Is it possible to format and style tables and Google Docs in a similar design as commonly used in academic articles published in peer-reviewed journals?
Example of an academic table formatting:
Google Docs – How to Create Academic Table Formatting
google docs
Related Solutions
As far as I know it's not possible to remove the line before and after the nested table. The good "news" are that now is possible to merge cells.
References
Add and edit tables - Docs editors Help
Merge cells and wrap text - Docs editors Help
- select top row of your table
- click the triangle on the right of your selection
- chose a bottom row of selection to be highlighted
- click on that button with lines
- select width of the border
- done
Best Answer
In Google documents the cell borders should be the same for the four sides of the cell, so at this time it's not possible to format a table using the Google Documents built-in features.
It's worth to say that Google Spreadsheets allows to set different borders for each side of the cell, but there isn't an option to change the border thickness.
One alternative is to use an image editor, like Google Drawings, that allows to insert tables and to draw lines with custom thickness over the cell borders.
References
Add and edit tables - Docs editors Help
Insert an image - Docs editors Help
Insert a drawing into another doc type - Docs editors Help