Guide For Figure Preparation

Abstract

Geology is a very visual science, so figures are the heart and soul of most papers published in the Journal of Sedimentary Research (JSR). The problem is how to present your work in the very best light: You want the very best resolution possible, but AllenTrack limits your figure size! The key to solving this conundrum is to plan carefully and set the dimensions to fit the JSR standards. Making a larger file does not improve quality and may delay publication. JSR has three standard sizes for figures (whether figures are maps, stratigraphic columns, photos, etc.). Since all figures must fit into one of these standard sizes (Table 1), you should plan your figures accordingly. Once you have the dimensions, you then need to set the resolution (pixels or dots per inch, ppi or dpi) to make a file of reasonable size that fits the required figure dimensions. View this table: Table 1.— Standard JSR figure sizes . For example, take a photomicrograph of an entire thin section. Since it is a composite image (at least on my microscope), it is huge in size. How huge? To check, take your favorite graphics program (Photoshop for this author) and select Image: Image Size (Fig. 1). In this case (Fig. 1), it shows a file size of 58.7 megabytes with the dimensions 47.85 cm × 30.73 cm and 300 ppi. When saved as a …