Utilities
Utilities
Academic Word Counter
Word and character count with academic extras, page estimates, reading time, and an option to strip LaTeX commands.
Input
Your text
Paste your draft, abstract, or LaTeX source
When enabled, removes \commands, math environments, and comments before counting, useful for journal word limits on a .tex file.
Output
Counts
Live as you type
- Words
- 0
- Characters
- 0
- Chars (no spaces)
- 0
- Sentences
- 0
- Paragraphs
- 0
- Pages (~250 wpg)
- 0
- Reading time
- 1 min
- Speaking time
- 1 min
Common academic word limits
• Journal abstract: 150–250 words
• Conference abstract: 200–500 words
• Letter to the editor: ~750 words
• NIH specific aims page: ~1 page (≈600 words)
• NSF project description: 15 pages (≈4500 words)
• Standard journal article: 4000–8000 words
• Letter recommending a student: 500–1000 words
• Conference talk (15 min): ~1800 words spoken
Why a LaTeX-aware word counter matters
Pasting a .tex source into a regular word counter inflates the word count by 30% or more, every \section, \cite, math expression, and comment gets counted. Toggle "Strip LaTeX commands" and you get the true word count of the prose. This matches what journal editors see when they open your manuscript.
Writing the paper, not just counting words?
Underleaf is an AI LaTeX editor with paraphrasing, summarization, image-to-LaTeX, and a citation finder. Free to try.
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