Elsevier journal template (elsarticle)

elsarticle is Elsevier's own class, distributed on CTAN as the elsarticle package and included in TeX Live and MiKTeX. Its bibliography styles, elsarticle-num, elsarticle-num-names and elsarticle-harv, come with it. A few Elsevier journals point authors to Elsevier's newer CAS templates (cas-sc and cas-dc) instead; use whichever class the journal's Guide for Authors names.

Minimal skeleton

Save your references as references.bib in the same folder. This compiles with pdfLaTeX followed by BibTeX. The key-value form of \affiliation needs a recent version of the class; older copies use \address instead.

Download the starter (.zip) main.tex, references.bib and a README. Compiles as is. Writing on a Mac? Open the folder in ModernTex.

\documentclass[preprint,12pt]{elsarticle}
% \documentclass[review,12pt]{elsarticle}          % wider line spacing for review
% \documentclass[final,5p,times,twocolumn]{elsarticle} % estimate the printed length

\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{graphicx}

\journal{Journal Name}

\begin{document}

\begin{frontmatter}

\title{Paper Title}

\author[inst1]{First Author\corref{cor1}}
\ead{first@example.edu}
\cortext[cor1]{Corresponding author.}

\author[inst2]{Second Author}

\affiliation[inst1]{organization={Department, University},
  city={City},
  country={Country}}

\affiliation[inst2]{organization={Company},
  city={City},
  country={Country}}

\begin{abstract}
One paragraph that states the problem, the method, and the result.
\end{abstract}

\begin{keyword}
first keyword \sep second keyword \sep third keyword
\end{keyword}

\end{frontmatter}

\section{Introduction}
Text with a citation~\cite{example}.

\section{Conclusion}
Summary.

\bibliographystyle{elsarticle-num}
\bibliography{references}

\end{document}

Key options

• preprint (the default): single column, with "Preprint submitted to" and the name from \journal at the foot of the first page. nopreprintline removes that line.
• review: single column with wider line spacing, for journals that ask for a review copy with room for comments.
• 1p, 3p, 5p, used with final: approximations of Elsevier's printed layouts. 1p is single column, 3p is single column unless you add twocolumn, and 5p is two columns. Use them to estimate how long the printed article will be.
• 10pt (the class default) or 12pt: Elsevier's template uses 12pt with preprint.
• number (the default) or authoryear: sets natbib for numbered or author-year citations. Pair number with elsarticle-num and authoryear with elsarticle-harv.
• times: sets the text in a Times font.
• doubleblind: in recent versions of the class, hides the author names and affiliations for double-anonymized review.
• Inside frontmatter: \author[label] links an author to \affiliation[label], \corref and \cortext mark the corresponding author, \ead gives an email address, and keyword separates keywords with \sep.

Common submission pitfalls

• Read the Guide for Authors first. Many Elsevier journals accept a first submission in any consistent format (Elsevier calls this "Your Paper Your Way") and only ask for the template after acceptance. Others have specific rules on length, structure and reference style.
• Double-anonymized review. Journals that use it usually ask for a separate title page with the author details and an anonymized manuscript. The doubleblind option handles the title block, but check every page: in the version of elsarticle tested for this page (3.3, in TeX Live 2023), the highlights page still printed the author names with doubleblind on.
• Highlights. Many journals ask for 3 to 5 highlights of at most 85 characters each, including spaces, usually uploaded as a separate file. Recent versions of the class also have a highlights environment if the journal wants them in the PDF.
• Citation mode and style must match. An author-year style with the default number option, or the reverse, gives wrong or missing citations. Change the class option and the .bst file together.
• Final layouts are an estimate. Elsevier typesets accepted papers itself, so there is no need to submit in 5p. Submit with preprint or review, whichever the journal asks for.
• Blurry symbols and Type 3 fonts. If pdffonts paper.pdf lists a Type 3 font, it is usually a symbol that pdfLaTeX could only find as a bitmap. Adding \usepackage{lmodern} or installing cm-super fixes most cases; matplotlib figures need pdf.fonttype set to 42.

Check before you submit

• Compile LaTeX to PDF online (free): upload the .tex file or a .zip of the project and get the PDF back, compiled with pdfLaTeX or XeLaTeX, including the BibTeX or Biber passes. Useful for a clean build on a machine that is not yours.
• BibTeX validator (free): flags missing required fields, duplicate keys, dead DOIs and entries that do not match a real paper. It runs in the browser.
• Anonymity Check ($2): scans the manuscript for author names, institutions, grant numbers, self-citation patterns and author-owned URLs before a double-blind submission.
• Paper Review (from $9): four AI reviewers read the manuscript for methods, statistics and the editor's view, and every reference is checked against CrossRef.
• Word counter (free): word counts per section, with and without references, for abstract and length limits.

Writing it on a Mac

If you write on a Mac, ModernTex is our native LaTeX editor. It compiles with the TeX distribution you already have, such as MacTeX, so elsarticle behaves the same as it does anywhere else, and the PDF preview stays in sync with the source. It has a 7-day free trial and then costs $10 once.