Saturday, April 10, 2010

Checklist for scientific (LaTeX) papers

1. Run spell check
2. Make sure all figures have axes labeled, captions, symbols are consistent with those that appear in the text
3. Make sure references are correctly appearing: especially note capitalization of acronyms. Use {} to get capitals in bibtex title entries.
4. Try to get rid of (embellishing) words like: obviously, basically, actually, really,etc.
5. Make sure equations and text use \mathrm{} for math symbols more than a single letter. Use mathmode for all mathematical variables. Don't use unslanted Roman for single letter symbols, unless really intended.
6. Make sure every equation line has a punctuation at the end
7. Be careful when there is a blank line after an equation, since it starts a new paragraph.
8. Figure sizes should be uniform and appropriate
9. All acronyms are expanded at least once in the paper
10. Make sure title of paper and keywords capture all the aspects of the work concisely and effectively
11. Choose a consistent capitalization scheme (for title, sections, headings, etc.)
12.
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NOTE: checklist is still in development, suggestions are welcome