Submission of Digital Art Guidelines

Halftones: photographs or continuous tone images with no added labels or graphics

Should be submitted as TIFF, EPS, Adobe PhotoShop files (.psd), or PDF files (note: PDFs are acceptable only if they are made using Acrobat Distiller configured to press quality settings). The resolution must be a minimum of 300 dots per inch (d.p.i.). If the image was originally captured as a large JPEG file with minimal or no compression, you may submit it in that format (when initially acquiring your image this setting may be labeled "High Quality" or "Fine," etc. on your camera). Please remember to crop all white or otherwise unnecessary space from figure before sending it to us.

Line art: graphs or charts

Should be submitted as TIFF, Adobe Illustrator (.ai) or PhotoShop files (.psd), EPS, or PDFs configured to press quality. The resolution must be a minimum of 1,000 d.p.i.

If graphs or charts were originally made in a Microsoft Office file (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc.) please submit the figures in those formats. Do not save Microsoft Office files as TIFFs or JPEGs. If you bring figures from another program into an Office file please do not create a linked object; figures should only be brought in as embedded objects.

When creating line art, please avoid filling bars and other elements with complicated patterns. Do not use textures or gradients; use simple patterns like checkerboards or stripes. Screens are acceptable; however, there should be a least a 20% difference between screens that have to be differentiated. Avoid using very fine lines (below ½ points after art is reduced).

Fonts: only use Helvetica, Arial, Times Roman, Symbol, Mathematical PI or European PI. In EPS files, fonts should be converted to "create outlines" or "convert to paths."

Combination halftones (combos): photographs or continuous tone images combined with labels or graphics

Should be submitted as TIFF, Illustrator or PhotoShop files, EPS, or PDFs configured to press quality. The resolution must be between 500-900 d.p.i.

Color

Color figures should be saved as RGB (red/green/blue), not CMYK (cyan/magenta/yellow/black). Color halftones should have a minimum resolution of 300 d.p.i.; color combos and color line art should have a resolution of between 500-900 d.p.i (as stated above, black and white line art must have a minimum resolution of 1,000 d.p.i). If you have the ability to embed an ICC profile, please do so. Color figures will appear in the Journal online in RGB format. Please note that because of the nature of the printing process, color in the printed Journal will be in CMYK inks and will not be as vivid or bright as the RGB version. Authors will not be sent CMYK proofs (they will receive RGB eproofs).

Authors will not be sent CMYK proofs; they will receive RGB proofs by email. Proofs emailed to authors contain low resolution images; these images will be replaced by high resolution images in the final printed version of the article.

General Digital Image Considerations

Microsoft Office Files. As we discussed above: do not save Microsoft Office files as TIFFs or JPEGs. If you bring figures from another program into an Office file please do not create a linked object; figures should only be brought in as embedded objects. In addition, if you are bringing in halftones or combos into an Office file (this should generally be avoided), do not rotate or enlarge these images within the Office program.

Please do not reduce your figures below a width of 21 picas (3½ inches) as a means of achieving higher resolution. These files will not be usable. In addition, do not artificially increase the resolution by resampling; this creates spurious data.

Avoid scanning in figures. Every time you scan in a figure, you degrade the quality of the image. If you are adding graphics to a photograph, do not add labels on a hard copy of the image and then scan it in again; rather, bring the original image at full resolution into an appropriate program, add in the graphics in that program, and save the file in a format that meets the specifications described in these guidelines.

Always supply a publication-quality hard copy produced from the digital files being submitted. This provides a double check of the proper image. In the event that the digital file cannot be accessed, we will scan your proof so that no delay is encountered in your deadline. Please supply overlay/description of areas of focus and critical color concerns. The Journal reserves the right at any time to use this hard copy as camera copy rather than using the digital file. If there is a discrepancy between the hard copy and the digital image, we will use the digital version.

Only submit files in the programs and formats mentioned in these guidelines. Other formats are not acceptable.