ACL pubcheck is a Python tool that automatically detects author formatting errors, margin violations as well as many other common formatting errors in papers that are using the LaTeX sty file associated with ACL venues. The script can be used to check your papers before you submit to a conference. (We highly recommend running ACL pubcheck on your papers pre-submission—a well formatted paper helps keep the reviewers focused on the scientific content.) However, its main purpose is to ensure your accepted paper is properly formatted, i.e., it follows the venue's style guidelines. The script is used by the publication chairs at most ACL events to check for formatting issues. Indeed, running this script yourself and fixing errors before uploading the camera-ready version of your paper will often save you a personalized email from the publication chairs.
You can install the package by cloning the repo
git clone [email protected]:acl-org/aclpubcheck.gitorgit clone [email protected]:acl-org/aclpubcheck.gitcd aclpubcheckpip install -e .
You can run the script on a paper as follows
python3 aclpubcheck/formatchecker.py --paper_type PAPER_TYPE PAPER_NAME.pdf where PAPER_TYPE is taken from the set {long,short,other}. You should choose either long or short depending on the type of paper you have accepted.
Note: Additional info can be found in the PDF document aclpubcheck_additional_info.pdf included in this package.
Online Version: If you are having trouble with installing and using the Python toolkit directly, you can use a CodaLab version online https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1Sq6ilmrFUQpUFMkV71U8-Wf0madW-Uer?usp=sharing.