diff --git a/thesis/drop-images.lua b/thesis/filters/drop-images.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from thesis/drop-images.lua
rename to thesis/filters/drop-images.lua
diff --git a/thesis/drop-tables.lua b/thesis/filters/drop-tables.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from thesis/drop-tables.lua
rename to thesis/filters/drop-tables.lua
diff --git a/thesis/keep-citations.lua b/thesis/filters/keep-citations.lua
similarity index 100%
rename from thesis/keep-citations.lua
rename to thesis/filters/keep-citations.lua
diff --git a/thesis/filters/math-omit.lua b/thesis/filters/math-omit.lua
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8ef5486
--- /dev/null
+++ b/thesis/filters/math-omit.lua
@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+-- math-omit.lua
+-- Replace any math with a placeholder and ensure a space before it when appropriate.
+local PH = "[math omitted]"
+
+function Math(el)
+    -- Emit the placeholder as a Str; spacing is fixed in Para/Plain below.
+    return pandoc.Str(PH)
+end
+
+local function ensure_space_before_ph(inlines)
+    local out = {}
+    for i = 1, #inlines do
+        local cur = inlines[i]
+        if cur.t == "Str" and cur.text == PH then
+            local prev = out[#out]
+            local need_space = true
+
+            -- No space if it's the first token in the block
+            if not prev then
+                need_space = false
+            elseif prev.t == "Space" then
+                need_space = false
+            elseif prev.t == "Str" then
+                -- If previous char is an opening bracket/paren/slash/hyphen or whitespace, skip
+                local last = prev.text:sub(-1)
+                if last:match("[%(%[%{%/%-]") or last:match("%s") then
+                    need_space = false
+                end
+            end
+
+            if need_space then table.insert(out, pandoc.Space()) end
+            table.insert(out, cur)
+        else
+            table.insert(out, cur)
+        end
+    end
+    return out
+end
+
+function Para(el)
+    el.content = ensure_space_before_ph(el.content)
+    return el
+end
+
+function Plain(el)
+    el.content = ensure_space_before_ph(el.content)
+    return el
+end
diff --git a/thesis/tex2plaintext.sh b/thesis/tex2plaintext.sh
index b009770..39a7122 100755
--- a/thesis/tex2plaintext.sh
+++ b/thesis/tex2plaintext.sh
@@ -18,18 +18,24 @@ PART1_TXT="${OUT_BASE}_part1.txt"
 PART2_TXT="${OUT_BASE}_part2.txt"
 MARKER="Data and Preprocessing"
 
-echo "[1/4] Flattening with latexpand -> ${FLAT_TEX}"
+echo "[1/5] Flattening with latexpand -> ${FLAT_TEX}"
 latexpand "${INPUT_TEX}" > "${FLAT_TEX}"
 
-echo "[2/4] Removing tabular/tabularx environments -> ${NO_TABLES_TEX}"
+echo "[2/5] Removing tabular/tabularx environments -> ${NO_TABLES_TEX}"
 # Replace entire tabular / tabularx environments with a placeholder
 perl -0777 -pe 's/\\begin\{(tabularx?)\}.*?\\end\{\1\}/[table omitted]/gs' \
   "${FLAT_TEX}" > "${NO_TABLES_TEX}"
 
-echo "[3/4] Converting to plain text with pandoc -> ${PLAIN_TXT}"
-pandoc -f latex -t plain --wrap=none "${NO_TABLES_TEX}" -o "${PLAIN_TXT}"
+echo "[3/5] Converting to plain text with pandoc -> ${PLAIN_TXT}"
+pandoc -f latex -t plain --wrap=none \
+  --lua-filter=filters/keep-citations.lua \
+  --lua-filter=filters/math-omit.lua \
+  "${NO_TABLES_TEX}" -o "${PLAIN_TXT}"
 
-echo "[4/4] Splitting ${PLAIN_TXT} before the marker line: \"${MARKER}\""
+echo "[4/5] Replacing [] placeholders with [figure]"
+sed -i 's/\[\]/[figure]/g' "${PLAIN_TXT}"
+
+echo "[5/5] Splitting ${PLAIN_TXT} before the marker line: \"${MARKER}\""
 
 # Ensure the marker exists exactly on its own line
 if ! grep -xq "${MARKER}" "${PLAIN_TXT}"; then