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A number of packages including caption are included in the AAAI formatting requirements as incompatible, and the list is said to be not exhaustive.

Is the subcaption package permitted?

I am particularly interested on preparing my submission to follow the instructions of this conference:

http://www.aaai.org/Publications/Author/icwsm-submit.php

If you open the /AuthorKit16/LaTeX/formatting-instructions-latex.pdf in the Author Kit zip file you will see the list of forbidden packages:

Incompatible Packages

The following packages are incompatible with aaai.sty and/or aaai.bst and must not be used (this list is not exhaus- tive — there are others as well):

  • authblk
  • fullpage
  • hyperref
  • natbib
  • geometry
  • titlesec
  • layout
  • caption
  • titlesec
  • savetrees
  • T1 fontenc package (install the CM super fonts package instead)

However, the website lists some common latex errors and simply states that:

    1. If you've used caption.sty so that you can use subcaption, you may not use any options.

If the subcaption package is not permitted, is there any other way to create a figure that comprises multiple subfigures?

Panagiotis
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  • Can you add a link to the requirements, please? – egreg Mar 07 '16 at 10:09
  • I just did, I hope my question is clearer now. – Panagiotis Mar 07 '16 at 10:25
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    \usepackage[caption=false]{subfig} should be good – egreg Mar 07 '16 at 10:27
  • Thanks for your answer! Using subfig without captions is not very clear though, so I think I'd better just stop using caption and subcaption packages – Panagiotis Mar 07 '16 at 13:21
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    The caption=false option just avoids loading the caption package. You can certainly use subcaptions to the subfigures using the syntax provided by subfig. – egreg Mar 07 '16 at 13:23
  • Thanks a lot @egreg. I can't up-vote comments, I'll accept your answer if you post it. – Panagiotis Mar 07 '16 at 19:48
  • With geometry, hyperref, natbib, titlesec, and caption/subcaption all on the proscribed list of the aaai package, one is tempted to ask, "what's going on with the aaai package?! – Mico Mar 07 '16 at 21:14
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    @Mico I guess all these packages are not really incompatible (in technical terms), they just don't want changes in page size, bibliography, sections, and captions. (And no hyperlinks.) –  Mar 08 '16 at 09:19

1 Answers1

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Are the aaai and subcaption packages technically incompatible? Just try it out, if yes, the caption package will give you an "incompatibility" warning and the subcaption package an error when adding \usepackage{subcaption} to your document.

The content from the AAAI is (at least to me) misleading. On the one hand they clearly say that the caption package is incompatible, and this makes the subcaption package incompatible, too. But on the other hand they write that it's ok to use the subcaption (and caption) package as long as you don't specify any options (which would alter the look & feel of the captions).

So it seems to me that the caption package is not really incompatible but the AAAI simply does not want any changes to the look & feel of the captions.

I think it's a good idea to ask them for clarification here.

However, if in doubt, use the subfig package with option caption=false, as already proposed from egreg in the comments.