brycewang-stanford PRL Length Management (prl-length-management)
When to trigger
- The manuscript is over the length limit (or you suspect it is)
- You need to know how much "room" a figure or equation actually costs
- You must decide what to cut, compress, or push to Supplemental Material
- A reviewer/editor flagged the Letter as too long
- Late stage: content, figures, and SM are stable and now must fit
How the PRL length limit works (the deductible model)
A Letter is short — on the order of ~3750 words / roughly four journal pages including figures and references; verify the current limit on the APS author page. The key feature is that the limit is a deductible budget: it is not just running text. Against the same total budget you must count, in current APS practice:
- The body text (the largest term).
- Figures — each figure consumes word-equivalents that scale with its printed area / aspect ratio; a large or double-column figure costs more.
- Equations — displayed equations consume word-equivalents (roughly per line/equation).
- References — the reference list counts against the budget.
- The abstract and table material also count.
APS provides a formula / length guide and an automated length check on submission. The practical consequence: a beautiful extra figure can cost you a paragraph of text. Budget figures and text together, not separately.
Triage order (cut from cheapest loss to most painful)
- Move to SM first. Derivations, extended data, secondary controls, full error budgets → Supplemental Material (see
prl-supplementary). This is almost always the largest, lowest-pain saving. - Compress figures. Drop non-essential panels; convert a double-column figure to single-column; merge two figures showing related points. Each reclaims word-equivalents.
- Prune equations. Keep only claim-defining equations inline; move derivation steps to SM; inline short results within a sentence rather than displaying them.
- Trim references to those that establish importance or are needed for trust; consolidate where APS style permits.
- Tighten prose (apply
prl-writing-style): remove padding, hedging, and figure-transcribing sentences. - Cut scope as a last resort: demote a supporting claim entirely.
Cost-awareness table
| Element | Budget cost (verify formula) | Cheapest fix |
|---|---|---|
| Body paragraph of padding | high per word | delete |
| Double-column figure | large word-equivalent | shrink to single column / fewer panels |
| Extra figure | full figure word-equivalent | move to SM |
| Displayed equation | per-line word-equivalent | inline or move derivation to SM |
| Long reference list | counts toward limit | prune to essential |
| Long caption | counts as text | tighten |
Checklist
- You have run the current APS length formula / length-check, not just a word count
- Figures and equations are counted against the budget, not ignored
- Derivations and extended data are in SM, not the body
- No double-column figure remains unless the data demand it
- Only claim-defining equations are displayed inline
- Reference list is pruned to importance + trust essentials
- Prose padding/hedging removed (cross-check
prl-writing-style) - The Letter still stands alone after trimming (cross-check
prl-supplementary)
Anti-patterns
- Counting only words and being surprised the figures blow the limit
- Trimming load-bearing content (the key control, the headline uncertainty) to fit
- Shrinking fonts in figures to save area (fails legibility instead)
- Padding the SM until the Letter no longer stands alone
- Leaving a decorative double-column figure that costs a paragraph
- Discovering the over-length only at submission, after content is frozen
Output format
【Current length vs. limit】over by ~X (per APS formula, verify)
【Figure/equation/reference budget counted】yes / redo with formula
【Moved to SM】list
【Figures compressed】list (double→single, panels dropped, merged)
【Equations pruned】list
【References pruned】from N to M
【Still stands alone】yes / fix
【Next】prl-cover-letter or prl-submission
The word/page limit, the length formula, and per-element costs are exactly the kind of volatile specifics that change — always verify the current limit and length guide on the official APS / PRL author page.