Hepatology (hepatology)

Journal positioning

Hepatology is the flagship journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), publishing original research spanning liver biology and disease — from molecular and cellular hepatobiliary science through translational and clinical studies in viral, metabolic (MASLD/MASH), alcohol-related, autoimmune and cholestatic liver disease, cirrhosis and portal hypertension, liver cancer, and transplantation. It serves a North-American-anchored but international hepatology and hepatobiliary-science readership and the AASLD practice-guideline community, with a notable strength in mechanistic and basic/translational liver biology alongside practice-relevant clinical research. Confirmatory or descriptive work without a clear mechanistic or clinical advance, and studies with weak biological grounding, are a poor fit. This skill is a fit / venue-selection / re-framing aid; it is not clinical or regulatory advice and does not replace the journal's current instructions for authors. Before submitting, re-check the live Hepatology author instructions.

When to trigger

• The author names Hepatology for a basic, translational, or clinical liver study and wants a fit/framing check.
• A liver study must be re-framed around a mechanistic advance in liver biology or an AASLD-relevant clinical finding for a North-American/international readership.
• The author is choosing between Hepatology (AASLD), Journal of Hepatology (EASL), and a general GI or general-medicine venue.
• The author needs the journal's reporting-guideline, registration, and desk-reject expectations for hepatology.

Scope & topic fit

• Cellular and molecular hepatobiliary biology: hepatocyte/cholangiocyte and stellate-cell biology, liver immunology, fibrogenesis, regeneration, and metabolism.
• Metabolic and steatotic liver disease (MASLD/MASH) and alcohol-related liver disease — mechanisms, models, biomarkers, and trials.
• Viral hepatitis (HBV, HCV, HDV) virology, host response, and clinical/therapeutic studies.
• Cirrhosis, portal hypertension, decompensation, and acute/acute-on-chronic liver failure — pathophysiology and outcomes.
• Liver cancer (HCC, cholangiocarcinoma) tumor biology, microenvironment, and clinically anchored studies; autoimmune/cholestatic disease (AIH, PBC, PSC).
• Liver transplantation biology and outcomes, including ischemia-reperfusion, rejection, and immunosuppression science.

Method & evidence bar

• Basic/translational studies need rigorous controls, adequate biological replication, and validation across complementary models with disease relevance; single-cell-line claims are insufficient.
• Clinical studies must be adequately powered with prespecified, clinically meaningful endpoints; surrogate/biomarker endpoints (fibrosis stage, viral markers) require validation and justification.
• The applicable reporting guideline must be followed and its checklist supplied: CONSORT for trials, STROBE for observational studies, PRISMA for systematic reviews, STARD for diagnostic accuracy; ARRIVE-aligned animal-study reporting where relevant.
• Interventional trials require prospective registration with the registration number and protocol/statistical-analysis plan.
• Mechanistic claims must be supported by direct, manipulative evidence (gain/loss of function), not correlation alone; human-sample validation strengthens fit.
• Observational and registry analyses must address confounding, selection, and competing risks; causal language must match the design.

Structure & house style

• AASLD/Wiley format with a structured abstract; re-check current article types (Original Article, etc.), graphical-abstract requirements, and limits on the live guide.
• The introduction frames a focused biological or clinical question and its significance; the discussion states the mechanistic interpretation and, where relevant, the clinical/guideline implication, using current AASLD nomenclature (MASLD/MASH).
• Figures must include the controls, replication, and quantification supporting each mechanistic claim; CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA flow diagrams are expected where applicable.
• Supplements carry full methods, antibody/reagent and model details, the protocol, and extended analyses.

Official-submission checklist

• Before giving submission-ready advice, read ../../resources/source-basis.md and ../../resources/official-source-map.md; start from the ICMJE/EQUATOR and AASLD anchors, then cite the current Hepatology page you checked.
• Search the live site for "Hepatology AASLD author guidelines" and follow the current AASLD/Wiley version.
• Re-check article types, word/figure limits, structured- and graphical-abstract format, and statistical/reagent-reporting requirements.
• Confirm trial registration, the reporting checklist (CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA/STARD), data/code-sharing statement, and protocol/SAP submission.
• Re-check IRB/ethics and consent, animal-use approval and ARRIVE-aligned reporting, ICMJE authorship and conflict-of-interest disclosure, funding, and AI-use disclosure.
• If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win.

Pre-submission self-check

• The study delivers a clear mechanistic advance in liver biology or an AASLD-relevant clinical finding.
• Mechanistic claims rest on manipulative evidence with adequate controls and replication, ideally with human-sample validation.
• Clinical endpoints are prespecified and meaningful; surrogate/biomarker endpoints are validated.
• The correct reporting checklist (CONSORT/STROBE/PRISMA/STARD) and, for animal work, ARRIVE-aligned reporting are completed.
• Trials are prospectively registered with the number in the manuscript; protocol/SAP provided.
• IRB/animal ethics and consent, ICMJE disclosures, and a data-sharing statement are prepared; nomenclature follows current AASLD terms.

Common desk-reject triggers

• Mechanistic claims from a single model or cell line with correlative-only data and no functional manipulation.
• Descriptive clinical series with no mechanistic or practice advance and limited generalizability.
• Biomarker/non-invasive-test studies without an independent validation cohort or reference standard.
• Missing trial registration, protocol, animal-ethics approval, or the required reporting checklist; outdated steatotic-liver-disease nomenclature.
• Observational analyses with inadequate confounding/competing-risk handling or overstated causal claims.
• Topic with narrow local interest better served by a subspecialty GI, transplant, or general-medicine venue.

Re-routing decision

• European/EASL audience emphasis or EASL-guideline framing → journal-of-hepatology.
• Luminal-GI, endoscopy, or broad practice-relevant GI/hepatology with a US clinical readership → american-journal-of-gastroenterology.
• Liver-cancer study dominated by a systemic-oncology endpoint → jama-oncology / annals-of-oncology.
• Practice-changing, broadly significant trial → general medicine (jama / NEJM / The Lancet in the natural-science bundle).
• Pure cell/molecular hepatobiliary mechanism with no disease translation → a basic-science venue in the natural-science bundle.

Output format

[Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason)
[Target] Hepatology (AASLD)
[Hepatology tags] <2–3 closest topics, e.g. fibrogenesis mechanism, MASH model, HBV virology>
[Study design / reporting guideline] <basic-ARRIVE / RCT-CONSORT / cohort-STROBE / review-PRISMA / diagnostic-STARD>
[Method/evidence] <controls/replication, human validation, power, registration>
[Top risk] <the single most likely reason for rejection>
[Official items to re-check] <article type / registration / checklist / animal ethics / disclosures>
[Re-route suggestion] <if not a fit, a better-matched venue>