PeerStyle

Publication-quality Matplotlib styling for peer-reviewed journals.

Installation

pip install peerstyle

Usage

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import peerstyle

# List available styles
print(peerstyle.list_styles())
# ['custom_style', 'ieee', 'nature', 'poster']

# Apply a specific style
peerstyle.use_style('nature')

Visual Gallery

Default (custom_style)	IEEE Journal (ieee)

Nature Journal (nature)	Presentation Poster (poster)

Available Styles

• custom_style: The default serif scientific style (high DPI, LaTeX enabled).
• ieee: Following IEEE journal guidelines (Times New Roman, specific sizing).
• nature: Following Nature journal guidelines (Sans-serif, compact).
• poster: High-visibility style with large fonts and thick lines for presentations.

Features

• Journal Presets: Ready-to-use styles for IEEE, Nature, and more.
• Modern Packaging: Fully installable via pip.
• High Quality: Pre-configured for publication-quality PDF and PNG exports (300 DPI).
• Flexible: Combine multiple styles or use them alongside standard Matplotlib styles.
• Curved Text: Label lines directly along their paths — no legend needed.
• CI/CD: Automated testing via GitHub Actions.

Curved Text — Direct Line Labeling

Label curves along their own paths instead of in a legend, so the eye never leaves the data to decode a colour key.

import numpy as np
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import peerstyle

peerstyle.use_style('nature')

x = np.linspace(0, 2 * np.pi, 400)

fig, ax = plt.subplots()
ax.plot(x, np.sin(x), color='C0')
ax.plot(x, np.cos(x), color='C1')

peerstyle.curved_text(ax, x, np.sin(x), 'sin(x)', pos=0.25, offset=6, color='C0')
peerstyle.curved_text(ax, x, np.cos(x), 'cos(x)', pos=0.30, offset=6, color='C1')

plt.show()

Placement is controlled by three parameters:

Extra keyword arguments (color, fontsize, alpha, fontfamily, …) are passed through to each character's matplotlib.text.Text.

The object-oriented form is also available:

from peerstyle import CurvedText

CurvedText(x, y, 'along the curve', ax, pos=0.2, anchor='start', offset=4.0)

The label recomputes its position on every draw, so it keeps following the curve through figure resizing and interactive panning or zooming.