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Classic · Single column · ATS 5/5

Academic CV template

Numbered sections and hanging-indent publications, built to run to four pages.

A traditional document for a reader who expects one: measured type, plain hierarchy and no ornament that a formal committee would read as flippant. One column and no portrait: the plainest structure a CV can have, and the one that travels furthest across markets.

Live preview of the Academic CV template, rendered at full page size with an example CV. The preview is the same code that generates your PDF.

The design

About the Academic CV layout

Academic CV is designed for a document that keeps going: section headings are numbered so a reviewer can refer to "section 4" on a six-page CV, and each is closed by a rule across the full measure. Publications are set with a hanging indent, which keeps a long author list readable instead of letting it merge into the entry above. The line rhythm is deliberately dense, so adding teaching, grants and conference sections costs you less paper than it would in a modern layout.

Who it’s for

The readers and situations this layout was drawn for.

  • Faculty and postdoctoral applications
  • PhD candidates with a publication record
  • Researchers submitting a multi-page CV

Key features

What is actually different about this template on the page.

  • Numbered section headings with full-width rules
  • Hanging-indent publication list
  • Centred name, title and contact block
  • Dense rhythm tuned for long documents

ATS score 5/5 · Excellent

How this layout behaves in an applicant tracking system

Nothing in this layout has to be interpreted. Job titles, employers and dates are ordinary text in an ordinary order, which is what a 5 out of 5 actually means.

Sections stack in a single flow, so the order you set in the editor is the order the parser records: summary, then experience, then education, then whatever you put next.

There is little left to fix here. If you want to see how the rest of the parser-safe range compares — and what a 5 out of 5 is actually measuring — the ATS CV templates page scores every layout on the same criteria.

Parsing checklistATS score 5 out of 5
Reading order
Single flow
Headings
Real text
Tables
None
Images
None
Selectable text
Yes

Scores are our own assessment of how a parser handles the layout — never a guarantee about one specific employer’s system.

In practice

Three situations Academic CV is the right answer to

Templates are chosen badly when they are chosen in the abstract. Here is what sending this one actually looks like.
Case 1

A high-volume application campaign

When you are sending thirty applications in a month, the document has to work unattended. Nothing here needs explaining, reformatting or defending, which is what makes it the version to keep as your default. Where it earns its keep: Faculty and postdoctoral applications.

Case 2

A document, not a pitch

One column with generous leading suits a document that may legitimately run to three pages — an academic or legal CV is not trying to be a one-page pitch, and compressing it signals the wrong thing.

Case 3

An anonymised or blind-screening process

Public bodies and larger employers increasingly strip identifying detail before review. A layout with no portrait slot survives that process unchanged, which is one less way for your CV to arrive looking damaged. Academic CV has no photo slot to remove, so the same file works in every market you send it to.

Make it yours

Customising Academic CV

The template sets the structure; everything inside it is yours. Colours, fonts, spacing, section order and paper size are all controls in the CV builder, and the preview updates as you change them — nothing is applied blind.

Accent colour

Academic CV ships with #1e3a8a as its accent. Near-black or a very dark neutral is the honest choice. These layouts are designed to survive being photocopied and scanned by a committee secretary, and a mid-tone accent is the first thing to disappear when they are.

Fonts and heading style

A serif body is the point of this family. If you switch to a sans, drop the font size a notch — the spacing is set for serif text and looks loose without it. Heading case — uppercase, capitalised or as typed — is a separate switch, and it changes the character of the page more than most people expect.

Spacing and density

Three sliders control density — type size, line height and the gap between sections — and on a one-column page each of them affects the whole document evenly, so fitting two pages into one is a matter of small adjustments rather than deletions.

Sections and order

Education often outranks experience here, and publications, awards and references all have a legitimate place. Reordering takes one drag, which matters because the convention differs by field and by country. Every section can be renamed, reordered or hidden, and Pro adds custom sections for anything the standard set does not cover.

Paper size and export

A4 or US Letter, switched in one control, with the layout re-flowing to the new page rather than being scaled to fit. The PDF is generated from the same code you see in the preview, so what you approve on screen is what downloads.

Academic CV: common questions

Yes. It scores 5 out of 5 on our parsing checks: one column, standard headings, no tables, no text inside images and no icon fonts. An applicant tracking system reads the sections back in the order you arranged them.

Alternatives

Related templates

Other layouts worth comparing before you commit — the closest matches from Classic first, then designs with a similar ATS score from other families.

Classic Professional

classic · one column

Free

Elegant Serif

classic · one column

Pro

Executive Classic

classic · one column

Pro

Formal CV

classic · two columns

Pro

Government CV

classic · one column

Pro

Legal CV

classic · one column

Pro

Start your CV with Academic CV

Open it with the example content already in place, replace it with your own, and download a PDF when it reads the way you want. Switching to another template later keeps every word you have written.

Free to start. A Pro or Lifetime plan unlocks this design and every other one.