apa6 manuscript mode first figure taking up a whole page despite small size

Question

I'm using document class apa6 with man (\documentclass[man]{apa6}). The man mode puts all the figures at the end, but the first figure shows up on the page alone, with the second figure centered in the next page. Since it's man mode, none of the conventional positioning (!ht) seems to work. Is this simply a bug for apa6 or is there a way to fix this?

I tried multiple images in the long example that comes with the apa6 package from CTAN and the same problem occurs there, so it seems like it's not something specific to my case.

Here is the simplified version of the sample code that came with the package, with more images attached. This also produces the same problem as shown below.

\documentclass[man]{apa6}

\usepackage{lipsum}

\usepackage[american]{babel}

\usepackage{csquotes}
\usepackage[style=apa,sortcites=true,sorting=nyt,backend=biber]{biblatex}
\DeclareLanguageMapping{american}{american-apa}
\addbibresource{bibliography.bib}

\title{Sample APA-Style Document Using the \textsf{apa6} Package}
\shorttitle{Sample Document}

\author{Brian D. Beitzel}
\affiliation{SUNY Oneonta}

\leftheader{Beitzel}

\abstract{\lipsum[1]}

\keywords{APA style, demonstration}

\authornote{Brian D. Beitzel, Department of Educational Psychology,
  Counseling and Special Education, SUNY Oneonta.

  Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Brian
  D. Beitzel, Department of Educational Psychology, Counseling and
  Special Education, SUNY Oneonta, 366 Fitzelle Hall, Oneonta, NY
  13820.  E-mail: [email protected]}

\begin{document}
\maketitle
\lipsum[2]

\Textcite{vonDavier2011} said this,
too \parencite{vonDavier2011,Lassen2006}.  Further evidence comes from
other sources \parencite{Shotton1989,Lassen2006}.  \lipsum[3]

\begin{figure}
    \includegraphics[bb=0in 0in 2.5in 2.5in, height=2.5in, width=2.5in]{Figure1.pdf}
    \caption{This is my first figure caption.}
    \label{fig:Figure1}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}
    \includegraphics[bb=0in 0in 2.5in 2.5in, height=2.5in, width=2.5in]{Figure1.pdf}
    \caption{This is my first figure caption.}
    \label{fig:Figure1}
\end{figure}

\begin{figure}
    \includegraphics[bb=0in 0in 2.5in 2.5in, height=2.5in, width=2.5in]{Figure1.pdf}
    \caption{This is my first figure caption.}
    \label{fig:Figure1}
\end{figure}
\begin{figure}
    \includegraphics[bb=0in 0in 2.5in 2.5in, height=2.5in, width=2.5in]{Figure1.pdf}
    \caption{This is my first figure caption.}
    \label{fig:Figure1}
\end{figure}

Figure~\ref{fig:Figure1} shows this trend. \lipsum[16]

\end{document}

Answer 1

I'm the developer of the apa7 package and I released an update (1.05) to CTAN today to correct this issue for that package. I should be published soon: https://ctan.org/pkg/apa7

Answer 2

According to APA every figure should start on a separate page. I believe it does not matter whether it is centered or not. Still, I think this is not the expected behavior and I can reproduce the problem with your provided example. Indeed, figure 2 and figure 3 even show up on the same page, which is not consistent with APA. You might want to contact the author of the package to report this problem.

To be honest, I do not believe you have to worry about that for your submission. I actually do not think your specific case is violating APA style, unless your figures are not on separate pages.

By the way, many journals are actually ok if you put the figures and tables in the text. This is much easier to read for reviewers. Putting the floats at the end just facilitates the typesetting (e.g. https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11448/why-do-some-journals-want-figures-at-the-end). But this will usually only matter for the final submission after the revisions. Still, there might be some editors who take this seriously. Even in this case, you will just get a polite message to comply with APA style and resubmit.