Convert Your Manuscript to a Journal LaTeX Template: An Overleaf Guide (Without Breaking It)

You have a finished manuscript in Word or in a generic LaTeX file, and the target journal asks for its own LaTeX template. Conversion looks simple: copy, paste, compile. In practice it is where figures disappear, references turn into question marks and author blocks break. This guide walks through a careful, step-by-step way to move your paper into a journal template in Overleaf without losing content or wasting a week on compile errors.

1. Start from the official template, not a copy of a copy

Always begin with the template the journal itself points to. Open the journal's Guide for Authors (sometimes called "Instructions for Authors" or "Submission guidelines") and look for a LaTeX section. It usually links to a download or to an Overleaf template. Common examples:

• Elsevier: the elsarticle class, with bibliography styles such as elsarticle-num (numbered) or elsarticle-harv (author-year). Some Elsevier journals use their own variant, so check the specific journal page.
• IEEE: the IEEEtran class, with options for journals and conferences, and the IEEEtran BibTeX style.
• Springer Nature: the current Springer Nature LaTeX template (sn-jnl class) for many journals; some older Springer journals still mention svjour3. Use whichever the journal page names.
• MDPI: a journal-specific template package with a Definitions folder; you set the journal name and article type in the \documentclass options.

Many of these are available in the Overleaf template gallery, but gallery entries can be outdated or uploaded by users. If the journal links a specific version, use that one. Open the template project and compile it once, unchanged, before you add anything.

2. Move content section by section

Do not paste the whole manuscript at once. Copy the abstract and keywords first, compile, then the introduction, compile, and so on. When an error appears, you know exactly which block caused it.

• Keep the template's own preamble and add only the packages you really need. Many classes already load graphicx, amsmath or a citation package, and loading them again with different options causes clashes.
• Remove your old custom margin, font and line-spacing commands. The class controls layout; overriding it is a common reason for desk rejection on formatting grounds.
• If you are coming from Word, watch for special characters. %, &, _, # and $ must be escaped in text, and smart quotes or pasted symbols may need replacing.

3. Figures: paths, formats and sizes

Upload figures to a figures/ folder and reference them with relative paths, for example \includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{figures/fig1.pdf}, or set \graphicspath{{figures/}} once. With pdfLaTeX (the Overleaf default), use PDF for vector graphics and PNG or JPG for raster images. EPS files may need conversion depending on the setup, so check that they appear in the PDF.

• Size figures relative to the column: \columnwidth for single-column and figure* with \textwidth for full-width figures in two-column layouts.
• File names are case-sensitive on Overleaf: Fig1.PNG and fig1.png are different files. Avoid spaces in file names.
• Check the journal's resolution and file-type requirements for the final figure files, which may be uploaded separately from the source.

4. Tables and equations

Tables copied from Word are often the slowest part. Rebuild them with tabular, keep column counts consistent in every row, and use booktabs rules if the template allows it. Wide tables can use table* in two-column classes. For equations, use equation or align with \label and refer to them with \eqref or \ref instead of typing numbers by hand.

5. Bibliography and citation style

Put your references in a .bib file and use the style the template specifies, for example \bibliographystyle{IEEEtran} or elsarticle-num. Do not mix manual reference lists with BibTeX. Export entries from a reference manager such as Zotero or Mendeley, then clean them: check author names, journal titles, volume, pages and DOIs. If citations show as [?], the BibTeX key does not match, the entry has a syntax error, or the bibliography has not been rebuilt; on Overleaf, recompiling usually reruns BibTeX, and the log will name the missing key.

6. Authors, affiliations and front matter

Each class has its own commands for authors. Elsevier uses \author with \affiliation inside a frontmatter block, IEEE uses \author{} with \thanks or author blocks, and Springer Nature and MDPI have their own fields for corresponding author, ORCID and email. Fill these in exactly as the template shows rather than writing them as plain text. Add funding, conflict of interest, data availability and author contribution statements in the sections the journal requires.

7. Common compile errors and quick fixes

• Undefined control sequence: a command from a package you did not load, or a typo. The log shows the line.
• Missing $ inserted: a math symbol or underscore used in normal text.
• File not found: wrong path, wrong case or a missing upload for a figure or .bib file.
• Option clash for package: the same package loaded twice with different options; remove your duplicate.

8. Check the PDF against the guidelines

A clean compile is not the finish line. Read the PDF next to the author guidelines: abstract word limit, keyword count, section order, heading style, figure and table captions, reference style, and any page or word limit. Confirm that every figure, table and citation is referenced in the text and that cross-references point to the right numbers.

9. What to upload

Most journals ask for the LaTeX source as well as the PDF. From Overleaf, download the project as a source zip. Make sure it contains the main .tex file, the class and style files the template needs, all figures, the .bib file and, if the journal requests it, the generated .bbl file.