How I stopped fighting with journal formatting and actually finished my thesis
Three weeks into my master's program, I was staring at a blank Google Doc wondering why every footnote looked like it had been designed by someone who hated readability. My advisor sent back the first draft with seven red comments about margin sizes, citation formatting, and this mysterious thing called "Diy Academic Journal Pages" that apparently every department in the humanities used but nobody could point me to actual documentation for. Turns out Diy Academic Journal Pages is just a collection of community-maintained LaTeX templates and Word style guides that handle the nightmare of academic submission formatting. Not some secret portal. Just people who went through the same pain and posted their solutions online. I wish someone had told me that earlier because I spent four days trying to manually format my bibliography before discovering the
Diy Academic Journal Pages
repository on GitHub. Here is how I actually got my paper accepted without losing another month to formatting hell.What Diy Academic Journal Pages Actually Is
It is not software you download and install. Think of it more like a toolkit sitting in a public repository with template files, style guides, and configuration snippets for the most common academic journal submission requirements. The main projects cover LaTeX classes like revtex4-2 for physics journals, elsarticle for Elsevier publications, and various Chicago/Turabian templates for humanities work. For Word users, there are downloadable style sets that handle automatic footnote numbering, running headers, and margin requirements. I learned this the hard way after submitting a paper to a sociology journal and getting it returned for "formatting non-compliance" even though the content was solid. The reviewer specifically mentioned the Diy Academic Journal Pages template for their publication, which I had completely ignored because I assumed my department's generic Word template would suffice. It did not.
The Workflow That Actually Works
Most people approach this backwards. They write the paper first in whatever format they are comfortable with, then spend days trying to force it into the journal's required template. This usually fails because citations get misaligned, figure captions lose their numbering, and the document structure breaks when you swap from double-column to single-column formatting. The method I settled on after three rejections was to start with the template first. Download the appropriate .cls file for your target journal, paste in your content as plain text, then format section by section while the template catches structural issues immediately. This usually cuts the process down from 2 hours to about 15 minutes, depending on your setup and familiarity with LaTeX. For Word users, the equivalent workflow is to apply the journal's style set from day one. Create a new document, load the downloaded .dotx template, then write directly in the formatted structure. This prevents the catastrophic reformatting that happens when you try to convert a finished paper.
Get the Full Details
A Real Problem I Encountered
Last semester I submitted a methodology paper to a computational linguistics journal and hit a wall with figure placement. The Diy Academic Journal Pages template for their publication had this weird requirement where all figures had to be grouped at the end of the document, not embedded inline. My version kept placing them near the text references, which the production team rejected three times before I found the workaround in the template's README file. The exact fix was adding \groupedfigures to the preamble and using the figure* environment with the *htbp placement specifier. This usually resolves the issue for journals with end-of-document figure requirements.
Common Pitfalls Beginners Miss
Everyone assumes the template will handle everything automatically. This is wrong. The Diy Academic Journal Pages templates handle structural formatting, citation styles, and margin requirements, but they do not catch content issues like reference formatting, DOI linkage, or supplementary material requirements. I learned this after my first submission was desk-rejected for missing DOIs in the bibliography even though the template had properly formatted the citations. Another counter-intuitive insight is that more templates do not mean better formatting. Some journals require you to submit in a specific format that the template does not support, like IEEE's two-column layout with specific font sizes. In these cases, you usually need to combine the template with manual adjustments, which adds about 30 minutes to the process.
When Diy Academic Journal Pages Completely Fails
Be painfully objective here. This method does not work for journals with proprietary formatting requirements, like Nature's specific style that no template fully supports. Some publishers require you to submit through their own online system with custom formatting rules, which makes the template irrelevant for those publications. The downsides are real. If your target journal is not covered by any template in the Diy Academic Journal Pages repository, you usually need to manually recreate the formatting from scratch, which adds about 2 hours to the process. In these cases, I recommend using the journal's own submission guidelines as the primary reference, then applying the closest template from the repository as a starting point. For specialized fields like anthropology, there is no universal template because the formatting requirements vary so much between institutions. Some departments require Chicago style with footnotes, others prefer endnotes, and a few still use old-fashioned numbered references. In these scenarios, you usually need to customize the template extensively, which takes about 1-2 days of work.
What to Download First
Start with the template for your specific target journal. The Diy Academic Journal Pages repository has separate branches for different disciplines, so pick the one matching your field before investing time in learning the formatting. For physics and astronomy, revtex4-2 is the standard. For engineering, IEEEtran with the journal-specific configuration. For social sciences, apa7 or chicago} depending on the citation style. I tested this approach after my third rejection and it worked immediately because the template caught all structural issues before I even submitted the paper. Most journals return formatting-related rejections within 2 weeks of submission, so fixing this early usually prevents the delay.
The Technical Details You Need
The LaTeX packages involved include babel for multilingual support, hyperref for DOI linking, and graphicx for figure placement. For Word users, the equivalent tools are the downloadable style sets that handle automatic footnote numbering and running headers. These usually resolve the issue for journals with standard formatting requirements. The exact configuration for most submissions requires careful attention to margin sizes, font specifications, and line spacing. Most templates default to 1-inch margins with 12-point Times New Roman, but some journals require 1.5-inch margins or 11-point Calibri. In these cases, you usually need to adjust the template settings manually, which adds about 15 minutes to the process. For specialized journals like those in digital humanities, there is no universal template because the formatting requirements include specific XML schemas and metadata requirements. Some publishers require you to submit in a format that the template does not support, like JATS XML with custom tag structures. In these scenarios, you usually need to use the publisher's own submission tool, then apply the closest template from the repository as a reference point.
Why This Matters
Getting your paper accepted is not just about the content. The formatting affects how reviewers perceive your work, and poor presentation can lead to desk-rejection even for solid research. I discovered this after my first submission was returned with a note about "professional presentation standards" even though the methodology was sound. The reviewer specifically mentioned the Diy Academic Journal Pages template for their publication, which I had completely ignored. Most people approach this as an afterthought. They write the paper first, then spend days trying to force it into the journal's required template. This usually fails because citations get misaligned, figure captions lose their numbering, and the document structure breaks when you swap from double-column to single-column formatting. The workflow I settled on after three rejections was to start with the template first, then write directly in the formatted structure. This usually cuts the process down from 2 hours to about 15 minutes, depending on your setup and familiarity with the tools. For Word users, the equivalent workflow is to apply the journal's style set from day one and write directly in the formatted structure. This prevents the catastrophic reformatting that happens when you try to convert a finished paper.
The Bottom Line
The Diy Academic Journal Pages repository is not perfect. Some templates do not support all journal requirements, and you usually need to customize them for your specific field. But it is a starting point that saves hours of manual formatting work. Most researchers I know who use this approach finish their submissions in about 1-2 days instead of 1-2 weeks. For specialized journals with unique requirements, there is no universal solution because the formatting needs vary so much between publications. Some require specific XML schemas, others need custom figure placement, and a few still use old-fashioned submission guidelines. In these scenarios, you usually need to combine the template with manual adjustments, which adds about 30 minutes to the process. But it is still faster than starting from scratch. The exact workflow depends on your target journal and field. Start with the closest template from the Diy Academic Journal Pages repository, customize it for your specific requirements, then write directly in the formatted structure. This usually prevents the delays that happen when you try to convert a finished paper.
