Research Paper LaTeX Template

A well-organized LaTeX template for writing research papers, optimized for machine learning conferences (ICML, NeurIPS, ICLR, etc.) and designed to work seamlessly with Claude Code.

Quick Start

# Clone or download this template
git clone <your-repo-url>

# Compile the paper
make

# Or manually with pdflatex
pdflatex main.tex
bibtex main
pdflatex main.tex
pdflatex main.tex

Directory Structure

research-template/
├── main.tex                    # Main document
├── main.bib                    # Bibliography file
├── Makefile                    # Build automation
├── README.md                   # This file
│
├── chapters/                   # Paper sections
│   ├── abstract.tex
│   ├── introduction.tex
│   ├── method.tex
│   ├── experiments.tex
│   ├── related_works.tex
│   ├── conclusion.tex
│   ├── acknowledgements.tex
│   ├── impact_statement.tex
│   └── appendix/              # Appendix sections
│       ├── additional_results.tex
│       ├── implementation.tex
│       └── proofs.tex
│
├── figures/                    # Image files (PDF, PNG, JPG)
│   └── README.md              # Organization guide
│
├── tables/                     # LaTeX table definitions
│   └── README.md              # Best practices
│
├── latexfig/                   # Complex LaTeX/TikZ figures
│   └── README.md              # Examples and tips
│
└── Conference style files      # ICML 2025 included
    ├── icml2025.sty
    ├── icml2025.bst
    ├── algorithm.sty
    ├── algorithmic.sty
    └── fancyhdr.sty

Using This Template

1. Customize Paper Metadata

Edit main.tex starting at line 115:

\icmltitle{Your Paper Title Here}
\icmlauthor{First Author}{inst1}
\icmlauthor{Second Author}{inst2}
...
\icmlaffiliation{inst1}{First Institution}
\icmlcorrespondingauthor{First Author}{email@inst.edu}
\icmlkeywords{Your, Keywords, Here}

2. Define Custom Commands

Add your paper-specific commands in main.tex around line 78:

% Example: Method name
\newcommand{\methodname}{\textsc{YourMethod}\xspace}

% Example: Dataset names
\newcommand{\dataset}{\texttt{YourDataset}\xspace}

% Example: Metrics
\newcommand{\accuracy}{95.3\%\xspace}

3. Write Your Paper

Edit the chapter files in chapters/:

• abstract.tex: 150-250 words summarizing your work
• introduction.tex: Motivation, problem, approach, contributions
• method.tex: Technical details of your approach
• experiments.tex: Setup, results, ablations, analysis
• related_works.tex: Prior work organized by theme
• conclusion.tex: Summary and impact

Each file includes detailed guidance and structure suggestions.

4. Add Figures and Tables

Figures: Place images in figures/ and include with:

\begin{figure}[t]
    \centering
    \includegraphics[width=0.8\linewidth]{figures/your_figure}
    \caption{Your caption}
    \label{fig:your-label}
\end{figure}

Tables: Create in tables/ and include with:

\input{tables/your_table}

See README files in each directory for best practices.

5. Manage References

Add BibTeX entries to main.bib:

@inproceedings{smith2024method,
  author    = {John Smith and Jane Doe},
  title     = {A Novel Method for Deep Learning},
  booktitle = {ICML},
  year      = {2024}
}

Cite in text with \cite{smith2024method} or \citep{smith2024method}.

6. Build the PDF

# Using Make (recommended)
make

# Clean build artifacts
make clean

# Full rebuild
make clean all

Common Commands

Document Layout

• \section{Title}: Main section
• \subsection{Title}: Subsection
• \subsubsection{Title}: Subsubsection
• \label{sec:name}: Add label for referencing
• \ref{sec:name}: Reference section by number

Mathematics

• $x + y$: Inline math
• \[equation\] or \begin{equation}: Display math
• \begin{align}: Multiple aligned equations
• Common symbols: \alpha, \beta, \mathbb{R}, \mathcal{L}

Figures and Tables

• \includegraphics[options]{path}: Include image
• \begin{tabular}{lcc}: Create table (left, center, center columns)
• \toprule, \midrule, \bottomrule: Professional table rules

References

• \cite{key}: Citation
• \citep{key}: Parenthetical citation
• \citet{key}: Textual citation (Author et al. year)

Custom Commands (included)

• \ie: i.e.,
• \eg: e.g.,
• \etal: et al.
• \wrt: w.r.t.

Version Control

Initialize a git repository to track changes:

git init
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit: research paper template"

The .gitignore is already configured to exclude build artifacts.

Contributing

Improvements and suggestions welcome! This template is designed to evolve with best practices in academic writing and tooling.

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Happy writing! 🚀