jss-lint — style checker for Journal of Statistical Software manuscripts

Version 1.2.0 (2026-09-09)

Quick start

Try it instantly in the browser at https://kollerma.github.io/jss-style-checker/ (no install needed, nothing is uploaded; pick a folder or drop an Overleaf source .zip), or run jsslint yourpaper.tex after cargo install jsslint-cli.

What it does

jss-lint checks manuscripts written for the Journal of Statistical Software (JSS) — .tex, .Rnw (Sweave/knitr), or .Rmd sources plus their BibTeX databases — against 62 deterministic rules derived from the journal's published style guide: dedicated preamble macros (\Plainauthor, \Address), semantic markup (\proglang, \pkg, \code), natbib citation conventions, capitalization rules for titles, sections, and captions, code-formatting conventions, and bibliography completeness. Violations are reported with source positions and fix suggestions; a large subset can be applied automatically, and a reviewer mode aggregates the findings into a per-category compliance summary.

The rule set's accuracy is measured, not assumed: per-rule precision and recall are evaluated against a pinned corpus of 254 published JSS-format manuscripts, and the current figures are published on the project page.

New in 1.2.0

• Every run reports the measured recall (currently 81%), so a run without findings no longer reads as proof of compliance.
• jsslint coverage lists which provisions of the JSS style guide, author instructions, jss.cls, and article.tex are checked and which are not (80 of 85 checkable directives).
• Baseline mode (--baseline, --update-baseline) reports only findings that are new since an accepted baseline.
• The browser version checks an Overleaf source .zip directly.
• Coloured terminal output (--color auto|always|never; honours NO_COLOR).

See CHANGELOG.md for the full list, including fixes.

Contents of this archive

• jss-lint.pdf — the manual: a full description of the tool's design, the rule catalogue, usage for authors and reviewers, and the measured precision/recall methodology and results.
• rule-catalogue.md — the complete catalogue of the 62 rules, with description, severity, confidence tier, measured recall, the JSS source each enforces (with a pinpoint reference), and an example violation and fix per rule.
• CHANGELOG.md — release history.
• LICENSE — MIT.

The tool itself is compiled software distributed through the package ecosystems listed below rather than as TeX code.

Getting the tool

• Browser (no install, fully client-side — nothing is uploaded): https://kollerma.github.io/jss-style-checker/
• Command line: cargo install jsslint-cli (binary: jsslint)
• Python: pip install jss-style-checker (CLI: jss-lint) or pip install jsslint
• R: install.packages("jsslintr") (CRAN)
• VS Code: extension kollerma.jss-style-checker (Marketplace and Open VSX)
• Node/browser module: npm install jsslint-wasm
• CI: a GitHub Action, see the repository

Source code, documentation, and issue tracker: https://github.com/kollerma/jss-style-checker

License

MIT. See the LICENSE file.

Independence notice

jss-lint is an independent, third-party project. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Journal of Statistical Software, its editors, or its publisher — nor with the jss LaTeX class hosted on CTAN. It merely checks manuscripts against the journal's publicly documented style requirements.