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Guidelines for Figure and Table Preparation

  1. Select Color Mode
  2. Choose Figure Dimensions
  3. Choose Figure Text
  4. Choose File Format/Resolution/Size
  5. Upload Audio, Video, and Motion Graphics
  6. Format Tables

As part of the process of making scientific and medical literature freely available on the Web, PLoS uses a streamlined production process that takes authors' figures straight to layout. We appreciate every effort authors put toward ensuring that their figures meet our specifications.

The figures that appear with the online version of articles are provided at the highest quality possible, so authors should submit their figures properly sized, with fonts and labels at an appropriate size, and produced in a high-resolution format. The following steps will help you meet these criteria; please read them carefully. A summary of figure requirements follows:

PLEASE REMEMBER
Simply because a figure looks good on screen does not mean it is at an optimal resolution. For reassurance, size figure to intended dimensions, and double-check your specifications or print the image on your personal printer. The online version should look relatively similar to the personal-printer copy.

Step 1: Select Color Mode

Your images should be in either RGB or grayscale. Please adjust your color settings before beginning your work.

Step 2: Choose Figure Dimensions

After removing all excess white space, figures should have a width between 9 cm and 18 cm. Figures cannot have a height of more than 24 cm.

All figures will be left-aligned on the page or column, so please design accordingly.

Left-Aligned Figure

Left-Aligned Figure

Step 3: Choose Figure Text

If your figure has multiple parts, please label in capital letters as A, B, C, etc., using Arial bold font, 12 points. Do NOT use any punctuation (no periods or brackets)! Any other figure text must be in Arial font, between 8 and 10 points.

Always embed fonts or create outlines when using vector file types (EPS format). In addition to special symbols and Greek characters not reproducing properly, we cannot guarantee that your figure will be published using your intended font, unless you embed or create outlines.

Embedding Fonts: To embed your fonts in Adobe Illustrator: When saving an EPS file, make sure that the Embed Fonts option is selected in the Save or Save As dialogue box.

Creating Outlines: To create outlines of your text in Adobe Illustrator: Using the Selection tool, select the text you want to outline. Then choose Type > Create Outlines (Shift + Control + O on PC, Shift + Apple + O on Mac).

Step 4. Choose File Format/Resolution/Size

We accept figures in either TIFF or EPS format; however, authors should note that EPS files will be automatically converted to TIFF prior to publication.

TIFF files must have a minimum resolution of 300 dpi, and any images placed within EPS files must also have an original resolution of at least 300 dpi.

Please remember that the quality of your figures will only be as good as the lowest-resolution element placed in them. In other words, if you use a 72 dpi line graph and make it a 600 dpi TIFF, the image will still print out as a 72 dpi image. The figure should not look fuzzy, jagged, pixilated, or grainy at intended print size.

Each figure (including all supporting figures) should be under 10 MB to optimize online accessibility.

If your figure is assembled from multiple images, please embed images, group objects or flatten layers, and flatten transparencies.

When saving as TIFF files, please choose compression option LZW (this will greatly reduce file size while retaining quality). Some programs may downsample your images to low resolution. Do not use the "optimize for web" wizard for any figures.

If your source files are not TIFF or EPS, they need to be converted.

Please contact figures [at] plos.org if you need help converting your files.

Step 5: Upload Audio, Video, and Motion Graphics

We encourage authors to submit multimedia files that are crucial to the conclusions of the paper. Multimedia files should be smaller than 10 MB in size because of the difficulties that some users will experience in loading or downloading files. Preferred formats are:

Step 6: Format Tables

Tables should be included in the text file, at the very end of the manuscript. The table title should be concise, no more than one sentence. The rest of the table legend and any footnotes should be placed below the table. Footnotes can be used to explain abbreviations.

Tables must be cell-based, such as would be produced in a spreadsheet program or in Microsoft Word. These should be pasted into the manuscript file as such. Do not provide tables as graphic objects. Tables must be no larger than one printed page (7 in x 9.5 in). Larger tables can be published as online supporting information. Bold and italics formatting will be preserved in the published version; however, more extensive formatting will be lost. Do not include color, shading, lines, rules, text boxes, tabs, returns, or pictures within the table.

Multi-part tables with varying numbers of columns or multiple footnote sections should be divided and renumbered as separate tables.

Bad Use of Subhead Images Good Use of Subhead Images

Example of incorrect subheads and use of text boxes

Example of acceptable subheads within a table

Getting Help

For help preparing figures, contact figures [at] plos.org.

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