All Questions
330 questions
2
votes
1
answer
252
views
Why do some journals request that headings are not included in figures? [closed]
For some journals the guidelines for authors recommend that headings be removed from figures. However, by removing headings the figures are more difficult to be interpreted as they require reference ...
- 29
13
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Are hand-drawn figures appropriate for physics or engineering journals?
Hand-drawn figures in papers were common in the old days. If I use hand-drawn figures (generated e.g. with the software Paint) for illustrations, will that result in a rejection of my manuscript?
- 795
-1
votes
0
answers
119
views
Proud moment or Okeyish moment for a researcher? [duplicate]
Namashkaram, hello. I had a question to ask to you all.. in my 5.5 year of pH.D. my 3 reasearch articles (Two 1st author and one 2nd author) got selected as Front cover page article , with full waiver ...
4
votes
1
answer
149
views
Are there any disadvantages of pre-publishing figures for a paper separatly using a CC-BY license?
I recently came across a blog post, where it was suggested to pre-publish figures you intend to use in an academic paper somewhere using a CC-BY license. I find this idea really nice (as it allows ...
- 1,183
1
vote
3
answers
129
views
Should I put 0 with decimal points (e.g., 0.00) in a figure for visual consistency? [closed]
I have a question about the visual consistency on the figure axes. Let's say I have a figure and on its x axis the following values are displayed:
-0.50 -0.40 -0.30 -0.20 -0.10 0 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0....
- 17
5
votes
6
answers
746
views
What should I consider when hiring a graphic designer to digitize my scientific plots?
I am working on a scientific publication in physics and want to present the architecture of our model in the paper.
I drew the architecture on paper with pencil and colours, just how I imagine it.
Of ...
- 131
1
vote
1
answer
223
views
Cite PowerPoint Icons
Microsoft PowerPoint provides a wide variety of icons. I want to use them in a graphic, but can't find any usage terms. Do I have to cite them? And if so, how?
- 113
0
votes
1
answer
138
views
Seeking Tools for Efficient Illustration Design in Physics Book Project
One of my friends intends to write a book related to the field of physics. I have been assigned to design illustrations similar to the images below for his book. The total number of these ...
3
votes
3
answers
306
views
Best tools to create figures for papers/journal [closed]
What are good tools to create figures for papers/journals similar to the figure below which is both clear and well designed? Which tools can I use to create similar figures?
Features: Smoothly bended ...
- 139
18
votes
8
answers
5k
views
Are many figures in a paper considered bad practice?
I am in the process of writing a paper for one of my PhD test series. As the test series was extensive, with many different materials and specimen, there are quite a lot of figures: images of the ...
- 22.6k
5
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Is it necessary to repeat the axis labelling if the images have the same axis?
I have two graphs that are part of a multi-panel figure. It is clear from both the caption and the graphs that the axes mean the same thing. Should I repeat the axis labels in both graphs, or should I ...
- 153
2
votes
1
answer
167
views
Should the information within a caption be repeated into the main text?
My understanding is that a caption should be here to help someone read a caption independently from the text (without reading the paper/book/etc for example).
This question answers whether a long ...
- 935
4
votes
0
answers
76
views
Can we reference teaser images in our papers?
The conference I'm submitting my paper allows for teaser images. I want to reference the teaser image in the text. Is this usually allowed? If it is, what is the standard way of referencing it? I mean,...
- 141
6
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How much time should I spend on illustrations?
I am in the process of publishing my first paper in geosciences. I have developed a model for the paper and now I want to create 8 figures. However, already I've been working on it for 2-3 weeks (for ...
- 187
9
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Why am I requested to compile my figure files with 300 DPI?
I will submit an article to Geoscientific Model Development, and the submission instructions requests that I ensure that my figure files are "compiled as *.pdf, *.ps, *.eps, *.jpg, *.png, or *....
- 303
3
votes
2
answers
499
views
Guidelines for labeling axes of inset plots
What are the recommended guidelines for labeling the axes of an inset displaying a magnified or reduced view of the primary plot? Should an inset include labels if the main plot is in linear scale ...
- 33
15
votes
4
answers
6k
views
Is it legal to use Helvetica on scientific plots?
I am making some histograms for an upcoming manuscript. My advisors hate the default font of my plotting library (matplotlib to be precise) so they asked me to change it to something they are familiar ...
- 153
0
votes
2
answers
173
views
Is it necessary to obtain permissions for using figures from my published articles in my dissertation?
How can I ask a journal to use my figures, knowing that the journal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License?
If it is unnecessary, how can I do it ...
2
votes
2
answers
534
views
Copyright-free maps for journal figures
I am writing an epidemiology paper for an academic journal, and would like to have a figure showing the map of a geographical region of interest.
My current map was generated with OpenStreetMap data, ...
- 123
2
votes
2
answers
190
views
Should I add a color calibration target to some figures in a scientific paper?
I have to say first that I am not very familiar with the world of color rendering in computer graphics, I am more closer to a physical approach of the phenomenon.
My problem is that I am writing a ...
- 21
0
votes
1
answer
207
views
Do I need to get the authors permission for creating a similar image?
Consider a situation where author X explains a concept on his website (no copyright marks etc.).
He also provides graphics to visualize what he puts in words in that explanaton.
I cited that ...
- 159
1
vote
1
answer
273
views
Is it ok for a thesis chapter to start with a figure?
Slightly different to the question here which asks is it ok to put a figure in the introduction of a thesis, is it ok to start a thesis chapter with an illustration like a figure or table?
An even ...
user152981
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Should I reproduce figures from other publications in my thesis to make it more self-contained?
I am working on a computer science master's thesis wherein I occasionally cite figures and tables from other works. Currently, the way I am doing this is something like
Foo et al. (2021) visualise ...
- 541
3
votes
0
answers
104
views
I see these types of plots a lot in older publications. What software/method is used to make this plot? [duplicate]
Anyone know what software or method is used to make these classic black and white publication figures with all caps axis labels and typically a gridded background?
Just curious because I have seen ...
1
vote
4
answers
742
views
Is there a way for students to use a figure from an article, for a 'students-only' presentation, without paying a hefty sum?
There is a figure that is unbelievably clear and efficient in getting my point across. More specifically, I'm doing a presentation about modeling a certain real-world object to math students who are ...
- 181
23
votes
10
answers
14k
views
Is it unprofessional to add illustrations to a master’s thesis?
Sometimes I see articles, even high-quality ones, use illustrations (e.g. imagine a simple Powerpoint depiction of a certain process).
I'm now writing my thesis and found some interesting ...
- 473
0
votes
1
answer
99
views
Copyright of a custom image of a well-known game character [closed]
This question is quite similar to another one I already found here.
I would like to use an image of a very well known plumber in my upcoming research paper. Of course, I do not own any rights to that ...
- 101
0
votes
1
answer
670
views
What tool is better for journal-quality plots: matplotlib or Matlab? [closed]
I make my plots in Matlab and they turn out looking reasonably good. However, I'm contemplating porting to more open-source tools and hence, I wish to make use of Python's matplotlib.
My priorities ...
- 81
6
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Is it okay to re-render a plot used in another publication?
I found a chart in another publication that I'd like to cite, however it's small and is a dot plot when it should be a line plot (I guess because the data points were non-contiguous and the authors ...
- 989
20
votes
5
answers
8k
views
Should I allow a PhD student to use figures of my Undergraduate dissertation in their PhD thesis?
Last year I worked on a novel dataset provided by my supervisor and I found interesting results which I presented in my BSc dissertation. A PhD candidate was working on the same dataset. Now the PhD ...
- 325
0
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Submission requirements for tables and figures in separate files
I am considering a submission to The European Journal of Finance. The manuscript is written in LaTeX and according to the Guide for Authors some changes have to be made. Yet, the instructions do not ...
- 171
6
votes
3
answers
5k
views
Font used in scientific articles diagrams/graphs [closed]
I'm very careful with visual appearance of what I write, and I want to know if there is some convention with the font used in the graphs or diagrams of an article. Normally the articles are written ...
- 169
25
votes
8
answers
6k
views
How do I ensure that the colormap shows well in black and white?
One referee comment says that "Not sure the colormap shows up well in black and white". Two figures in my manuscript are shown below. Do I have to change the colormap settings? If I do, how ...
- 361
8
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Scientific paper with 3D scatterplot in supplementary information; I can add a video but how to let readers rotate/zoom interactively?
When publishing in the physical sciences the main paper is usually something 2D, you can read it online or print it. Many journals support supplementary data in the form of pdf files and videos.
It is ...
- 3,654
2
votes
2
answers
832
views
How to improve quality of figures after reviewers have mentioned it? [closed]
The paper we are working on was accepted and we got a comment saying "Quality of Figures could be improved".
All the figures that are given have been exported from matplotlib and have all ...
- 165
2
votes
1
answer
807
views
Free and easy-to-use tools/softwares to draw scientific diagrams for physics [closed]
I am typing some physics lecture notes for which I am using TeX. What good options are available to draw freehand diagrams easily and also convert them easily to pdf, png, jpg, etc that I can attach ...
- 243
0
votes
1
answer
114
views
Correct acknowledgment for a figure's digital rendering
If I draw a figure freehand, and then ask somebody else to render it digitally, and integrate the resulting product in a publication, what is the correct way of acknowledging this person's work?
...
- 4,053
0
votes
1
answer
257
views
What software tools to use for creating publication quality system diagram?
So far I have used powerpoint to create system block diagram or System overview diagrams and convert it to pdf to add in overleaf. Working with powerpoint is tedious. What other softwares are ...
- 77
9
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Which software is appropriate for drawing complicated block diagrams in academic papers?
What sort of software can I use to make block diagrams, such as those used in machine learning papers? For example, this graph:
From the paper: https://aclanthology.org/2020.emnlp-main.676.pdf
- 307
1
vote
1
answer
162
views
Main result in the first figure
I am planning to submit my paper to a journal. But as I circulate my draft paper to my student peer, one of them ask me why I put my main result in the very first figure. I was silent without any ...
- 51
3
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Permission to use video still (screenshot from a video) in a research article
I need to use YouTube video stills (images taken as screenshots from a video) in an article I am currently writing. How should I take permission to use the images? The email or other contact ...
- 1,393
2
votes
2
answers
387
views
What image edits are appropriate for a journal figure?
Journals allow some leeway for editing images as long as you do not selectively edit parts of the image and the image edits do not change the evidence provided by the image.
In practice this seems to ...
- 121
5
votes
0
answers
234
views
Which software/website is used to make diagrams like these? These look really good and this seems to be the most popular style I see in publications [closed]
I see this style of diagrams in most good IEEE conference papers/journals and wish to know which software is used for these? They seem to be able to lighten parts of diagram, use multiple colours etc.
0
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How do you adjust the size of figures for a journal paper?
As you know figures in a journal paper must have a specific width (e.g. column width or full paper width), however, adjusting the figure size after plotting it changes the resolution and makes the ...
- 11
0
votes
1
answer
844
views
Copyright permissions vs fair use to include an image from Amazon
Hopefully, this isn't too off-topic or repetitive.
I'm writing my dissertation, and I am finishing up the last chapter discussing some of the experiments I did. In that chapter, I discuss a pump I ...
- 507
1
vote
1
answer
114
views
Question on Figures in PhD Dissertations
I am in the early stages of thinking how to structure and write my dissertation. In the course of doing so, I have been spending a lot of time reviewing unpublished dissertations via my universities ...
- 113
1
vote
1
answer
114
views
Citing photographs shared through social media in thesis
I have included two photographs related to my research in my thesis. The photographs were shared with me by my connections on Facebook as private messages. How can I state the source of the ...
- 1,393
1
vote
0
answers
212
views
Citing figures in APA 7th Ed
In my thesis I used two figures from a textbook, I included the proper citation under the figures in APA format (i.e. stating the copyright and all that) and I read that I also need to cite them in my ...
- 111
12
votes
4
answers
545
views
How to learn to prepare good scientific illustrations?
I have recently started to appreciate the importance of illustrations and figures in scientific publications. Be it a visual abstract, a visual TOC, or part of a poster or a presentation, I always ...
user145186
0
votes
0
answers
915
views
How to deal with large figures in draft of a paper
I am working on a draft of a paper and I have large figure that does not fit into 1 page. I can split the figure into two, but I wonder what is the appropriate way of doing it.
Two ways that I ...
- 680