Response-to-Reviewers Letter Template

This repository provides a LaTeX template to write clear, well-structured responses to editors and reviewers during scientific peer review.

The main files are:

• reviewresponse.sty — the style file with all environments and commands
• main.tex — an example letter showing typical usage

Example Output

Quick start

1. Set your metadata near the top of main.tex:

• \paperid{...}
• \papertitle[Short Title]{Long Title}

2. For each editor or reviewer, start a section and add Q/A items:

• \editorsection{Editor-in-Chief} (E-prefixed numbering: E1.1, E1.2, ...)
• \editorsection{Associate Editor} (increments the editor counter → E2.1, ...)
• \reviewersection{Reviewer 1} (R-prefixed numbering: R1.1, R1.2, ...)
• \begin{question}[q:label] ... \end{question}
• \begin{answer}[a:label] ... \end{answer}

3. Reference items anywhere in the letter:

• Questions: \qref{q:label} → “Question E1.2” or “Question R2.3” (prefix reflects section type)
• Answers: \aref{a:label} → “Answer E1.2” or “Answer R2.3”
• Figures: \figref{fig:label} → “Fig. R1”
• Tables: \tableref{tab:label} → “Tab. R1”

4. Compile (uses biblatex + biber):

# Minimal manual sequence
pdflatex main.tex
biber main
pdflatex main.tex
pdflatex main.tex

# Or with latexmk (if installed)
latexmk -pdf -interaction=nonstopmode -halt-on-error main.tex

Core concepts and commands

Metadata

• \paperid{...} set once; \printpaperid prints it
• \papertitle[Short]{Long} sets both long and optional short titles; \printpapertitle prints the long title

Section types and numbering

• \editorsection{<name>}: increments an editor counter; Q/A become E.
• \reviewersection{<name>}: increments a reviewer counter; Q/A become R.
• Separate sequences mean Editor questions (E...) and Reviewer questions (R...) never collide

Q/A environments (boxed)

• \begin{question}[<opt-label>] ... \end{question}
• \begin{answer}[<opt-label>] ... \end{answer}
• Optional labels let you cross-reference specific items
• Boxes have no first-line indent; a small vertical space follows each answer to visually group Q/A pairs

Cross-referencing helpers

• \qref{q:...} → “Question E1.1” or “Question R2.4” (automatically includes E/R + numbering)
• \aref{a:...} → “Answer E1.1” or “Answer R2.4”
• \figref{fig:...} → “Fig. A` (figure numbering independent of editor/reviewer context; R-prefix refers to response artifact numbering)
• \tabref{tab:...} or \tableref{tab:...} → “Tab. A`

Figures and tables inside answers (no floats)

• Floats (`figure`, `table`) don’t play well inside framed environments
• Instead, embed content with \captionof from the caption package:

\begin{center}
	\begin{minipage}{0.9\linewidth}
		% your graphic/table here
		\captionof{figure}{A non-floating figure inside an answer.}
		\label{fig:R-example}
	\end{minipage}
\end{center}

Numbering conventions

• Editor Q/A: E. (e.g., E1.1, E1.2, then E2.1 for a new editor section)
• Reviewer Q/A: R. (e.g., R1.3)
• Response artifacts (equations, figures, tables): global A-prefixed sequence (e.g., Eq. A5, Fig. A2, Tab. A3)

Bibliography

• Uses biblatex (style: ieee) and biber
• Add entries to references.bib and end your document with \printbibliography
• Citation links are black for easy printing: \usepackage[colorlinks=true,linkcolor=blue,citecolor=black]{hyperref}

Minimal example

\paperid{ABC-2025-0001}
\papertitle[Short Response Title]{Full Response Title Used on the Front Page}

\editorsection{Editor-in-Chief}

\begin{question}[q:ei-scope]
Please summarize the added validation experiments.
\end{question}
\begin{answer}[a:ei-scope]
We added cross-dataset validation and clarify runtime overhead (<5%).
\end{answer}

\reviewersection{Reviewer 1}

\begin{question}[q:r1-ablation]
Provide an ablation of the new filtering module.
\end{question}
\begin{answer}[a:r1-ablation]
See \tableref{tab:ablation}; accuracy improves +3 \% over baseline.
\begin{center}
  \begin{minipage}{0.9\linewidth}
    \centering
    \begin{tabular}{lc} \hline
      Variant & Accuracy \\ \hline
      Baseline & 0.90 \\
      + Filter & 0.93 \\
      + Filter + Augment & 0.94 \\ \hline
    \end{tabular}
    \captionof{table}{A small ablation table.}
    \label{tab:ablation}
  \end{minipage}
\end{center}
\end{answer}

As noted in \qref{q:r1-ablation}, we now provide reproducible settings.

Tips and troubleshooting

• Avoid \begin{figure} / \begin{table} floats inside question/answer boxes; use \captionof instead
• To reference equations, use standard \eqref{...}; they’ll appear as R-prefixed (e.g., A5)
• If a reference shows as “??”, re-run the LaTeX cycle until references resolve (pdflatex → biber → pdflatex ×2)
• The footer page number is centered across the physical page; no header is used by default

Customization

• Change names: \renewcommand*{\figurename}{Fig.} / \renewcommand*{\tablename}{Tab.}
• Change numbering: update the \theequation / \thefigure / \thetable redefinitions in reviewresponse.sty
• Spacing: adjust the \vspace{...} at the end of the answer environment if you want tighter/looser grouping

License

See LICENSE for details.