Information for Authors - Figure Submission
Guidelines for electronic submission of figures
All figures submitted electronically (as e-mail attachments) must meet some basic requirements in order to be suitable for print publication.
These guidelines must be followed when submitting figures electronically to the following journals:
Please print and carefully review figures before sending. If they do not print at the correct size, look blurry, fuzzy or broken, or have any other errors, they will not be suitable for publication.
Submissions will not be considered for publication until figures have been sent prepared according to the guidelines. The submitting author will be notified if figures do not comply with any of the following specifications. Delay in sending corrected figures will slow down the publication process considerably.
CONTENTS
Preferred file format:
Acceptable file formats:
- JPEG files saved at the highest quality
- EPS files or full page (one image filling a whole standard-sized page) PSD files for vector figures (charts/graphs) only
Unacceptable file formats:
- Images imported or copy pasted into Word or PowerPoint
- BMP, GIF, PCT, PNG or low quality JPEG files
Acceptable color modes:
- For color figures: CMYK mode is preferred.
- For black and white or gray figures: grayscale mode is preferred.
- Color or grayscale figures submitted in RGB mode are also acceptable.
Unacceptable color modes:
- sRGB or webRGB color modes are NOT acceptable.
 PLEASE NOTE:
There is a charge of Euro 390 per published color page. Please submit color figures only when intended for publication. Changing color figures to black and white following evaluation is not possible.
Image size is usually measured in centimeters or inches. Figures should ideally be saved at the size (width) at which they will be printed:
- 8 cm for single column figures
- 14-17 cm for double column figures
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Empty white space surrounding a figure should NOT be included when calculating image size. Images should therefore be cropped (cut) as close to the outside edges of the figure as possible.
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If a figure is too wide or contains too much information to be fit within 17 cm while keeping details clearly visible, figures must be divided into several clearly labeled separate parts.
Resolution is measured in ppi or dpi, and affects the sharpness and quality of an image.
Image size and resolution are linked – they change in relation to each other. This means that when raising the resolution (dpi) of a figure, the size of the figure (in inches or centimeters) becomes smaller, and when lowering the resolution of a figure, the size of the figure becomes larger.
PLEASE NOTE:
Figures MUST be saved at a resolution of AT LEAST 300 dpi/inch, IF they are the size at which they will be printed or larger (>8 or 17 cm wide) and do NOT INCLUDE white space around the edges of the figure.
Insufficient image size and/or resolution (dpi) results in poor quality (blurred) printed figures.
If figures are smaller than the size at which they will be printed (<8 or 17 cm) or include lots of white space around the image, the resolution will have to be HIGHER than 300 dpi/inch.
Low-resolution figures (<300 dpi) can be acceptable if the original file is wide enough. Usually, at 72 dpi (the standard resolution of web or digital camera images) an image must be at least 40 cm wide for a single column figure or 70 cm wide for a double column figure.
Figures may obtained by scanning, digital photography, or exporting using scientific software or a program such as PowerPoint.
When scanning figures, please use a high quality scanner and set the resolution to 300 dpi/inch prior to scanning. For best results, figures being scanned should be printed on high quality photographic paper.
Digital photographs should be taken at a ‘fine’ or ‘extra fine’ setting to ensure that they are of sufficient size/resolution.
When exporting using scientific software, please select settings to ensure the highest possible final size and resolution.
When exporting from PowerPoint, choosing ‘Save as TIFF’ from the Save as dialogue box will NOT result in an image of sufficiently high resolution (figures will instead be saved at 92 dpi/inch). It is necessary to FIRST save the image as a PDF (from the Print dialogue box), THEN to open the PDF with image editing software. This allows for the dpi to be specified when the PDF is first opened. The file may be then saved as a TIFF using the image editing software. It is also possible to save Word or Excel files as PDFs to export them in a similar fashion.
PLEASE NOTE:
If figures are NOT initially scanned, photographed or exported at a sufficiently high size/resolution, artificially increasing the resolution of a low-quality figure (i.e. , keeping the figure size the same while raising the dpi) using image editing software will NOT improve its quality.
File size does not mean the same thing as image size. File size is measured in megabytes (M or MB) and is larger for higher-resolution images.
Figures should have a file size under 10 megabytes (<10 MB).
To reduce the file size of images:
- If images are the exact width and height they should be for publication (not smaller), make sure the figures are saved at no more than 300 dpi/inch (not centimeter).
- Make sure that any layers in the image have been flattened.
- Saving black and white figures as grayscale will considerably reduce file size.
- Figures saved as high quality JPEGS will have a slightly smaller file size than TIFFS.
If saved according to our guidelines, it is rare for a file to exceed 10 MB. However, some Internet service providers limit the size at which files may be sent to as little as 2 or 5 MB. In such cases, files may be compressed before sending using a compression or stuffing utility, such as WinZip or StuffIt, or each figure may be sent attached to a separate e-mail.
Labels must be in correct proportion to the image, sharp, and clearly legible.
The font size of labels must be 8-10 point when figures are saved at the correct size, (8 or 17 cm at 300 dpi/inch). If the image is saved at a size larger than that needed for printing, the font size of labels must also be larger to maintain the correct proportions.
If labels cannot fit on an 8-cm-wide page unless the font size is smaller than 8 points, the figure must be prepared as a double column figure (14-17 cm wide). If labels cannot fit on the 17-cm-wide page unless the font size is smaller than 8 points, the figure must be split into several parts.
Labels must be saved using standard fonts, and should be evenly spaced, clear and free of distortion.
Labels should use the widely available Times and/or Helvetica font.
Labels should be sharp and clearly legible (including exponential numbers around figure axes) NOT blurry, fuzzy, faded or broken. Faint labels (e.g., in light gray color) should NOT be used.
There must be strong contrast between labels and their background (e.g., labels placed over shaded bar graphs should be in a color that stands out against the shading, NOT blend in with it). Whenever possible, labels should be placed in black font on a white background.
Letters of labels must NOT be overlapping, condensed, expanded, have unnecessary gaps between them or be otherwise irregularly spaced, and must NOT be stretched (distorted) horizontally or vertically.
Labels must NOT overlap or be concealed (cut off) by the image, or cropped (cut off) by the edge of the page.
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Labels must be prepared according to our in-house style, must be phrased in accordance to the manuscript, and must be free of spelling and other language errors.
The first letter of each phrase, NOT each word, must be capitalized (e.g., ‘Overall survival (months)’ not ‘Overall Survival (Months)’ and not ‘overall survival (months)’.
There must always be a zero (0) placed before decimal points: 0.5 NOT .5.
Decimal points must use a fullstop/period (.) NOT a comma (,).
A space must be inserted before measurements: 132 bp NOT 132bp, 5 mm NOT 5mm, 1 h NOT 1h.
Measurements must be written as:
-
second(s): sec
- minute(s): min
- hour(s): h
- day(s): day(s)
- week(s): week(s)
- month(s): month(s)
- micro: µ, µ (available in Times and Helvetica) NOT u
- liter(s): l NOT L
- kiloDalton: kDa, Da, bp, kb NOT kD
Greek letters must be inserted using the correct Greek symbol (using Times, Helvetica or Symbol font), NOT written in full:
alpha: α
beta: β, ß, (available in Times and Helvetica)
gamma: γ, etc.
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Figures may be divided into separate sections. Each section may be saved as a separate file (clearly indicated in file name) or included together in one file (with parts clearly labeled).
Separate parts of a figure should be labeled using just A, B, C, NOT 1A, 1B, 1C.
Figure sections may be divided and subdivided as follows:
- A, B, C
- A a,b,c; B a,b,c; C a,b,c
- A a-1, a-2, b-1, b-2; B, a-1, a-2, b-1, b-2
The number of the figure must NOT be included in the image, especially if placed overlapping part of the image (instead, the file itself should be named using the figure number).
A, B, Cs must be placed to the top left of each section of the figure, NOT overlapping the image.
Figure backgrounds must be white. Grey backgrounds (or backgrounds of any other color) are NOT acceptable.
White space surrounding figures should be cropped (cut off) so that the image comes as close to the edges of the page as possible.
Figures and specific sections of figures should NOT be surrounded by borders (frames).
Figures should NOT be stretched out of proportion (distorted) horizontally or vertically.
Yellow must NOT be used for lines in diagrams. Any darker color may be used instead.
Line art should be dark and thick enough to be clearly visible, even at small sizes.
Charts, graphs and diagrams should NOT use more than 5 shades of gray. Patterns are acceptable.
In charts, graphs and diagrams, unnecessary colors should be avoided (e.g., color that does not impart any additional information and is used for slight emphasis only, or color that can be replaced by shades of gray, patterns or shapes).
In other types of images, color is welcome, and is sometimes even necessary for details and features of photographs to be distinguishable. However, please be aware that color charges of Euro 390 per page will apply.
We do NOT adjust the color or contrast of color figures. Please send figures as you would like them to appear in print.
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