Free LaTeX article template

This is a plain, single-file article in the standard LaTeX article class, for a working paper, a preprint or a first draft before you move it into a journal's template. If your journal gives you its own class, use that class instead. The templates index has pages for IEEE, ACM, Elsevier, APA 7 and NeurIPS.

Download the template (.zip) main.tex, references.bib, a figure and a README. Compiles as is, to three pages.

What is included

• Title block: title, two authors with numbered affiliations, a corresponding-author footnote and a date.
• Abstract and keywords.
• Sections: introduction, method with a subsection, results and discussion, then acknowledgements, references and an appendix.
• A figure, a table and a numbered equation, each with a label and a cross reference.
• Citations with natbib in author-year style, from references.bib, using BibTeX.
• An appendix lettered A, with its own table.

Packages: geometry, hyperref, graphicx, booktabs, amsmath, caption, microtype, lmodern and natbib. There is no custom class and no .latexmkrc. The figure is a placeholder PDF drawn for this template, in a figures subfolder.

Common changes

• Paper size and margins: change letterpaper to a4paper in the first line, and the margin=1in option of geometry.
• Double spacing for a manuscript: add \usepackage{setspace} and \doublespacing after it.
• Numbered citations: use \usepackage[numbers,sort&compress]{natbib}. \citet and \citep keep working.
• Reference style: change plainnat in \bibliographystyle to another .bst file that works with natbib.
• Appendix before or after the references: the sample puts it after. Move the \appendix block above the bibliography lines if your journal wants it before.

The bibliography uses BibTeX, not Biber, so the build needs only packages that ship in every TeX install. If you prefer biblatex, replace the natbib line and the two bibliography lines with biblatex and \printbibliography, and set the build to Biber.

Moving it into a journal's class

Replace the \documentclass line and the title, author and abstract block with what the journal's template shows, and remove any package the class already loads. Keep the sections, figures, tables and references.bib. Do not keep a layout setting that the class sets for you, such as the geometry line.

How to use it

In ModernTex

Unzip the folder and open it in ModernTex. The project is one file, so there is nothing else to configure. This project uses BibTeX, so if the compile profile is set to biblatex with Biber, switch it to BibTeX. A university class file goes in the project folder, next to main.tex.

In TeXShop, TeXstudio or VS Code

TeXShop: open main.tex, choose the pdfLaTeX engine, and press Typeset. TeXShop runs BibTeX when you choose BibTeX from the Typeset menu, then Typeset again twice. Or set the engine to latexmk if you have it. TeXstudio: open main.tex and press Build and View. In Options, Configure TeXstudio, Build, check that the default bibliography tool is BibTeX, not Biber. VS Code with LaTeX Workshop: open the folder and build with the default latexmk recipe, which runs BibTeX for you. With a terminal, latexmk -pdf main.tex does the same in any of them.

In Overleaf

Choose New Project, then Upload Project, and select the .zip. Set the main document to main.tex. Overleaf compiles with pdfLaTeX by default and runs BibTeX on its own.

Packages a fresh TinyTeX needs

MacTeX and a full TeX Live already include everything. The article build reads files from 38 packages, most of them dependencies of hyperref and natbib. A small install such as BasicTeX or TinyTeX does not, and LaTeX stops at the first missing file. Install them in one command (leave out sudo on TinyTeX):

sudo tlmgr install latexmk natbib geometry hyperref booktabs amsmath caption microtype lm ec cm amsfonts graphics etoolbox

I compiled the zip from a clean folder with latexmk -pdf -norc -synctex=1 using TinyTeX from TeX Live 2026 and listed every package that build read. That list is the command above. The build has no errors and no warnings, and every citation and cross reference resolves after the full run. I did not start from an empty TinyTeX, so if LaTeX still names a file, tlmgr search --global --file name.sty shows which package has it. How to install LaTeX on a Mac has the steps.

Check before you submit

• Compile LaTeX to PDF online (free): upload the .tex file or the .zip and get a PDF from a clean machine.
• BibTeX validator (free): missing fields, duplicate keys and dead DOIs in your .bib file.
• Word counter (free): word counts per section for abstract and length limits.
• Anonymity Check ($2): scans a manuscript for author names, institutions and self-citation patterns before a double-blind submission.

Writing it on a Mac

Disclosure: I make ModernTex, a native LaTeX editor for the Mac, and this template is one of the free things on this site. You do not need ModernTex to use it. The project compiles the same way in any editor that runs pdfLaTeX and BibTeX. ModernTex compiles with the TeX install you already have, such as MacTeX, keeps the PDF preview in sync with the source, and has a 7-day free trial, then costs $19.99 once. If you would rather not pay, TeXShop, TeXstudio and VS Code with LaTeX Workshop are free, and the editors guide compares them with ModernTex.

License

CC0 1.0. The template and its sample text are public domain, so you can use, change and share them for any purpose without credit. The placeholder figure was made for this template. The three books in references.bib are real, and every other name and number in the sample is invented.