How to italicize part (one or two words) of an axis title

Question

Is there any way to change the style of part of an axis title while keep the rest part unchanged? In my case, How could I italicize
\"bacteria X\" in the y-axis title? T

Answer 1

This can be achieved using element_markdown() from the ggtext package.

ggplot(fig1, aes(cf, Freq, fill = Var1)) +
  geom_bar(stat = "identity") +
  labs(
    x = "Groups",
    y = "No. of *bacteria X* isolates with corresponding types",
    fill = "Var1"
  ) +
  theme(axis.title.y = ggtext::element_markdown())

Notice the * around bacteria X in the y axis title. Setting axis.title.y to element_markdown has the effect that the axis title is rendered as markdown. Thus, text inside * will be displayed in italics.

An even easier solution is using the mdthemes package which provides themes that interpret text as makrdown out of the box, i.e. no need to call theme. Here's an example.

ggplot(mtcars, aes(hp, mpg)) +
  geom_point() +
  mdthemes::md_theme_classic() +
  labs(title = "**Bold Title**", x = "*Italics axis label*")