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Just got to know the pretty amazing siunitx package. I started converting all the units in my last draft for a publication, but I'm wondering now if maybe it is useless if the publisher does not support it. Publishers have there own way of typesetting units the right way, no?

So, my question. Do you know if APS supports this package? And in particular PRL and PRB? And what about other journals in general?

Joseph Wright
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Nigu
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  • APS prefers if you use REVTeX. The best way to find out about compatibility issues is to send an e-mail to mis@aps.org. – Willie Wong Jan 25 '11 at 00:29
  • You may also want to compare the outputs of siunitx against this. (I do believe the two are the same.) – Willie Wong Jan 25 '11 at 00:34
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    And it is always possible to write a configuration file to adhere to their guidelines: siunitx is very configurable. – Bruno Le Floch Jan 25 '11 at 10:03
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    The main problem may well be that siunitx needs an up-to-date TeX system, and a lot of publishers stick with 'known' systems. I suspect that a definitive answer is only available either by asking the APS or trying it and seeing what happens! – Joseph Wright Jan 25 '11 at 12:12
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    @Willie @Joseph, I contacted the APS and will come back to you when I have more information. – Nigu Jan 25 '11 at 13:02
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    @Willie @Joseph : I got the answer from APS : "APS does not support siunitx at this time.". This pretty much answers the question :) – Nigu Jan 28 '11 at 15:43
  • Anybody heard anything different from APS in the four years since this question was submitted? – Kevin Morse Sep 09 '15 at 20:05
  • @KevinMorse, yes, it is different now. See Markandthequark's answer. – Nigu May 31 '16 at 03:34

2 Answers2

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The APS journals use REVTeX as a somewhat-structured markup which can be mostly-automatically imported into their (non-TeX-based) internal system. They employ people to perform this conversion to their internal system for the tricky places where the conversion process fails (these people will reference the TeX-generated PDF in order to know what they should put in). It's very likely that the conversion scripts will not understand the siunitx commands. So, using siunitx has pros and cons:

Pros:

  • You have an easier time with authoring your paper;
  • People get to see nicely-formatted units in your author-prepared preprints (eg., on arXiv).

Cons:

  • Your paper will take slightly longer in production before you receive your proofs;
  • There is a slightly higher chance of errors being introduced in your units (due to the necessary manual intervention), meaning that you should pay close attention when you get back your proofs.
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Lev Bishop
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  • I accept this answer because it confirms what I was fearing in some way. I'll come back to this if I get a positive answer to my mail to the APS telling me their conversion scripts support siunitx, which seems unlikely. Thanks a lot! – Nigu Jan 27 '11 at 09:43
  • see my last comment in the question. – Nigu Jan 28 '11 at 15:44
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I recently emailed APS regarding this question. They said that it is acceptable to use the siunitx package.

Markandthequark
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