The answer to this question is a duplicate to Pgfplots: title covers scientific notation. However, the title/topic of this question is broader and therefore for some people easier to find.
How can I change the distance from the title to the axis of a plot? I'd like to have some tick labels at a axis at the top of a plot and a title above it. The title and the labels are written to near to each other as in the example below.
\documentclass{minimal}
\usepackage{pgfplots}
\pgfplotsset{compat=1.10}
\newcommand{\width}{6cm}
\newcommand{\height}{8cm}
\newcommand{\vertShift}{3cm}
\begin{document}
\begin{tikzpicture}
\begin{axis}[%
width=\width, height=\height,
yshift=\vertShift, % trying to shift the plot to give the title some space.
axis x line*=bottom,
hide y axis,
]
\end{axis}
\begin{axis}[%
title=A title,
width=\width,height=\height,
yshift=\vertShift, % Trying to shift the plot to give the title some space.
ybar,xticklabel pos=right,
xticklabels={?,L,A},
xlabel near ticks,
]
\addplot coordinates {(0,50) (0.2,20)};
\end{axis}
\end{tikzpicture}
\end{document}