How to make a figure span on two columns in a scientific paper?

Question

If I just try to set the figure's size to 0.9\textwidth my figure will just end up on the right column, sized to be two-columns wide.

Has anyone done this before?

I think we need a minimal example of what you are doing. There are lots of possible variations here. Did you try \begin{figure*}, for example? — Joseph Wright, Sep 16 '10 at 21:05
That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks. I thought adding an * only removed the figure's numbering? — levesque, Sep 16 '10 at 21:07
figure* and table* are two column figures and tables, respectively. — TH., Sep 16 '10 at 23:52
I had a similar problem, in \documentclass[twocolumn]{article}--but using figure*[width=\textwidth] sends it to the bottom of the document, not breaking the columns. — isomorphismes, Jun 03 '14 at 09:17

score 103 · Accepted Answer · edited Sep 29 '22 at 22:21

103

From the TUG faq: use the starred versions figure* and table*. Unfortunately, they're somewhat limited in positioning.

Also, the same solution applies to equations. Just include them in a figure* environment. But I don't recommend doing this: it will look ugly and confusing. For an example, see this paper. (sorry, I couldn't find an example in arXiv)

edited Sep 29 '22 at 22:21

David Carlisle

757,742

answered Sep 17 '10 at 01:12

Mateus Araújo

8,820

1

How are they limited in positioning? You don't want to put a full-width figure midway down the page, right? – Will Robertson Sep 17 '10 at 02:26
5

@Will, true, but you can't put them at the bottom of a page, either, which you may reasonably want to do. http://www.tex.ac.uk/cgi-bin/texfaq2html?label=2colfloat – Lev Bishop Sep 17 '10 at 03:34
2

Me? No! But someone might conceivably need to, and I think it's a little dangerous to actually make it impossible to do so. – Mateus Araújo Sep 17 '10 at 05:25
2

@Lev: Oh, I didn't remember that double-width floats can't appear at [b]! @araujorns: I know of some journals that can make full-width equations across double cols, effectively splitting the page in four; seems like cuted and midfloat can do this. I wouldn't use it for figures, however. – Will Robertson Sep 17 '10 at 06:43
This is a screencapture of the mentioned equation example for those who cannot access it: https://i.imgur.com/pAtbpzL.png – Tim Kuipers Jan 22 '19 at 09:32
Is there an equivalent option for listing? – vineeshvs Sep 17 '21 at 08:01

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 24 '15 at 20:00

What about using the code below?

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper,twocolumn,english]{article}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage{babel}
\usepackage[font=small,labelfont=bf,tableposition=top]{caption}
\usepackage{blindtext}
\usepackage{cuted}

\title{Two column document with figure underneath title}
\author{abhijit8}

\begin{document}
\maketitle

\begin{strip}
    \centering\noindent
    \rule{0.75\linewidth}{0.5\linewidth}
    \captionof{figure}{\blindtext}
\end{strip}

\blindtext[2]

\begin{strip}
    \centering\noindent
    \rule{0.75\linewidth}{0.5\linewidth}
    \captionof{figure}{\blindtext}
\end{strip}

\medskip
\noindent
\begin{minipage}{\linewidth}
    \centering
    \rule{0.75\linewidth}{0.5\linewidth}
    \captionof{figure}{The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog}
\end{minipage}

\medskip
\blindtext[4]
\end{document}

It is from http://www.latex-community.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=10661#p41194 and works like a charm for me.

Since the example is not minimal, it may be helpful to note that the packages that are mandatory here are cuted (which provides the strip environment) and caption (which provides captionof). — , Jun 10 '16 at 22:43

How to make a figure span on two columns in a scientific paper?

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