Journal Figure Requirements and Checks

Publishers post figure specifications in their author guidelines: minimum resolution, accepted formats, column widths, colour mode and file size. These pages put the numbers we could read from those public guides next to a checker that works on your files inside the browser, plus a column-width calculator and a PDF font-embedding check. Each number carries its source link and the date we read it. Specifications change and differ between journals, so the journal’s current author guide always decides.

Tools in this group

• ACS Figure Requirements — The Preparing Graphics appendix of the ACS author guidelines in numbers (minimum dpi for line art, grayscale and colour, column widths in points and mm, depth, lettering), with a checker for your file.
• Elsevier Figure Requirements — The numbers from Elsevier's artwork pages (resolution by figure type, file formats, column widths in mm) with their sources, and a checker that tests your file against them at the width you choose.
• Embed Fonts in PDF Checker — Choose a PDF to see every font in it, whether it is embedded, whether it is a subset and which pages use it, with a count of the fonts that are missing from the file.
• IEEE Figure Requirements — What the IEEE Author Center says about graphics resolution, file formats, column widths and maximum size, with sources, and a checker that tests your figure file at one or two column width.
• Journal Figure Checker — Pick a publisher, a figure type and the width the figure will be printed at, then drop your figure files. You get the effective dpi, format, colour mode and file size next to what the publisher guide says.
• Journal Figure Size Calculator — Choose a column width from a publisher page or type your own, add height and DPI, and see the pixel size, the file size and how small your text becomes.
• PLOS Figure Requirements — The PLOS ONE Figures page in numbers: file formats, dpi band, width and height limits, file size, colour mode and TIFF rules, each with its source, plus a checker for your figure file.
• Springer Nature Figure Requirements — Springer journal artwork pages and the Nature figure guides give different numbers; this page shows each one with its source, and a checker tests your file against all of them at the width you pick.
• Wiley Figure Requirements — What Wiley Author Services says about figure resolution, preferred file types, canvas size and file size, with sources, and a checker that tests your figure file at the width you choose.