Best practices for figure preparation

  • Images must have clear borders. If images have a white background that is indistinguishable from the page, please provide a black frame around the border of each image.
  • A line or white space must separate adjacent images.
    For gels or blots, if presenting bands that were not run in adjacent lanes, please separate the images using a solid line or space.
  • If multiple images are used to show an entire sample in a composite image, a statement must be added to the legend that indicates this (e.g., “The image shown in panel (X) is a composite image.”).
  • If images such as rosettes have been digitally extracted from their background and are presented as a single image on a uniform background, a statement must be added to the legend that indicates this (e.g., “Images were digitally extracted for comparison.”).
  • Images should show appropriate background signal information.
    • Background signal (i.e., pixels) should be present throughout the image, even for negative controls, and the signal should not be saturated. (This helps show the reader that no part of the image has been erased, modified, or obscured.)
    • Images should not be altered using the eraser or clone stamp tools, or by adding/removing background (except in the case of digital extraction—see above).
    • Any adjustments must be applied across the entire image. For micrographs, this also applies to all images in a series.
  • If images are re-used within the paper (e.g., same control plants for two treatments), this should be noted in each corresponding figure legend (e.g., “The controls shown in panel (X) are the same as those used in Figure 3Y.”).
  • Images should maintain their original proportions. Please do not stretch or distort images.
    Maps should not show political borders.
  • Multi-color images. For fluorescence microscopy where a “red” and “green” channel are used, use false colors that can be distinguished, even by authors with impaired color vision. Use magenta and green instead of red and green––roughly 4% of readers cannot distinguish red and green. Use a simulator program such as ColorOracle to check that your color scheme is interpretable by all readers.