Paper checklist
Before circulation, the paper should be checked for common style errors with the checklist below.
Be sure to run spelling checker to catch any spelling errors or typographical errors.
Language:
1.1. Use ', respectively.' correctly. Example: The branching fractions of A, B, and C are D, E, and F, respectively. (Respectively means the ordering is the same.) Avoid using respectively when unnecessary.
1.2. Do not use particle symbols, decay descriptors or functions as nouns
Unless in a listing or table, they need to be followed by noun or adjective. Examples:
"the mass of the J/psi" => "the mass of the J/psi boson"
"background from D->pi+pi-" => "background from D->pi+pi- decays"
"width of the Gaussian" => "width of the Gaussian function" or "width of the Gaussian component"
HOWEVER, repeating "boson", "decays", "mode", or "process" in every other sentence is ugly. Stop using this rule if that situation occurs
1.3. Do not start sentences with an acronym, symbol, or number
1.4. Correct way to refer to the integrated luminosity
Instead of writing "1.0 fb-1 of data", it is more precise to write "data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb-1" .
1.5. No jargon or other poorly phrased expressions or mistakes?
1.6. Do not connect two or more clauses in a sentence without a conjunction word (and, but, etc.)
1.7. Use an apostrophe to form a plural for abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols. Example: One hundred $K^0$'s
1.8. Correct use of 'e.g.' and 'i.e.'; typically set off from the rest of the sentence by punctuation. e.g. means "for example", and i.e. means "that is" or "in other words". Example: tasty fruit, e.g., apples or pears
1.9 Do not use 'vs.' ; use 'versus'
1.10 Write out simple numbers (less than two words required) in text: We study six decay modes in this paper. five thousand, twelve, etc.
1.11 Do not use "event number"; use "number of events"
Title and section titles:
2.1. Don't start with an article (a, an, the).
2.2. Everything bold, including symbols and particles
Titles, including section and subsection titles are typeset in boldface. However, anything in mathmode appears not bold, therefore it needs to be set to bold by hand, using {\boldmath mymathexpression} .
If this doesn't work, try put the whole section header between \begin{boldmath} and \end{boldmath} .
Typography:
3.0. Space after periods, commas, before parentheses, in references, etc. Example: $(2.3\pm0.1), (2.6\pm0.2),(4.8\pm0.9)$ -> $(2.3\pm0.1)$, $2.6\pm0.2)$, $4.8\pm0.9)$
3.1. All minus signs and dashes are full size. Use math mode for signed numbers: $-0.5$ gives a math minus sign; -0.5 gives a dash.
3.2. Protected space (~) before every \cite \ref, after every 'Fig.' , 'Eq.' , 'Sec.' and 'Table' .
3.3. Use full words 'Figure', 'Equation', and 'Table' at the beginning of a sentence.
3.4. Ranges in consistent format: x-y or [x,y]
3.5. Lengths of the fragments of a hyphenated word are at least two
Use \lefthyphenmin=2 and \righthyphenmin=2 to control the length of these fragments
3.6. To avoid the hyphenation of Upper-case acronyms
Use \uchyph=0
3.7. Variables and particle names usually in italic font, while units in roman font. Examples: $D$ meson, $1 \times 10^3$ m. However there is an exception for 'c': MeV/$c$.
3.8. All subscripts and superscripts that refer to words in roman font.
3.9. Consistent use of identifiers (symbols or notation) for variables throughout the paper. Example: if you use $Br$ for branching fraction, then use it throughout the paper.
3.10. The units for mass, energy and momentum (MeV/c^2, MeV, and MeV/c) must be consistent with the Breit-Wigner formula and other formulas.
Numbers:
4.1. Precision matched in numbers with uncertainties? (1023.456 +/- 1.234 -> 1023.5 +/- 1.2)
4.2. Correct space between number and unit?
A number and unit should be spaced by anything between a full and a thin space. Use a thin (\,) or full (~) protected space: $\sqrt{s}=7$\,TeV or $\sqrt{s}=7$~TeV .
The percent sign (%) should have no separation with the number that precedes it: 5%, not 5 %. A thin space (\,) is also acceptable.
4.3. Numbers >9999 have space or comma between triplets? Example: 643, 287 events.
4.4. Adopted PDG rounding rules (see page 12)?
4.5. Avoid padding with zeros at the end.
So 51373±4561 should be rounded as (5.14±0.46)x104 and not 51400±4500
Abbreviations:
5.1. Abbreviations defined at first occurrance
5.2. No unnecessary capitalization when defining abbreviation. Do not use Particle IDentification (PID). PID ok, but Particle IDentification not
5.3. Abbreviations needed only if the words appear at least three times in body text
5.4. Be sure to define everything even if you think it obvious: the particle data group (PDG), particle identification (PID)
Equations:
6.1. Analysis results should not have an equation number
6.2. Do not precede by a colon
6.3. Natural text flow around it, including commas or full stops after the equation?
6.4. Multiple differentials are separated by a thin space?
6.5. Definitions with (\equiv) instead of regular '=' ?
Tables:
7.1. Either on top or bottom of page?
7.2. Caption in \small font and above the table?
7.3. Do not use 'summary of' or 'list of' in the caption
7.4. Numbers well aligned on +- symbols and/or decimal points?
Rounding numbers in a table, some variation of the rounding rules above may be required to achieve uniformity.
Figures:
8.1. Either on top or bottom of page?
8.2. Axis labels correct, including units?
8.3. Are the font, label and legend sizes consistent and not too small?
8.4. Minus signs have same size, alignment as plus signs?
8.5. No touching or overlapping items?
8.6. All curves distinguishable and described in either legend or caption?
8.7. Representation and description on all plotting elements are sufficient in grey scale print?
8.8. Data points not obscured by fit curve?
8.9. Does the caption give a self-contained description?
8.10. Subfigures clearly indicated with (a) (b), (left) (right) etc?
8.11. Subfigure label in caption precedes description?
8.12. Caption below the plots?
References:
9.1. The ordering follows their appearances in body text?
9.2. Added a space between author initials?
9.3. Any temporary entries in arXiv are published?
9.5. LHCb, BaBar and Belle spelled correctly?
9.6. All JHEP volume numbers have 2 digits?
9.7. Consistent format for all the entries?
Abstract:
10.1. Do not use Latex commands ( '\,') in abstract on arXiv
Abstract display does not support these in ArXiv paper abstract entry.
Miscellaneous:
11.1. Author list and acknowledgement frozen to the beginning date of CWR?
11.2. PACS numbers appropriate?
11.3. If the target journal is a letter, use 'Letter' in the text when the manuscript itself is referred to.
11.4. Avoid using invariant mass of $/pi^0$. Instead use invariant mass of $\gamma \gamma$. We don't detect $\pi^0$'s directly,