SPIE journal papers: sample manuscript showing style and

formatting specifications

First Authora , Second Authora , Third Authorb , Fourth Authora,b,*

a
University Name, Faculty Group, Department, Street Address, City, Country, Postal Code
b
Company Name, Street Address, City, Country, Postal Code

Abstract. This document shows the required format and appearance of a manuscript prepared for SPIE journals.
It is prepared using LaTeX2e with the class file spieman.cls. Please note that the following journals require the
use of structured abstracts in manuscript submissions: Neurophotonics, the Journal of Biomedical Optics, and the
Journal of Medical Imaging. Structured abstracts are encouraged for the Journal of Micro/Nanolithography, MEMS,
and MOEMS. Guidelines are available on the journal website. Whether structured or single-paragraph, the abstract
should be a summary of the paper and not an introduction. Because the abstract may be used in abstracting and
indexing databases, it should be self-contained (i.e., no numerical references) and substantive in nature, presenting
concisely the objectives, methodology used, results obtained, and their significance. A list of up to six keywords
should immediately follow.

Keywords: optics, photonics, light, lasers, journal manuscripts, LaTeX template.

*Fourth author name, [email protected]

1 Introduction

This document shows the format and appearance of a manuscript prepared for submission to an

SPIE journal. Note that this template is only intended to be used as a guideline for author conve-

nience. It is designed for optimum clarity and ease of reading for editors and reviewers, but the

template does not reflect the final page layout of a published journal paper. Accepted papers are

professionally typeset in XML according to the layout and design of the journal.

1.1 Use of This Document

This document is prepared using LaTeX2e1, 2 with the class file spieman.cls. The LaTeX

source file used to create this document is article.tex, which contains important formatting

information embedded in it. Authors may use it as a template to create their own manuscript. While

LaTeX properly handles most formatting issues, the author may occasionally need to intervene to

obtain a satisfactorily formatted manuscript.

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1.2 English

Authors are strongly encouraged to follow the principles of sound technical writing, as found

in Refs. 3 and 4, for example. In addition, good English usage is essential. Authors whose native

language is not English may wish to collaborate with a colleague whose English skills are more ad-

vanced. Alternatively, you may wish to have your manuscript professionally edited prior to submis-

sion by Editage, our recommended independent editorial service: https://www.editage.com/spie/.

SPIE authors will receive a 15% discount off their services. A spell checker can be helpful to

discover misspelled words, but authors should also proofread their papers carefully prior to sub-

mission. Manuscripts that do not meet acceptable English standards or lack clarity may be rejected.

1.3 Page Setup and Fonts

All text and figures, including footnotes, must fit inside a text area 6.5 in. wide by 9 in. high (16.51

by 22.86 cm). Manuscripts must be formatted for US letter paper, on which the margins should be

1 in. (2.54 cm) on the top, 1 in. on the bottom, and 1 in. on the left and right.

The Times New Roman font is used throughout the manuscript, in the sizes and styles shown

in Table 1. If this font is not available, use a similar serif font. The manuscript should not contain

headers or footers. Pages should be numbered.

2 Parts of Manuscript

This section describes the normal structure of a manuscript and how each part should be handled.

The appropriate vertical spacing between various parts of this document is achieved in LaTeX

through the proper use of defined constructs, such as \section{}.

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 Table 1 Fonts sizes and styles.

Document entity Brief description

Article title 16 pt., bold, left justified
Author names 12 pt., bold, left justified
Author affiliations 10 pt., left justified
Abstract 10 pt.
Keywords 10 pt.
Section heading 12 pt., bold, left justified
Subsection heading 12 pt., italic, left justified
Sub-subsection heading 11 pt., italic, left justified
Normal text 12 pt.
Figure and table captions 10 pt.

2.1 Title and Author Information

The article title appears left justified at the top of the first page. The title font is 16 pt., bold. The

rules for capitalizing the title are the same as for sentences; only the first word, proper nouns,

and acronyms should be capitalized. Do not begin titles with articles (for example, a, an, the)

or prepositions (for example, on, by, etc.). The word “novel” should not appear in the title, as

publication will imply novelty. Avoid the use of acronyms in the title, unless they are widely

understood. Appendix A contains more about acronyms.

The list of authors immediately follows the title, 18 points below. The font is 12 pt., bold

and the author names are left justified. The author affiliations and addresses follow the names, in

10-pt., normal font and left justified. For multiple affiliations, each affiliation should appear on a

separate line. Superscript letters (a, b, c, etc.) should be used to associate multiple authors with

their respective affiliations. The corresponding author should be identified with an asterisk, and

that person’s email address should be provided below the keywords.

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2.2 Abstract

The abstract should be a summary of the paper and not an introduction. Because the abstract

may be used in abstracting journals, it should be self-contained (i.e., no numerical references) and

substantive in nature, presenting concisely the objectives, methodology used, results obtained, and

their significance. Please note that the following journals require the use of structured abstracts

in manuscript submissions: Neurophotonics, the Journal of Biomedical Optics, and the Journal of

Medical Imaging. Structured abstracts are encouraged for the Journal of Micro/Nanolithography,

MEMS, and MOEMS. Helpful guidelines for structured abstracts are available on the website of

the journal.

2.3 Subject terms/Keywords

Keywords are required. Please provide 3-6 keywords related to your paper.

2.4 Body of Paper

The body of the paper consists of numbered sections that present the main findings. These sections

should be organized to best present the material.

To provide transition elements in your paper, it is important to refer back (or forward) to specific

sections. Such references are made by indicating the section number, for example, “In Sec. 2 we

showed...” or “Section 2.1 contained a description...” If the word Section, Reference, Equation, or

Figure starts a sentence, it is spelled out. When occurring in the middle of a sentence, these words

are abbreviated Sec., Ref., Eq., and Fig.

At the first occurrence of an acronym, spell it out followed by the acronym in parentheses, for

example, charge-coupled diode (CCD).

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2.5 Footnotes

Textual footnotes should be used rarely to present important documentary or explanatory material

whose inclusion in the text would be distracting.1 Due to problems with HTML display, use of

footnotes should generally be avoided. If absolutely necessary, the footnote mark must come at the

end of a sentence. To insert a footnote, use the \footnote{} command.

2.6 Appendices

Brief appendices may be included when necessary, such as derivations of equations, proofs of the-

orems, and details of algorithms. Equations and figures appearing in appendices should continue

sequential numbering from earlier in the paper.

2.7 Disclosures

Conflicts of interest should be declared under a separate header, above Acknowledgments. If the

authors have no competing interests to declare, then a statement should be included declaring no

conflicts of interest. For assistance generating a disclosure statement, see the form available from

the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors website: http://www.icmje.org/conflicts-of-interest/

2.8 Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments and funding information should be added after the conclusion, and before ref-

erences. Include grant numbers and the full name of the funding body. The acknowledgments

section does not have a section number.

1
Example of a footnote.

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2.9 Data, Materials, and Code Availability

Availability of data, materials, and/or code used in the research results reported in the manuscript

may be declared under the heading ”Data, Materials, and Code Availability,” following the Ac-

knowledgments section. As relevant, provide specific access information or restrictions for data,

materials, and computer code (i.e., links to repository access addresses with guidance on commer-

cial or public access).

2.10 References

The References section lists books, articles, and reports that are cited in the paper. This section

does not have a section number. The references are numbered in the order in which they are cited.

Examples of the format to be followed are given at the end of this document.

The reference list at the end of this document is created using BibTeX, which looks through

the file report.bib for the entries cited in the LaTeX source file. The format of the reference

list is determined by the bibliography style file spiejour.bst, as specified in the

\bibliographystyle{spiejour} command. Alternatively, the references may be directly

formatted in the LaTeX source file.

For books1–3 the listing includes the list of authors (initials plus last name), book title (in italics),

page or chapter numbers, publisher, city, and year of publication. Journal-article references5, 6

include the author list, title of the article (in quotes), journal name (in italics, properly abbreviated),

volume number (in bold), inclusive page numbers or citation identifier, and year. A reference to

a proceedings paper or a chapter in an edited book7 includes the author list, title of the article

(in quotes), conference name (in italics), editors (if appropriate), volume title (in italics), volume

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number if applicable (in bold), inclusive page numbers, publisher, city, and year. References to an

article in the SPIE Proceedings may include the conference name, as shown in Ref. 8.

The references are numbered in the order of their first citation. Citations to the references are

made using superscripts, as demonstrated in the preceding paragraph. One may also directly refer

to a reference within the text, for example, “as shown in Ref. 5 ...” Two or more references should

be separated by a comma with no space between them. Multiple sequential references should be

displayed with a dash between the first and last numbers.1–5

2.10.1 Reference linking and DOIs

A Digital Object Identifier (DOI) is a unique alphanumeric string assigned to a digital object, such

as a journal article or a book chapter, that provides a persistent link to its location on the internet.

The use of DOIs allows readers to easily access cited articles. Authors should include the DOI

at the end of each reference in brackets if a DOI is available. See examples at the end of this

manuscript. A free DOI lookup service is available from CrossRef at

http://www.crossref.org/freeTextQuery/. The inclusion of DOIs will facilitate reference linking

and is highly recommended.

In the present LaTeX template, the author needs to add the DOI reference by including it in a

“note” in the bibliography file, as shown in the file report.bib, for example,

note = "[doi:10.1117/12.154577]". The DOI may be used by the reader to locate that

document with the link: http://dx.doi.org10.1117/12.154577.

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2.11 Biographies

A brief professional biography of approximately 75 words may be provided for each author, if

available. Biographies should be placed at the end of the paper, after the references. Personal

information such as hobbies or birthplace/birthdate should not be included. Author photographs

are not published.

3 Section Formatting

In LaTeX, a new section is created with the \section{} command, which automatically num-

bers the sections. Sections will be numbered sequentially, starting with the first section after the

abstract, except for the acknowledgments and references. (Note that numbering of section head-

ings is not required, but the numbering must be consistent if used.) All section headings should be

left justified.

Main section headings are in 12-pt. bold font, left-justified and in title case, where important

words are capitalized.

Paragraphs that immediately follow a section heading are leading paragraphs and should not

be indented, according to standard publishing style. The same goes for leading paragraphs of

subsections and sub-subsections. Subsequent paragraphs are standard paragraphs, with 0.2-in (5

mm) indentation. There is no additional space between paragraphs. In LaTeX, paragraphs are

separated by blank lines in the source file. Indentation of the first line of a paragraph may be

avoided by starting it with \noindent.

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3.1 Subsection Headings

All important words in a subsection (level 1) header are capitalized. Subsection numbers consist of

the section number, followed by a period, and the subsection number within that section, without

a period at the end. The heading is left justified and its font is 12 pt. italic.

3.1.1 Sub-subsection headings

The first word of a sub-subsection is capitalized. The rest of the text is not capitalized, except for

proper names and acronyms (the latter should only be used if well known). The heading is left

justified and its font is 11 pt. italic.

4 Figures and Tables

4.1 Figures

Figures are numbered in the order in which they are called out in the text. They should appear in

the document in numerical order and as close as possible to their first reference in the text. It may

be necessary to move figures or tables around to enhance readability. LaTeX will attempt to place

figures at the top or bottom of a page in which they are first referenced.

Figures, along with their captions, should be separated from the main text by 0.2 in. or 5 mm

and centered. Figure captions are centered below the figure or graph. Figure captions start with the

abbreviation “Fig” in front of the figure number, followed by a period, and the text in 10-pt. font.

See Fig. 1 for an example.

Authors may wish to create figures consisting of two or more images, in which case, they

should be neatly arranged in a rectangular array. In no case, should the article’s text be wrapped

around a figure. Figure 2 shows two side-by-side images. When a figure contains more than one

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 Fig 1 Example of a figure caption.

(a) (b)

Fig 2 Example of a figure containing multiple images: (a) sun and (b) blob. Figures containing multiple images must
be submitted to SPIE as a single image file.

image, the author must submit them as a single image file. Further details about figure formatting

can be found in the author guidelines for each specific SPIE journal:

https://www.spiedigitallibrary.org/journals/journal-authors.

4.2 Tables

Tables are numbered in the order in which they are referenced. They should appear in the document

in numerical order and as close as possible to their first reference in the text. It is preferable to have

tables appear at the top or bottom of the page, if possible. Table captions are handled identically

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 Fig 3 This satellite is a still image from Video 1 (Video 1, MPEG, 2.5 MB).

to those for figures, except that they appear above the table. See Table 1 for an example.

4.3 Multimedia

Acceptable file formats, including MOV (.mov), MPEG (.mpg), and MP4 (.mp4), are playable us-

ing standard media players, such as VLC or Windows Media Player. The recommended maximum

size for each multimedia file is 10-12 MB. Authors must insert a representative still image from

the video file in the manuscript as a figure. The caption label will be linked by the publisher to

the actual video file. The video may also be mentioned in an existing figure caption. Multimedia

files are treated in the same manner as figures and they will be numbered sequentially with normal

figures. The video number, file type, and file size should be included in parentheses at the end of

the figure caption. See Figure 3 for an example.

Appendix A: Miscellaneous Formatting Details

At times it may be desired, for formatting reasons, to break a line without starting a new paragraph.

In a LaTeX source file, a linebreak is created with \\.

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A.1 Formatting Equations

Equations may appear inline with the text, if they are simple, short, and not of major importance;

for example, β = b/r. Important equations appear on their own line. Such equations are centered.

For example, “The expression for the field of view is

(b + 1)
2a = , (1)
3c

where a is the ...” Principal equations are numbered, with the equation number placed within

parentheses and right justified.

Equations are considered to be part of a sentence and should be punctuated accordingly. In the

above example, a comma appears after the equation because the next line is a subordinate clause. If

the equation ends the sentence, a period should follow the equation. The line following an equation

should not be indented unless it is meant to start a new paragraph. Indentation after an equation is

avoided in LaTeX by not leaving a blank line between the equation and the subsequent text.

References to equations include the equation number in parentheses, for example, “Equa-

tion (1) shows ...” or “Combining Eqs. (2) and (3), we obtain...” Note that the word “Equation” is

spelled out if it begins a sentence, but is abbreviated as “Eq.” otherwise. Using a tilde in the LaTeX

source file between two characters avoids unwanted line breaks, for example between “Eq.” and

the following equation number..

A.2 Formatting Theorems

To include theorems in a formal way, the theorem identification should appear in a 10-point, bold

font, left justified, and followed by a period. The text of the theorem continues on the same line in

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normal, 10-pt. font, achieved in LaTeX using \footnotesize. For example,

Theorem 1. For any unbiased estimator...

Disclosures

Conflicts of interest should be declared under a separate header. If the authors have no relevant

financial interests in the manuscript and no other potential conflicts of interest to disclose, a state-

ment to this effect should also be included in the manuscript.

Acknowledgments

This unnumbered section is used to identify those who have aided the authors in understanding or

accomplishing the work presented and to acknowledge sources of funding.

Data, Materials, and Code Availability

As relevant, the availability of data, materials, and/or software code used in the research results

reported in the manuscript may be declared in this section. (Note: this section is required for

the Journal of Biomedical Optics and Neurophotonics.) Provide specific access information or

restrictions for data, materials, and computer code (i.e., links to repository access addresses with

guidance on commercial or public access).

References

1 L. Lamport, LaTeX: A Document Preparation System, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass.

(1994).

2 M. Goossens, F. Mittelbach, J. Braams, et al., The LaTeX Companion, 2nd ed., Addison-

Wesley, Reading, Mass. (2004).

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 3 G. J. Alred, C. T. Brusaw, and W. E. Oliu, Handbook of Technical Writing, 7th ed., St. Martin’s,

New York (2003).

4 L. C. Perelman, J. Paradis, and E. Barrett, Mayfield Handbook of Technical and Scientific

Writing, Mountain View, Mayfield (1997). http://mit.imoat.net/handbook/.

5 N. Metropolis, A. W. Rosenbluth, M. N. Rosenbluth, et al., “Equations of state calculations by

fast computing machine,” J. Chem. Phys. 21, 1087–1091 (1953).

6 A. Harris, J. J. Sluss, Jr., H. H. Refai, et al., “Free-space optical wavelength diversity scheme

for fog migration in a ground-to-unmanned-aerial-vehicle communications link,” Opt. Eng.

45, 086001 (2006). [doi:10.1117/1.2338565].

7 S. F. Gull, “Developments in maximum-entropy data analysis,” in Maximum Entropy and

Bayesian Methods, J. Skilling, Ed., 53–71, Kluwer Academic, Dordrecht (1989).

8 K. M. Hanson, “Introduction to Bayesian image analysis,” in Medical Imaging: Image Pro-

cessing, M. H. Loew, Ed., Proc. SPIE 1898, 716–731 (1993). [doi:10.1117/12.154577].

First Author is an assistant professor at the University of Optical Engineering. He received his BS

and MS degrees in physics from the University of Optics in 1985 and 1987, respectively, and his

PhD degree in optics from the Institute of Technology in 1991. He is the author of more than 50

journal papers and has written three book chapters. His current research interests include optical

interconnects, holography, and optoelectronic systems. He is a member of SPIE.

Biographies and photographs of the other authors are not available.

List of Figures

1 Example of a figure caption.

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 2 Example of a figure containing multiple images: (a) sun and (b) blob. Figures

containing multiple images must be submitted to SPIE as a single image file.

3 This satellite is a still image from Video 1 (Video 1, MPEG, 2.5 MB).

List of Tables

1 Fonts sizes and styles.

15