OmniDocHow to mark the author affiliation and date on the title page of LaTeX
Explain clearly how to write the author, unit and date on the LaTeX title page, including unit correspondence, corresponding author mark, Chinese date setting, and how to check item by item after compilation. It is suitable for home page layout of papers, reports and internal documents.
Key points of this article
- For single authors or authors from the same unit, just use \author to write the name and add the newline unit. The structure is simple and the compilation is stable.
- When multiple authors correspond to different units, use the authblk macro package, and the authors and units are associated with the same number.
- Chinese dates require the ctexart document class to be compiled with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX, and \today will output Chinese format.
- The date of the submission version should be fixed and hard-coded to avoid \today changing during each compilation, resulting in inconsistency between the home page date and the submission record.
- After compilation, check the author order, unit number, date format and corresponding author mark item by item, which is more reliable than just looking at whether there are any errors.
When writing papers, course reports or internal materials, many people will encounter the same problem after using LaTeX for typesetting: the unit on the title page is not displayed, the unit numbers of multiple authors do not match, or the date is always in English format. These problems are usually not compilation errors, but rather incorrect usage of commands such as \author and \date, and the compiler will not report an error because of this.
This article specifically solves the two types of problems "latex marking author affiliation" and "latex marking date Chinese". After reading, you can judge which writing method is suitable for your situation, follow the steps to write the title page, and know where to check after compilation.
The information on the title page is usually determined by four commands: \title writes the title, \author writes the author and organization, \date writes the date, and \maketitle sorts them out. The following content is centered around these four commands. If your school or journal provides a template, please refer to the template requirements and only refer to the writing method.
How to write the author, unit and date? One sentence conclusion
Let me give the conclusion first: for a single author or all authors from the same organization, just use \author with line breaks; for authors belonging to different organizations, use the authblk macro package; for Chinese dates, use the ctexart document class and compile with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX.
| your situation | Recommended practices | reason |
|---|---|---|
| Single author, one unit | \author{姓名\\单位}, the unit is placed on the line next to the name | Simple structure, no additional macro packages required |
| Multiple authors, all from the same organization | Separate names with \and, and write units with \\ on the last line | Only built-in commands are used, and the compilation is stable |
| Multiple authors, each with different units | Use the authblk macro package, add the author number in square brackets, and use \affil to list the unit | Numbers correspond one to one, and units are formatted neatly. |
| Need Chinese date | The document class uses ctexart, \date{\today} or handwritten \date{2024 年 5 月 1 日} | Date output in Chinese environment is in Chinese format |
| No date on title page | \date{} Leave blank | The date line will disappear |
Before you start: Confirm these points first
Checking the following items before starting can avoid most of the rework.
- Document classes and compilation engine. Chinese date depends on the ctex series document classes,
ctexartis suitable for articles and reports. Chinese typesetting usually requires compilation with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX. Using ordinary pdfLaTeX is prone to font or encoding errors. - Author order and affiliation. First, list the order of signatures and units of each author, and then start writing code. Wrong writing of units or misplaced numbers are harder to detect than formatting problems.
- Purpose of Date. Is the date the day of compilation, or the date of submission, defense or publication? If it is a submission or material submission, a fixed date should be written because
\todaywill change every time it is compiled. - Template Requirements. Many schools and journals will stipulate the format of the title page. For example, the author should use superscripts, the affiliation should be in English, or the corresponding author should use asterisks. When the template has requirements, the template shall prevail and do not change the template for uniform writing.
- Whether the macro package has been installed. If you want to use authblk, you need to make sure that your LaTeX distribution already contains this macro package. When the macro package is missing, the compilation log will prompt that the file cannot be found.
Steps to Mark Author, Affiliation, and Chinese Date in LaTeX
The following is an example of a paper with two authors. The two authors have different affiliations and the date is in Chinese format. The writing method is also applicable to a single author, just delete the redundant numbering part.
- Set up document classes and encoding. Write
\documentclass{ctexart}in the introductory area, then compile with XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX. ctexart handles Chinese fonts and outputs dates in Chinese format. - Write the title. Use
\title{...}in the introduction area to write the thesis title. For longer titles, you can use\\to manually break lines to make the title page neater. - Write about the sole author and the institution. Solo authors can write as
\author{张三\\某某大学计算机学院}.\\will start the organization on a new line and display it below the name. - Write about different units with multiple authors. Add
\usepackage{authblk}in the introduction, then write\author[1]{张三}and\author[2]{李四}, and finally use\affil[1]{单位一}and\affil[2]{单位二}to list the units. The numbers in square brackets must correspond one-to-one. - Set the date. For submissions, it's recommended to write
\date{2024 年 5 月 1 日}and fix the date. If you want the date to be displayed every time you compile, you can write\date{\today}. When you don't need a date, write\date{}. - Place the title page and compile it. Write
\maketitleafter\begin{document}, then compile. Open the first page of the PDF and confirm that the title, author, affiliation, and date are all in the correct places.
If you need to indicate the corresponding author, you can add \thanks{通讯作者：张三，邮箱见正文} after the name. \thanks generates footnote-style tags, suitable for communication information, fund projects, or acknowledgments.
After completion, check each item one by one
A successful compilation only indicates that there are no syntax errors in the code; whether the title page is correct still requires manual checking.
| Inspection items | How to see it | What should you do if there's a problem? |
|---|---|---|
| Author order and name | Refer to the authorship requirements and the information in the submission system | Modify the order or spelling of the corresponding names in \author |
| Corresponding to the unit number | Each author's number can be found in the list of units with the same number | Adjust the number in the author brackets with the number of \affil |
| Date format | The homepage date is displayed in Chinese format like "May 1, 2024" | Confirm that the document class is ctexart, and change the compilation engine to XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX |
| Will the date change? | Recompile the next day to see if the date changes | The submission board changed to a fixed date and no longer used \today |
| Corresponding author mark | Markings and explanatory text appear at the footer or footnote | Check whether \thanks is written after the corresponding author's name |
| Translation logs | Errors without Undefined control sequence or with no macropacket found | Check command spelling, macropackage names, and fill in missing macropackets |
If the organization name is too long and causes a line to exceed the page width, you can manually split the line using \\, or abbreviate the unit name while ensuring accuracy. Please confirm the official name of your school or journal before abbreviating.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Why does \today display the date in English?
This is usually because the document class is not ctexart. The standard article class outputs the English month, such as May 1, 2024. After switching to \documentclass{ctexart}, \today will output in Chinese format. If your template must use another document class, you can also write \date{2024 年 5 月 1 日} directly to manually specify the date.
2. Can you mark Chinese dates with pdfLaTeX?
Handling Chinese under pdfLaTeX is usually troublesome, with common issues being font and encoding errors. For Chinese dates, it is recommended to compile them using XeLaTeX or LuaLaTeX, and use the ctexart document class. If the template only supports pdfLaTeX, please consult the template provider and do not arbitrarily modify the core settings of the template.
3. What should I do if the unit on the title page is too long and the line breaks are messy?
You can manually insert a line break in the middle of the unit name using \\, or split longer department names into two lines. After adjustments, recompile and confirm that every line is within the page range. If it is still crowded, you can ask the template provider if there are recommended ways to write it, without changing the official name of the organization.
4. My LaTeX source code is in English. If I want a Chinese format, can I translate it directly?
OmniDoc supports translation of LaTeX source packages. You can upload the source code package to the omnidoc.top, choose translation only or bilingual copying, and download the result. The output will retain formulas and other formatting content. However, you still need to verify the author, affiliation, and date on the title page yourself, so check the machine translation results item by item.
📝 Summary
The author unit and date on the title page are key: use \author, authblk macros, and \date correctly, and then use ctexart and XeLaTeX to handle Chinese. It is recommended to fix the submission date fixedly, and after compilation, manually verify the number, order, and date. By doing this, you can correctly mark both the author's affiliation and the date in Chinese correctly on latex.
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