autoaffil — Automatic affiliation numbering for LaTeX

autoaffil is a LaTeX package for the author/affiliation layout style used in physics and related fields: all authors appear in a single block with superscript numbers linking each name to a list of affiliations printed below — the style native to revtex4-2 with the superscriptaddress option, and familiar from journals such as Physical Review Letters.

The package brings this style to the standard article class and compatible classes, with automatic deduplication: authors and affiliations are declared individually in the preamble; identical affiliation strings are automatically assigned the same number; numbers are assigned in order of first appearance; and \maketitle outputs the complete author/affiliation/notes block without any further effort.

Quick start

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[ranges,superaftercomma]{autoaffil}

\autoauthor{Alice Anderson}
  \autoaffil{MIT, Cambridge MA}
  \autoaffil{Princeton University}
\autoauthor[*]{Bob Brown}
  \autoaffil{MIT, Cambridge MA}   % deduplicated — same number as Alice's MIT
  \autoaffil{CERN, Geneva}
\autoauthor[*,\dagger]{Carol Chen}
  \autoaffil{CERN, Geneva}        % deduplicated
\autoremark{*}{Equal contribution.}
\autoremark{\dagger}{Corresponding author: \texttt{carol@example.com}}

\title{My Paper}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\section{Introduction}
...
\end{document}

With [superaftercomma] the comma precedes the superscript; affiliation numbers come first, then any extra symbols. The output looks like:

Alice Anderson,^1,2 Bob Brown,^1,3,∗ Carol Chen<sup>3,∗,†

1</sup> MIT, Cambridge MA
² Princeton University
³ CERN, Geneva

^∗ Equal contribution.
^† Corresponding author: carol@example.com

## Installation ### From CTAN (recommended) `autoaffil` is distributed through CTAN at [`macros/latex/contrib/autoaffil`](https://ctan.org/pkg/autoaffil). Once it is picked up by TeX Live and/or MiKTeX, no manual installation is needed: ``` # TeX Live tlmgr install autoaffil ``` MiKTeX installs packages on-the-fly on first use; alternatively, use the MiKTeX Console to install `autoaffil` manually. ### Manual installation 1. Obtain `autoaffil.sty` by running `latex autoaffil.ins` to extract it from `autoaffil.dtx` (or `make unpack` in the repo root). 2. Place `autoaffil.sty` somewhere LaTeX can find it — for a single project, the same directory as your `.tex` file is fine; for a system-wide install, place it in your local `texmf` tree under `tex/latex/autoaffil/`. ## Usage ### Preamble declarations ```latex \usepackage[

<options>]{autoaffil}

autoauthor<extra>{Author Name} % Declare an author. The optional argument <extra> is a comma-separated % list of math-mode symbols to append as extra superscripts, e.g. % or dagger. Order of autoauthor calls determines the output order.

autoaffil{Affiliation text} % Attach an affiliation to the most recently declared author. Repeat % for each affiliation. Identical strings (exact match) are % automatically given the same number.

% Tip: predefine affiliations as commands to guarantee string identity % and keep each affiliation text in one place: newcommand{MIT}{autoaffil{MIT, Cambridge MA}} newcommand{CERN}{autoaffil{CERN, Geneva}} % Then: autoauthor{Alice} MIT CERN

autoremark{<symbol>}{<text>} % Define a special remark. <symbol> is math-mode content (, dagger, % ddagger, …). printremarks outputs them in definition order.

### Package options

| Option | Effect |
|--------|--------|
| `ranges` | Compress runs of 3+ consecutive affiliation numbers to `n--m`; pairs and singles are unchanged. |
| `superaftercomma` | Place superscripts *after* the inter-author comma (revtex4-2 style) rather than before it. |
| `nobreak` | Wrap each name+superscript unit in `\mbox{}` to prevent mid-entry line breaks; inter-author spaces remain breakable. |
| `manual` | Suppress automatic insertion into `\maketitle`; use `\printauthors`, `\printaffils`, `\printremarks` manually. |

Options may be freely combined:

latex usepackageranges,superaftercomma,nobreak{autoaffil}

### In the document

**Auto mode** (default): just call `\maketitle` as normal. The package
injects the author block automatically.

**Manual mode** (`[manual]` option): call `\maketitle` for the title and
date, then place the blocks yourself:

latex maketitle printauthors % bold author list with superscripts printaffils % numbered affiliation list printremarks % special remarks (only if autoremark was called)

### Customisation

Redefine any of these after `\usepackage{autoaffil}`:

latex renewcommandaafauthorfont1{textit{#1}} % italicise names instead of bold renewcommandaafauthorsep{;} % semicolons between authors renewcommandaafauthorspace{quad} % wider inter-author space

| Hook | Default | Effect |
|------|---------|--------|
| `\aafauthorfont{name}` | `\textbf{name}` | Formatting applied to each author name |
| `\aafauthorsep` | `,` | Separator between author entries |
| `\aafauthorspace` | `\hspace{0.5em plus 0.2em minus 0.1em}` | Space between entries (must be breakable) |

## Compatibility

- Requires LaTeX2e and the `etoolbox` package (standard in any modern
  TeX distribution).
- **Auto mode** works with any document class whose `\@maketitle`
  typesets `\@author` — in practice essentially all standard, journal,
  and preprint classes.
- **Manual mode** (`\printauthors`, `\printaffils`, `\printremarks`) works
  with any document class whatsoever.
- **Deduplication** is based on exact string comparison, so affiliation
  strings must be spelled identically across authors. The recommended
  pattern is to predefine each affiliation as a command:
  

latex newcommand{MIT}{autoaffil{MIT, Cambridge MA}}

  This keeps each affiliation text in one place and makes typos
  impossible.

## Documentation

Full documentation is in `autoaffil.pdf`, built from `autoaffil.dtx`:

bash make doc

## Repository structure

autoaffil.dtx documented source (single authoritative file) autoaffil.ins docstrip installer (run: latex autoaffil.ins) Makefile build, test, and CTAN archive targets tests/ regression test suite CHANGELOG.md version history LICENSE LPPL 1.3c

`autoaffil.sty` and `autoaffil.pdf` are generated files (not tracked in
git). Run `make unpack` and `make doc` (or just `make all`) to produce them.

## Contributing

Contributions are welcome — bug reports, suggestions, and pull requests
alike. Please open an issue or a PR on GitHub.

### How the source is organised

The single authoritative source file is **`autoaffil.dtx`**, which
combines the user documentation and the annotated implementation. The
other key files are derived from it:

| Derived file | How to regenerate |
|---|---|
| `autoaffil.sty` | `make unpack` (or `latex autoaffil.ins`) |
| `autoaffil.pdf` | `make doc` (runs `pdflatex autoaffil.dtx` three times) |

**Important:** always edit `autoaffil.dtx` (the macrocode sections in
the Implementation chapter), then regenerate `autoaffil.sty` with
`make unpack`. `autoaffil.sty` is a generated file — edits to it
directly will be lost on the next `make unpack`.

### Running the tests

bash make test

This compiles the twelve `.tex` files in `tests/` and checks the
extracted PDF text for expected content using `pdftotext`. All tests
should pass before opening a pull request. To add a new test, create
`tests/test-<name>.tex` and add a `run_test` line to
`tests/run_tests.sh` with the strings you expect to find in the output.

### Rebuilding from scratch

bash make distclean # remove all generated files make all # extract autoaffil.sty + build autoaffil.pdf make test # run regression tests

### CTAN releases

Official releases on CTAN are produced by the maintainer using `make ctan`, which
creates a flat `autoaffil.zip` archive containing `autoaffil.dtx`, `autoaffil.ins`,
`autoaffil.pdf`, `README.md`, and `CHANGELOG.md`. This archive is uploaded directly
to CTAN at [`macros/latex/contrib/autoaffil`](https://ctan.org/pkg/autoaffil). No
separate `.tds.zip` is submitted — CTAN and TeX Live handle the TDS installation
from the flat archive automatically, and a separate TDS zip is discouraged for
small, straightforward packages.

---

## License

Copyright (C) 2026 Philip Bittihn.

This work may be distributed and/or modified under the conditions of
the [LaTeX Project Public License](https://www.latex-project.org/lppl/),
either version 1.3c or (at your option) any later version.

Maintainer: Philip Bittihn <philip@bittihn.de>