Author & Affiliation Formatter

How to Use the Author & Affiliation Formatter

1. 1. Enter the authors in byline order. Use Move up and Move down to fix the order — numbering follows it.
2. 2. Add each author's affiliations. Give every affiliation in full: department, institution, city and country. Type a shared affiliation the same way for each author and it is numbered once; differences in capitals and spacing are ignored.
3. 3. Mark the roles. Tick Corresponding author (and add the email address), Contributed equally, and paste any ORCID iD — the tool checks its check digit.
4. 4. Choose the style and copy. Pick numbers or letters for affiliations, the equal-contribution symbol and how the last name is joined, then copy the block as formatted text, plain text, HTML or LaTeX.

How Journals Mark Authors and Affiliations

Most title pages follow one pattern: names in byline order, each followed by superscript marks that point to a numbered list of affiliations, then notes for special roles. PLOS's LaTeX template shows it plainly — superscript numbers after each name, an asterisk on the corresponding author with an email note, and ☯ for authors who contributed equally (‡ for a second equal-contribution group). Elsevier journals traditionally mark affiliations with lowercase superscript letters instead of numbers, and also flag the corresponding author with an asterisk.

• Numbering by first appearance. Reading the author list from left to right, the first affiliation mentioned is 1, the next new one is 2, and so on. An affiliation shared by several authors keeps one number.
• Several affiliations per author. Marks are separated by commas, in ascending order: Maya Okafor^1,2.
• Full affiliations. PLOS asks for the department or organization and its location, including city, state or province where applicable, and country. Cell asks for author names spelled out in full rather than as initials.
• Your journal decides. Symbols, the order of notes and whether "and" precedes the last name all vary — check the instructions for authors or the journal's template.

ORCID iDs and LaTeX

An ORCID iD is a researcher's persistent identifier: 16 characters in four groups of four, written as a full link such as https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097. The last character is a check digit calculated with ISO/IEC 7064 MOD 11-2 — it can be X, standing for 10 — so a single mistyped digit is caught. The formatter rejects an iD that fails the check rather than printing it.

For LaTeX, the output uses the authblk package: \author[marks]{name} for each author and \affil[mark]{text} for each affiliation and note. Marks can be numbers, letters or symbols. Because authblk expands the marks, the symbol commands are written with \protect in front, and ORCID iDs use the orcidlink package, which adds the ORCID logo, linked to the iD, after the name.

Example

Try an example loads three illustrative authors at three fictional institutions; the first two contributed equally, the first is the corresponding author, and her ORCID iD is ORCID's own sample iD. In plain text the block reads:

Maya Okafor¹,²†*, Daniel Ruiz²†, Priya Raman¹,³

¹ Department of Psychology, University of Eastbrook, Eastbrook, UK
² Centre for Sleep Research, Halden Institute, Oslo, Norway
³ School of Public Health, Northgate University, Northgate, UK

† These authors contributed equally to this work.
* Corresponding author: [email protected]

ORCID iDs
Maya Okafor: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097

% Preamble
\usepackage{authblk}
\usepackage{orcidlink}

% Title page, before \maketitle
\author[1,2,\protect\textdagger,*]{Maya Okafor \orcidlink{0000-0002-1825-0097}}
\author[2,\protect\textdagger]{Daniel Ruiz}
\author[1,3]{Priya Raman}
\affil[1]{Department of Psychology, University of Eastbrook, Eastbrook, UK}
\affil[2]{Centre for Sleep Research, Halden Institute, Oslo, Norway}
\affil[3]{School of Public Health, Northgate University, Northgate, UK}
\affil[\protect\textdagger]{These authors contributed equally to this work.}
\affil[*]{Corresponding author: [email protected]}

Priya Raman's first affiliation is the one Maya Okafor already listed, so it keeps the number 1, and her second, new affiliation becomes 3. Switch to letters and the same block reads Maya Okafor^a,b†*, Daniel Ruiz^b†, Priya Raman^a,c.

Common Mistakes

• Numbering each author's affiliations separately. Numbers belong to the affiliation list, not the author: the third author's first affiliation is not automatically 1.
• Typing one institution two ways. "Univ. of Eastbrook" and "University of Eastbrook" become two affiliations. The formatter merges differences in capitals and spacing, not in wording.
• One equal contributor. "Contributed equally" needs at least two people. The tool warns when only one author is marked.
• A corresponding author with no address. Give an email for each corresponding author; the notes show a placeholder until you do.
• A mistyped ORCID iD. One wrong digit links the paper to someone else or to nothing. Paste the iD from your ORCID record and let the check digit confirm it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I format multiple affiliations for one author?

Put each affiliation's mark after the author's name in superscript, separated by commas — Maya Okafor^1,2 — and list each affiliation once, under the author line, beside its mark. Add a second affiliation field for that author in the formatter and it does the numbering.

In what order are affiliations numbered?

In order of first appearance, reading the author list from the first author to the last and each author's affiliations in the order given. An affiliation that has already appeared keeps its number, so the list has no duplicates.

How do I mark the corresponding author?

Usually with an asterisk after the name and a note giving the email address, as in PLOS's template and many Elsevier journals. Tick Corresponding author and add the address; with two corresponding authors, the note lists both.

How do I show that two authors contributed equally?

Give both the same symbol and add a note: "These authors contributed equally to this work." PLOS uses ☯; other journals use † or ‡ — choose the symbol in the formatter to match your journal.

How do I add ORCID iDs to a manuscript?

Many journals collect ORCID iDs through the submission system rather than the manuscript, so first check whether yours wants them on the title page. When it does, give the full link — https://orcid.org/ followed by the 16-character iD — or, in LaTeX, use the orcidlink package.

Is this the same as the Author Name Formatter?

No. The Author Name Formatter turns names into the forms a reference list uses, such as Smith, J. M. in APA. This tool builds the author and affiliation block at the top of your own manuscript.