# Preparation of manuscripts for the American Journal of Physics using LaTeX, as adapted for Authorea

Abstract

The primary purpose of this article is to serve as a template for those seeking to use Authorea to collaboratively write and review articles and reports using the AJP journal format. As such, this article explains and illustrates the use of LaTeX in preparing manuscripts for submission to the American Journal of Physics (AJP). The version presented here is an adaptation of the original article “Preparation of manuscripts for the American Journal of Physics using LaTeX” by Daniel V. Schroeder of Weber State University and David P. Jackson of Dickinson College. That article appears in the form of a sample LaTeX file sample.tex; the present article is an import of that file into Authorea, with some formatting changes and added commentary. In most cases, we retain the original language of Schroeder and Jackson, adding only Authorea specific instructions as needed. Authors seeking to submit publication-ready files to AJP should make the bibliographic changes discussed in the appendices after exporting to a LaTeXformat .tex file, along with other pre-production changes outlined in the comments embedded in the original sample.tex file. That file is available for download at the AJP website.

## Introduction

LaTeX is typesetting software that is widely used by mathematicians and physicists because it is so good at typesetting equations. It is also completely programmable, so it can be configured to produce documents with almost any desired formatting, and to automatically number equations, figures, endnotes, and so on.

To prepare manuscripts for the American Journal of Physics (AJP), you should use the REVTeX 4.1 format for Physical Review B preprints, as indicated in the documentclass line at the top of this article’s source file. (If you’re already familiar with LaTeX and have used other LaTeX formats, please resist the temptation to use them, or to otherwise override REVTeX’s formatting conventions, in manuscripts that you prepare for AJP.)

This sample article is intended as a tutorial, template, and reference for AJP authors, illustrating most of the LaTeX and REVTeX features that authors will need. For a more comprehensive introduction to LaTeX, numerous books (Kopka 2004) and online references such as the LaTeX Project website11LaTeX Project Web Site, $$<$$www.latex-project.org/$$>$$ and LaTeX Wikibooks website22LaTeX (Wikibook), $$<$$en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/$$>$$ are available. Documentation for the REVTeX package can be found on the APS RevTeX website.3