word is copied at the moment you select it, and you get a clear message when the file cannot be read.
    • Journal templates that already carry the final layout are applied directly.
    • The cost per formatted document went from 50 to 30 credits.
    • The article is submitted as DOCX only. PDF is no longer accepted as the article file.
    • The results page speaks plain language: internal audit details are no longer shown.
    • Review items are ranked by priority, so the ones that matter appear first.
    • Security fix in how the guidelines address is validated before it is fetched.
    • First version of the Formatter, released behind an internal switch that is off by default in production and has to be turned on for the tool to appear.
    • First version of the submission screen.
    • Heading levels supported down to the fifth level.
    • Academic defaults applied when the journal does not state a rule.

Questions and answers

Does it rewrite or change my text?

No. It changes formatting only: margins, font, line spacing, alignment, heading levels, captions and the visual layout of the reference list. The tool compares the text of the document before and after formatting, and if the wording changed the job is blocked instead of delivering the file. Scientific content, arguments and results are not reviewed or rewritten.

What do I need to send?

The article in DOCX, up to 20 MB. PDF is not accepted as the article file. For the guidelines, paste the address of the instructions for authors page, or upload a file in HTML, PDF, DOCX or TXT up to 8 MB. At least one of the two is required.

Does it fix my references and create sections the journal requires?

No. The appearance of the reference list may be adjusted, but missing or incorrect bibliographic data is not invented or corrected. Sections the journal requires that are absent from your file are not created. The report states this explicitly in the section on what was not changed automatically.

What does it cost, and does it guarantee the journal accepts the article?

Each formatting job costs 30 credits and the tool is available on the Pro and Expert plans. It does not guarantee acceptance. When a rule cannot be matched to a literal passage in the guidelines, the value is still applied but marked as unverified in the report, so you can check those points before submitting.

How to cite this tool

Used it in your research? Here is the reference, already filled in with the version you are looking at and today's access date.

ABNT (NBR 6023)

LESSA, P. W. B. Formatter. Versão 2026.08. [S. l.]: Xplore Dados, 2026. Disponível em: https://xploredados.com/en/tool/journal-formatter. Acesso em: 21 ago. 2026.

APA 7

Lessa, P. W. B. (2026). Formatter (Version 2026.08) [Computer software]. Xplore Dados. https://xploredados.com/en/tool/journal-formatter

BibTeX

@software{xploredados_journal_formatter_2026,
  author  = {Lessa, Patrick Wendell Barbosa},
  title   = {Formatter},
  organization = {Xplore Dados},
  version = {2026.08},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://xploredados.com/en/tool/journal-formatter},
  urldate = {2026-08-21}
}

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