LaTeX commands to meet journal style requirements
Included below are links to pages with the LaTeX commands that you need to satisfy the style requirements for publishing in various journals (AER, JF, JFQA, and RFS). These commands will help you satisfy the requests of the copyeditor; the objective here is not to produce a file that looks like a published paper in one of these journals.
Please note that these are not official instructions from the journals, but only what I have learnt through my own experience.
Each command below is preceded by an explanation of what the command does; these explanations are on lines that have as their first character the “%” sign, which tells LaTeX to treat the line as a comment rather than code to be executed.
The easiest thing to do is to cut-and-paste these commands into the preamble of your LaTeX text file — starting with the very top line. After you do this, the only thing you need to check is that you are not calling again (in your own LaTeX code) any of the packages that are already being called in the text below, and that you are not doing something inadvertently to undo the changes made by the code below.
Please let me know if there are any errors or that you think some instructions are missing and should be added to these lists of commands. (But, please do not write to me with general questions about LaTeX — instead, search on the internet, where there are real experts whose advice can resolve your problems.)
LaTeX style commands for AER
Included below are (some of) the commands that you need to satisfy to meet the style requirements for publishing in AER. These are quite straightforward, and there are only a few things that need to be changed.
% ------------------------------------------------------------------------
%:AER STYLE COMMANDS START HERE --- START CUTTING FROM HERE
%
% (1) The line below says asks LaTeX to use the ``article'' class for typesetting,
% with the options being:
% 12pt font, letterpaper, and left-equation numbering
\documentclass[11pt,letterpaper,leqno]{article}
%
% (2) This package sets the formatting of the captions for tables and figures
\usepackage{caption}
\DeclareCaptionLabelSeparator{threesdash}{---}
\DeclareCaptionLabelSeparator{period}{.\,}
\captionsetup[table]{font={sc},format=plain,labelsep= threesdash}
\captionsetup[figure]{font={sc},format=plain, labelsep= period}
%
%(3) Format section headers
\makeatletter
\renewcommand\section{\@startsection {section}{1}{\z@}%
{16pt \@plus 2pt \@minus 2pt}%
{11pt \@plus 2pt \@minus 2pt}%
{\centering\normalfont\large\color{black}\bfseries}}
%
\renewcommand\subsection{\@startsection {subsection}{2}{\z@}%
{16pt \@plus 2pt \@minus 2pt}%
{11pt \@plus 2pt \@minus 2pt}%
{\centering\normalfont\large\color{black}\emph}}
%
%(4) Format section numbers
\renewcommand*{\@seccntformat}[1]{%
\csname the#1\endcsname.\quad
}
\renewcommand\thesection{\@Roman\c@section}
\renewcommand\thesubsection{\@Alph\c@subsection}
%
\makeatother
%
%(5) Set the depth to which sections are numbered
\setcounter{secnumdepth}{2}
%
%(6) To make nice tables in the AER style
\usepackage{tabularx}
\usepackage{booktabs}
%:AER STYLE COMMANDS END HERE --- END CUTTING HERE
% ------------------------------------------------------------------------
LaTeX style commands for JF
Included below are (some of) the commands that you need to satisfy to meet the style requirements for publishing in The Journal of Finance. These are quite straightforward, and there are only a few things that need to be changed — these changes are numbered below.
% ------------------------------------------------------------------------
%:JF STYLE COMMANDS START HERE --- START CUTTING FROM HERE
%
% (1) The line below says asks LaTeX to use the ``article'' class for typesetting,
% with the options being: 11pt font, letterpaper, and double-spacing
\documentclass[11pt, letterpaper,doublespacing]{article}
%
% (2) This package enables the ``doublespacing'' option in the first line
\usepackage{setspace}
%
% (3) Changing format of Section number and formatting of section headers
%
% The ``makatletter'' command is a special LaTeX switch
% that changes the meaning of the ``@'' character, so that
% this character can be used in the commands that follow.
% The ``makeatletter'' switch will be turned off using
% the ``makeatother'' command below.
%
\makeatletter
%
% (3.1) Put a period after section number
\renewcommand{\@seccntformat}[1]{\@nameuse{the#1}.~{}}
%
% Change format of numbers
\renewcommand{\thesection}{\Roman{section}}
\renewcommand{\thesubsection}{\Alph{subsection}}
\renewcommand{\thesubsubsection}{\arabic{subsubsection}}
%
% (3.2) Change format of header text
\renewcommand{\section}{\@startsection {section}{1}{\z@}%
{-3.5ex \@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
{2.3ex \@plus.2ex}%
{\centering\normalfont\large\bfseries}}
%
\renewcommand{\subsection}{\@startsection{subsection}{2}{\z@}%
{-3.25ex\@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
{1.5ex \@plus .2ex}%
{\normalfont\large\slshape}}
%
\renewcommand{\subsubsection}{\@startsection{subsubsection}{3}{\z@}%
{-3.25ex\@plus -1ex \@minus -.2ex}%
{1.5ex \@plus .2ex}%
{\centering\normalfont\slshape}}
%
% (3.3) The next command turns of the switch that changed the meaning of the “@” character.
\makeatother
%
%: (4) Changing formatting of theorem-like structures
%
% The next command loads the ``amstheorem'' package
% to adjust formatting of theorem-like structures
\usepackage{amsthm}
%
%Define ``plain'' style
\newtheoremstyle{plain}{9pt}{9pt}{\itshape}{0pt}{\scshape}{:}{3pt}{}
%
% Load ``plain'' style, so that it will apply to all theorem-style structures
% that are defined after this command
\theoremstyle{plain}
%
% Then, for the Assumption, Corollary, Proposition, etc. ``plain'' style is active
% You can add more of these structures to suit your needs
\newtheorem{assumption}{Assumption}
\newtheorem{corollary}{Corollary}
\newtheorem{definition}{Definition}
\newtheorem{lemma}{Lemma}
\newtheorem{proposition}{Proposition}
\newtheorem{remark}{Remark}
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
%
% (5) Caption headings are bold and small
\usepackage[bf,small,nooneline,normal]{caption2}
\renewcommand*{\captionlabeldelim}{\nobreak}
\renewcommand*\captionlabeldelim{.}
\renewcommand{\captionfont}{\bfseries}
%
% (6) Table numbers are uppercase roman
\renewcommand{\thetable}{\Roman{table}}
%
% (7) First paragraphs are indented except the very first (unlabeled) section
\usepackage{indentfirst}
%
% (8) Change the formatting of the section header for Abstract
\renewcommand{\abstractname}{\bf \small ABSTRACT}
%
% (9) Change the formatting of the section header for References
\renewcommand{\refname}{\bf \small REFERENCES}
%
% (10) To move footnotes to the end of the text
\usepackage{endnote}
\renewcommand{\footnote}{\endnote}
\renewcommand{\notesname}{\bf Footnotes}
%
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
%:JF STYLE COMMANDS END HERE --- STOP CUTTING HERE
LaTeX style commands for JFQA
Included below are (some of) the commands that you need to satisfy to meet the style requirements for publishing in JFQA. These are quite straightforward, and there are only a few things that need to be changed — these changes are numbered below.
% ------------------------------------------------------------------------
%:JFQA STYLE COMMANDS START HERE --- START CUTTING FROM HERE
%
% (1) The line below says asks LaTeX to use the ``article'' class for typesetting,
% with the options being:
% 12pt font, letterpaper, left-equation numbering, and double-spacing
\documentclass[12pt,letterpaper,leqno,doublespacing]{article}
%
% (2) This package enables the ``doublespacing'' option being used in the first line
\usepackage{setspace}
%
% (3) This package formats the footnotes appropriately
\usepackage{footmisc}
\renewcommand{\footnotelayout}{\doublespacing}
\setlength{\footnotesep}{0.5cm}
%
% (4) This package sets the formatting of the captions for tables and figures
\usepackage[labelfont={bf,small},textfont={bf,small},format=hang]{caption}
%
% The ``makatletter'' command is a special LaTeX switch
% that changes the meaning of the ``@'' character, so that
% this character can be used in the commands that follow.
% The ``makeatletter'' switch will be turned off using
% the ``makeatother'' command below.
%
% (5) Changing format of Section number
% The command below adds a period after the section number.
\makeatletter
\renewcommand\@seccntformat[1]{\csname the#1\endcsname.\quad}
\makeatother
%
% (6) The next few commands change the format of the numbers
% for sections, subsections, and subsubsections
%
\renewcommand{\thesection}{\Roman{section}}
\renewcommand{\thesubsection}{\Alph{subsection}}
\renewcommand{\thesubsubsection}{\Alph{subsection}.\arabic{subsubsection}}
%
%:JFQA STYLE COMMANDS END HERE --- END CUTTING HERE
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LaTeX style commands for RFS
Included below are the commands that you need to satisfy to meet the style requirements for publishing in RFS. These are quite straightforward, and there are only a few things that need to be changed — these changes are numbered below.
% ------------------------------------------------------------------------
%:RFS STYLE COMMANDS START HERE --- START CUTTING FROM HERE
%
% (1) The line below says asks LaTeX to use the ``article'' class for typesetting,
% with the options being: 11pt font, letterpaper, and double-spacing
\documentclass[11pt, letterpaper,doublespacing]{article}
%
% (2) This package enables the ``doublespacing'' option in the first line
\usepackage{setspace}
%
% The ``makatletter'' command is a special LaTeX switch
% that changes the meaning of the ``@'' character, so that
% this character can be used in the commands that follow.
% The ``makeatletter'' switch will be turned off using
% the ``makeatother'' command below.
%
\makeatletter
%
% (3) Changing format of Section number
% The command below adds a period after the section number.
%
\def\@seccntformat#1{\@ifundefined{#1@cntformat}%
{\csname the#1\endcsname\quad}% default
{\csname #1@cntformat\endcsname}% individual control
}
\def\section@cntformat{\thesection.\quad}
\def\subsection@cntformat{\thesubsection \quad}
%
% (4) Changing format of subsubsection so that it is inline text
% This changes the formatting of the subsubsection to suit RFS style
% NOTE that the header text for the subsubsection needs to end with a period
% You need to insert this period yourself.
%
\renewcommand\subsubsection{\@startsection{subsubsection}{3}{\z@}%
{-14pt \@plus -6pt \@minus -4pt}%
{-6pt \@plus2pt \@minus 2pt}%
{\normalfont\normalsize\bfseries}}
%
% The next command turns of the switch that changed the meaning of the “@” character.
\makeatother
%
%: (5) Changing formatting of theorem-like structures
%
% The next command loads the ``ntheorem'' package
% to adjust formatting of theorem-like structures
\usepackage{ntheorem}
%
% This sets the text in theorems to be normal instead of italicized/emphasized
\theorembodyfont{\upshape}
%
% This puts a period after the theorem number
\theoremseparator{.}
%
% The above commands then apply to the
% following theorem-like structures; you can add your own
\newtheorem{theorem}{Theorem}
\newtheorem{lem}[theorem]{Lemma}
\newtheorem{proposition}{Proposition}
\newtheorem{fact}[theorem]{Fact}
\newtheorem{example}[theorem]{Example}
\newtheorem{rem}{Remark}
\newtheorem{corollary}{Corollary}
\newtheorem{definition}[theorem]{Definition}
\newtheorem{assumption}[theorem]{Assumption}
%
%:RFS STYLE COMMANDS END HERE --- END CUTTING HERE
% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------