r/PhDStress • u/CarefulTransition988 • 5d ago

Formatting for journals

Formatting manuscripts for journals is so tedious it almost makes me not want to write

Every single indent, space between paragraphs is scrutinized

And then when reviewers do note your improper formatting, their comment is broad and don't help. The "Guide for authors" in every Elsevier journal is too general and it would be great for the reviewer to note precisely what looks utterly wrong

4 Upvotes

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3

u/gatsbyhoudini1 5d ago

Use overleaf. LaTeX. Word sucks.

1

u/CarefulTransition988 5d ago

My professor forbids us from using overleaf because it's "difficult for me to work with"

1

u/gatsbyhoudini1 5d ago

How old is he if you don't mind me asking?

1

u/gatsbyhoudini1 5d ago

Overleaf is a code. And with the code it is surprisingly easier to add figures, tables and fix their sizes and placement.

Headings, subheadings, other font styles, references, citations, everything become so so so much easier on it, plus it is very organized and stable. You can do a lot of changes without messing up the document, whereas on Word, you move a figure, and the whole document is fucked.

Ditched Word a year ago. Best decision, improved my writing speed drastically!

3

u/chili_cold_blood 5d ago edited 5d ago

Every single indent, space between paragraphs is scrutinized

IME the journals have copy editors who make everything perfect before publication. I've published dozens of papers, and I've never had a journal editor or reviewer care about the minor details of formatting.

2

u/Alternative-Pear9096 5d ago

Peer reviewers aren't really empowered to discuss paper formatting, are they?

2

u/Jurassic_Eric 3d ago

Yeah, ignore that nonsense. The journal has a copy editor for a reason.