JSS Style Checker

Spec sheet

What it does

Checks Journal of Statistical Software manuscripts written in LaTeX, BibTeX, Sweave or R Markdown against the journal’s published style requirements.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Purpose

Checks LaTeX and BibTeX manuscripts against the Journal of Statistical Software style guide.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

License

The repository and its distribution channels use the MIT license.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Automatic fixes

The fix mode writes files atomically, rechecks each change and rolls back a file when a fix recreates its violation; dry-run produces a diff without writing.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Browser operation

The browser checker runs locally through WebAssembly and says that selected manuscript files are not uploaded.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Capitalization checks

Separate rules address capitalization in titles, sections and captions.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

CI integration

A GitHub Action is provided for gating JSS-format vignettes in continuous integration.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Citation checks

The checker validates natbib citation conventions and bibliography completeness, including DOI fields.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Coverage limitation

Its coverage report identifies 64 style provisions as outside the implemented scope.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Crossref integration

An optional Crossref mode verifies missing DOIs and can write matched DOI values into BibTeX files.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Distribution channels

Packages are published as Python, Rust, R and npm/WebAssembly components, with a browser application and VS Code extension.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Documentation depth

Documentation includes a rule catalogue, CLI contracts, design notes, changelog, evaluation harness and a companion paper.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

DOI lookup

An optional online Crossref lookup can verify missing DOIs and, with --fix, add them to BibTeX files.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Extension status

The Marketplace page describes the VS Code extension as scaffolded and says it depends on a language server that is staged but not yet shipped.Read 9 Oct 2026 · marketplace.visualstudio.com

Limit: specialized scope

The tool is independent of JSS and is intended as pre-submission assistance rather than an official guarantee of editorial acceptance.Read 15 Oct 2026 · tex.stackexchange.com

Limit: VS Code readiness

The Marketplace listing labels the extension scaffolded and says its language server was staged but not yet shipped, with installation instructions conditional on that shipment.Read 15 Oct 2026 · marketplace.visualstudio.com

Local processing

The browser checker runs locally via WebAssembly, and the maker says files never leave the browser tab.Read 9 Oct 2026 · kollerma.github.io

Maintainer background

ETH Zurich records describe Manuel Koller as a former statistics consultant, PhD student and assistant, and list R software projects including robustlmm and robustbase.Read 15 Oct 2026 · people.math.ethz.ch

Maintainer identity

The GitHub account behind the project is Manuel Koller, whose profile showed 16 public repositories and 17 total stars.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Manuscript formats

The linter follows LaTeX input, include, subfile, and bibliography references from a root file to check the reachable project.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Marketplace adoption

The Visual Studio Marketplace page showed one install when checked.Read 15 Oct 2026 · marketplace.visualstudio.com

Measured coverage

The README reports measured recall and says a clean run does not mean the manuscript is compliant.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Measured recall

The project reports recall of about 81% on 1,967 annotated instances from 17 papers and warns that a clean run does not prove compliance.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Output formats

The command-line tool can emit terminal, JSON, HTML and SARIF reports.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Praise: deterministic behavior

A TeX community answer highlights that identical input produces identical violations, making the checker suitable for CI gates.Read 15 Oct 2026 · tex.stackexchange.com

Praise: measured accuracy

The same independent discussion reports measured precision of 97.2% across 20,060 adjudicated instances and recall of 80.7% on 254 published manuscripts.Read 15 Oct 2026 · tex.stackexchange.com

Preamble checks

Rules cover JSS-specific preamble macros such as Plainauthor and Address.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Project independence

The maker says the project is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Journal of Statistical Software or its publisher.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Project traversal

Linting a root file can follow input, include, subfile and bibliography references through the reachable project.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Public API

The project exposes an importable texlint Python library, Rust/PyO3 bindings and WebAssembly analyze, render and fix exports.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Rating on Visual Studio Marketplace

0 out of 5 from 0 reviews.Read 15 Oct 2026 · marketplace.visualstudio.com

Release history

Version 1.0.1 was published in July 2026 after version 1.0.0 was withdrawn because its Rust crate was unbuildable; later releases added R Markdown/Sweave support, Crossref lookup and reports.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Reviewer mode

Reviewer mode aggregates findings into per-category compliance summaries.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Rule coverage

The JSS implementation contains 62 rules grouped into 16 categories.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Security and privacy

The hosted checker is designed for client-side processing, while the default linter operation is offline unless Crossref lookup is explicitly requested.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Semantic markup checks

Rules check semantic commands including proglang, pkg and code.Read 15 Oct 2026 · github.com

Supported files

The browser checker accepts .tex, .ltx, .bib, .Rnw, and .Rmd files.Read 9 Oct 2026 · kollerma.github.io

Ways to use it

The project offers a command-line tool, Python and R packages, a browser checker, and a VS Code extension.Read 9 Oct 2026 · github.com

Plans and prices

Every JSS Style Checker plan and price →

Where Specifiction places it

• Writing Style Checkers#2 of 298.8