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LaTeX instructions

The guidelines on this page will help you to prepare and submit your LaTeX files. Please note that there are separate instructions available for CRC journal articles and IFAC meeting papers(opens in new tab/window).

Preparing your manuscript

The Elsevier article class

The Elsevier article class helps you to format the frontmatter of your manuscript properly. It is part of the elsarticle package. This package is contained in most TeX distributions and is available on CTAN(opens in new tab/window). The elsarticle documentation(opens in new tab/window) and some common templates and bibliographic styles are part of this package as well. You can download a set of files(opens in new tab/window) containing a template LaTeX manuscript, using the elsarticle class, plus associated BibTeX style files. Although elsarticle.cls supports most journal styles, it is not possible to match the journal's layout exactly.

For more complex articles, two additional class files and templates are available, single-column (cas-sc.cls) and double-column (cas-dc.cls). These can be downloaded from CTAN(opens in new tab/window) (els-cas-template.zip(opens in new tab/window)). These class files are documented here(opens in new tab/window).

Elsevier reference styles

Some journals require a specific reference style. The relevant bibliographic styles for LaTeX packed with the sample manuscript(opens in new tab/window) are available in the “doc” folder.

Recommendations

To ensure a fast processing of your document, we recommend the following:

  • Use elsarticle.cls(opens in new tab/window) in combination with BibTeX(opens in new tab/window)

  • Follow the documentation of the class you are using (the documentation of elsarticle.cls is found here(opens in new tab/window))

  • Use the standard layout or keep layout changes to a minimum (custom layout will be removed)

  • Keep it simple (advanced constructions with for example TikZ or pstricks will be rendered as images)

  • Check your journal's Guide for Authors for any journal-specific formatting requirements

Submitting your manuscript

Most journals accept a PDF of your manuscript at initial submission.

When you are asked to submit your manuscript source files, please do the following:

  • Build a PDF of your manuscript source files on your computer and attach it with item type 'Manuscript'

  • Bundle all manuscript source files in a single archive and attach it with item type 'LaTeX source files (source files include LaTeX files, BibTeX files, figures, tables, all LaTeX classes and packages that are not included in TeX Live and any other material that belongs to your manuscript)

Please note the following technical requirements for the submission of source files:

  • The source files should compile without errors with pdflatex or latex

  • The PDF should be generated from the source files you submit

  • All classes and packages that are not contained in TeX Live should be submitted along with the source files — you can check in the CTAN database(opens in new tab/window) whether your class or package is contained in TeX Live

  • Figures should be submitted in one of the following formats: EPS, JPG, PDF or PNG

Preparing CRC journal articles

Camera-ready copy (CRC) journals are those that reproduce the author's manuscript exactly, with no intervention by the typesetter. Such journals are the exception rather than the rule; if a journal is CRC, this fact is clearly indicated in the instructions to authors. The Procedia series of journals, for example, are genuine CRC. Please read carefully the journal's instructions to authors.

For LaTeX authors of camera-ready articles, we provide the ecrc.sty package. This is a small package designed to work with the elsarticle document class. All the features of elsarticle are available, along with a few extra commands specific to CRC reproduction. Documentation for the use of ecrc.sty is included in the manuscript template file available below.

The archive file elsarticle-ecrc.zip(opens in new tab/window) contains all the necessary files to run this package. To install ecrc.sty, unzip the elsarticle-ecrc.zip file. Usually the file can be unzipped directly in the local tree of your TeX distribution (for TeX Live, this would be in the texmf-local directory). The archive contains the following files:

Once the package has been installed, edit the manuscript file ecrc-template.tex according to the instructions in that file, and save with a new name. The manuscript file should be compiled with pdflatex (and bibtex if desired).

Please only use these packages after confirmation from the journal's editors.

Questions and support

Why is the item type 'LaTeX source files' not available? Journals with very few LaTeX submissions may not have this item type. In this case, submit your manuscript in PDF format only and supply the source files when requested.

For a beginner's guide to writing a manuscript in LaTeX, see the interactive course on Elsevier's Researcher Academy(opens in new tab/window).

For more information and support, please visit the Elsevier Support Center(opens in new tab/window).