Gut (gut)

Journal positioning

Gut is published by BMJ and is the official journal of the British Society of Gastroenterology, with a scope that covers clinical gastroenterology, hepatology, and pancreatology alongside translational and mechanistic science. Compared with Gastroenterology (AGA), Gut carries a stronger clinical and epidemiological identity shaped by the BMJ culture of rigorous evidence-based medicine, open-data ethos, and methodological transparency — while also welcoming mechanistic studies that are closely tethered to clinically relevant disease processes. Hepatology occupies a larger share of Gut's pages than in most GI journals, reflecting the journal's BSG heritage and a strong liver disease community. The readership is international: European and global gastroenterologists, hepatologists, and GI researchers.

This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing tool. It does not replace the journal's current official submission guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live author instructions on the BMJ / Gut author platform.

When to trigger

• The author names Gut or the BSG as the target venue for a GI or hepatology manuscript.
• A GI/hepatology paper needs venue selection between Gut and Gastroenterology.
• A hepatology or clinical IBD paper with European epidemiology or registry data needs framing guidance.
• The author needs Gut's desk-reject risks and alternative venues before submitting.

Scope & topic fit

• Clinical and epidemiological studies in inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's, ulcerative colitis), liver disease (NAFLD/MASH, hepatitis, cholestatic disease, cirrhosis complications), pancreatic disease, and GI cancer.
• Translational and mechanistic hepatology: liver fibrosis mechanisms, steatohepatitis pathogenesis, hepatocellular carcinoma biology — with human liver tissue, biopsy, or clinical cohort evidence as a primary layer.
• Gut microbiome studies with strong functional validation or direct clinical correlation (not purely descriptive composition); microbiota-drug, microbiota-host immunity, and microbiota-liver axis research.
• Clinical trials in GI medicine and hepatology (IBD therapies, antifibrotic strategies, liver cancer interventions) where the evidence has the potential to inform BSG or European clinical practice.
• GI cancer epidemiology, screening, and prevention at population scale; colorectal cancer, gastric cancer, and hepatocellular carcinoma risk-factor research.
• Endoscopy innovation where clinical performance is rigorously validated in prospective or randomized designs.

Method & evidence bar

• Clinical and epidemiological studies must use validated exposure and outcome definitions, pre-specified analysis plans, and rigorous confounding control aligned with BMJ standards; retrospective audits without hypothesis framing are insufficient.
• Mechanistic and translational papers must include human tissue, clinical samples, or patient-level data as a central evidentiary layer — not merely supportive; pure animal-only or cell-only studies without human corroboration will not clear the bar.
• RCTs must be prospectively registered, CONSORT-compliant, and powered for a pre-specified primary endpoint; Gut follows the BMJ group's trial reporting expectations.
• Microbiome studies require pre-specified analytical pipelines, appropriate controls, functional validation (germ-free colonization, metabolomics, in vitro mechanistic assays), and data deposition in public repositories.
• Reporting guideline checklists (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, TRIPOD, ARRIVE) are required at submission; BMJ group journals check compliance rigorously.
• Open-data ethos: data availability statements are required; Gut strongly encourages open-access data sharing in line with BMJ policy.

Structure & house style

• Structured abstract for clinical research (Objective / Design / Results / Conclusions); unstructured "Summary" for basic/translational papers — confirm current format.
• The introduction should frame the clinical or mechanistic gap relative to current clinical practice or guidelines; purely academic novelty framing without clinical relevance context is insufficient.
• Significance statement or "Significance of this study" box (What is already known / What are the new findings / How might this affect clinical practice) is a Gut-specific requirement for most article types — this must be filled with genuinely specific, non-generic content.
• Figures must be publication-quality; pathology, histology, and liver imaging figures should include scale bars and appropriate controls.
• Letters to the Editor and Brief Communications have strict length limits; re-check current specifications.
• BMJ Open Access options and hybrid licensing are available — re-check current APC and CC licensing details on the BMJ platform.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the official source anchors for this journal family, then cite the current journal-specific page you checked.
• Search the live site for "Gut author instructions" on the BMJ Journals / Gut platform and follow the current version.
• Re-check article-type classification (Original Article, Research Letter, Review, Editorial) and confirm current length and figure limits.
• Confirm trial or study pre-registration (ISRCTN, ClinicalTrials.gov, or equivalent); upload ethics/IRB and consent documentation per BMJ policy.
• Complete and upload the applicable reporting guideline checklist (CONSORT, STROBE, PRISMA, TRIPOD, ARRIVE, or equivalent).
• Verify BMJ conflict-of-interest and funding disclosure requirements; confirm data-sharing statement is complete and explicit.
• Re-check microbiome or omics data deposition requirements (NCBI SRA, Zenodo, or equivalent) and accession number inclusion.
• Check "Significance of this study" box format specifications and completeness requirements.
• Confirm current AI-use disclosure policy and open-access/APC options.
• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

• One sentence stating why this finding changes clinical understanding or practice in GI/hepatology in a way that matters to international clinicians.
• The "Significance of this study" box answers all three sub-questions with specific, not generic, content about this paper's contribution.
• Human tissue, clinical cohort, or patient-level data is a central evidentiary layer, not only a supplementary validation.
• The applicable reporting guideline checklist is complete; BMJ conflict-of-interest forms are ready for all authors.
• Data availability statement is explicit and data deposition accession numbers are included where applicable.
• The paper distinguishes its contribution clearly from Gastroenterology-published work in the same area; scope and framing reflect Gut's clinical/translational identity.

Common desk-reject triggers

• Basic mechanistic studies (animal or cell models only) without human tissue, genetic, or clinical correlation as the primary evidentiary layer.
• Purely descriptive microbiome composition surveys without functional validation or clinical correlation.
• Small retrospective single-center audits or case series without a pre-specified clinical question or adequate controls.
• Missing or generic "Significance of this study" box — Gut editors check this as an early triage criterion.
• Incomplete reporting guideline checklist or absent trial registration; missing data-sharing statement.

Re-routing decision

• A GI/hepatology mechanistic paper that has a stronger basic-science identity (deeper molecular biology, less clinical data) → gastroenterology (AGA; more tolerant of basic-science depth with translational relevance).
• A hepatology mechanistic paper with deep molecular/genetic mechanism and limited clinical epidemiology → journal-of-clinical-investigation or hepatology.
• A GI cancer biology paper with translational oncology framing → cancer-discovery (AACR) or gastroenterology.
• A global hepatitis or liver-disease epidemiology or clinical trial changing international practice → the-lancet, nejm, or jama if significance warrants that tier.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Gut
[Topic tags] <2–3 closest topics>
[Method/evidence] <does the human-data primary layer / Significance box / BMJ reporting standard clear the Gut bar?>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / Significance box / CONSORT or equivalent / BMJ COI / data deposition / open-access options>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>