Notes on using LaTeX for manuscripts

This is not a LaTeX manual. Instead, it's a list of topics that have come up repeatedly within our lab in the preparation of manuscripts.

Formatting

1. Use a LaTeX-aware editor. A particularly powerful combination is Emacs + AUCTeX.
2. Make sure to keep your LaTeX file cleanly formatted (i.e., human readable). When using AUCTeX (see above), take advantage of the LaTeX-aware paragraph rewrapping command (alt-q).
3. Understand the difference between an end-of-sentence period and a period used in an abbreviation, and how LaTeX distinguishes these. A period after a lower-case letter is assumed to be the end of a sentence, and LaTeX needs to be told if this is not the case. So, 'et al.' must be typed as 'et al.\' unless it occurs at the end of a sentence. This is typically not true for 'i.e.' and 'e.g.' because those two abbreviations (at least in American English) are always followed by a comma: 'i.e.,' and 'e.g.,'
   On the other hand, a period after a capital is assumed to be not the end of a sentence, and only needs special treatment if it actually is. Those cases are rare; a typical example would be the sentence 'See model A.' which must be entered as 'See model A\@.'
   Note that the bibliography environment is exempt from these rules, so it is not necessary to write the '\' in 'Phys.\ Rev.\ Lett.\' (unless you use such a journal reference in the main text of your document). Of course, in practice, you should use BibTeX (see below) instead of creating a bibliography environment by hand.
4. For labels of equations, figures, tables, choose names that start with 'eq:', 'fig:', 'tab:', respectively. Also, use descriptive labels rather than labels of the form \label{eq:3} or \label{fig:1}.
5. Placement of labels: In a single displayed equation, put the \label command on the line immediately before the \end{equation} command. In a figure environment, place the label command immediately after the \caption{} command (not within the caption, and certainly not before it).
6. Sentences cannot start with an abbreviation. Write 'Fig.' and 'Ref.' in full. Replace 'E.g.,' at the beginning of a sentence with 'For example'. (Exception: Nature leaves 'Fig.' and 'Ref.' abbreviated.)
7. In journals that use superscript-style references (e.g., Journal of Chemical Physics), references that are a grammatical part of the sentence are not written in superscript. Use the \onlinecite command for this. For example: See Ref.~\onlinecite{somepaper}.

Journal-specific notes

Physical Review Letters

• Use RevTeX 4.1
• Abstract no longer than 600 characters
• Prior to submission, paste contents of .bbl file into submission-ready file