aer-figures

AER Figure Formatter

Overview

Rewrites R/ggplot2 figure code for AER compliance: sizing, resolution, fonts, grayscale-compatible palettes, panel labels, and export settings. Preserves all data manipulation and statistical content — only changes formatting and presentation layers.

Constraints

• NEVER change plotted data or statistical content (geom mappings, model estimates, data transformations)
• CAN change: theme, colors, fonts, dimensions, labels, legend, panel labels, ggsave parameters
• MUST preserve all upstream data code (loading, cleaning, merging, modeling)
• MUST ensure all required packages are loaded (library() calls at top)
• MUST output both PDF (vector) and PNG (300 DPI raster) via ggsave()
• MUST NOT add ggtitle() or labs(title = ...) — titles belong in LaTeX/Quarto captions

Workflow

1. Read the user's R script end-to-end
2. Identify figure type using the detection table below
3. Determine size category based on content complexity and target layout
4. Apply AER rules from references/aer-figure-specs.md (sizing, fonts, colors, line weights)
5. Rewrite ggplot code using the matching template from references/ggplot-patterns.md
6. Add ggsave() calls with correct dimensions, DPI, and format
7. Return the rewritten script with comments marking what changed

Figure Type Detection

Signal in code	Type	Primary formatting concern
geom_point + geom_errorbar / geom_linerange / geom_pointrange	Coefficient plot	Point/CI visibility, zero-reference line
geom_density / stat_function / geom_histogram / geom_freqpoly	Distribution	Smooth curves, grayscale-compatible fill distinction
geom_col / geom_bar	Bar chart	Bar width, grayscale-compatible contrast, error bars
geom_line + time/date variable on x-axis	Time series	Line weight >= 0.5, linetype variation for series
facet_wrap / facet_grid	Multi-panel	Panel labels (a)/(b), margins, shared legend
geom_sf / geom_polygon + map data	Map	Grayscale-compatible choropleth, boundary lines, minimal axes

When multiple signals are present, treat the combination (e.g., faceted coefficient plot) and apply rules for both types.

Size Categories

Category	Width	Height	Use case
Single-column	3.5" (87.5mm)	2.5"–3.5"	Simple single-panel figures
Full-width	7" (175mm)	3.5"–5"	Multi-panel, wide figures
Full-page	7" (175mm)	up to 9"	Complex multi-panel layouts
Theory intuition	2.5"	2.5"	Small inline diagrams

Quick Reference

• Font: Serif (Times/Computer Modern), minimum 8pt at final print size
• Palette: Grayscale — #D9D9D9, #C4C4C4, #999999, #707070, #363636
• Color: Color palette designed should be grayscale-compatible. Color should only be used when it encodes meaningful information.
• Lines: >= 0.5 weight for data lines, 0.25 for grid (or remove grid)
• Title: None — use LaTeX/Quarto \caption{} or fig-cap:
• Output: PDF (vector) + PNG (300 DPI) via ggsave()
• Base theme: ggthemes::theme_tufte() customized with serif font and AER sizing
• Math labels: Use latex2exp::TeX() for Greek letters, subscripts, equations