Figures

• Please note that figures for Notes and Records should not be edited unless specific instructions are received from the RS copyeditor.
• Where a scale/magnification is mentioned in the figure legend, do not re-size the figures.
• Use non-breaking spaces for the thin spaces in numbers (Ctrl+shift+space) or between a number and unit.

Appearance

Axis labels

• All axis labels should be at least 2 mm from the axis values or, when there are no values, from the axis itself.
• All numbers should be aligned with tick marks on panels.
• All units should be rounded-off to the same number of decimal points; zero is the exception to this rule and should only ever be written as ‘0’ (see below).
• Zero should not be written twice at the origin of a panel (see below), except when either of the two zeros refers to more than one panel; in this situation, the zero should be written out twice.

• If panels within the same figure have the same axis labels they should be arranged so that labels do not have to be repeated (see below); this also applies when the tick-mark labels/scale/numbers are different between the figures, but the axis label is the same.

• For vertical-axis labels, any single-character variable, e.g. ‘y’ or a single-character variable acting as a function, e.g. ‘y(t)’ should be set horizontally – at 90° to the axis (see below); any single-character variable with a unit, e.g. ‘y (m)’ or any other label (with an equal or greater number of characters) should run vertically, parallel to the axis (see below); this is a general instruction, covering most situations; however, some ‘artistic license’ may be required in certain situations (when axes are not vertical, etc.).

Colour

• Colour figures should be laid out to attempt to avoid consecutive colour page spreads, even in first proofs; where possible colour figures should be placed on (alternating) page spreads, e.g. pages 2 and 3, 6 and 7.
• Notes and Records and Bio Mems have colour in the online version of the paper ONLY.
• All other journals provide free colour online but charge for colour in print.
• Figures in colour online only should have the following line at the end of the caption: (Online version in colour.)
• For colour figures that will be greyscaled in print, the overwhelming preference is to have the figure clearly and unambiguously legible online, rather than print. Try to make the figures understandable in black and white, but where this is not possible, do not remove any mention of colour.

Lines

• Lines should be at least 0.5pt in width.
• Lines should not be too thick, but may be thicker if required for understanding (i.e. ‘thick’ vs ‘thin’ lines).
• Dashed lines should be clear; a 4pt dash with 2pt gap is good, but not a rule.
• In figures that contain more than one line style (e.g. dashed), the lines should be easily distinguishable.

Text

• Times, upright, 9pt, 11pt leading (unless restricted for space).
• Text can be reduced if necessary, but should not be smaller than 7.5pt.
• Keylines and frames should be removed wherever possible (i.e. unless it would be nonsensical, scientifically speaking, to do so).
• When resizing a figure, make sure the text is kept at 9pt (or the necessary size).
• Figures that have been manipulated to include retyped text over what was a single bitmap image should retain the postscript for the text (this is applicable to all postscript information in figures).
• Super-/subscripts should be 7pt and appear 3pt above/below the baseline.
• Always use lower-case lettering, except where capitals are essential (names, proper nouns, etc.) (see below).

• In numbers, thousands should be separated by thin spaces, not commas (e.g. 10 000 000).
• Make sure that no objects are touching that should not be (e.g. brackets, minus signs, etc.).
• Replace incorrect commas with full stops for the decimal operator.
• Special characters, such as Greek letters and mathematical operators, should be formatted in Symbol font (see below).
• Equal-to sign: always insert a full space either side (e.g. x = 300).
• Numbers and units: always use a thin space between values and units (e.g. 300 nm, 400 µm).

Citations and labelling

• All figures must be cited and in chronological order, otherwise the figures will appear out of order online.
• Labelling must correspond to that provided in the legend.
• Citations in the text should use ‘figure 1’ etc. (but ‘fig. 1’ when referencing a figure in another work).
• Figure parts are italic, alphabetic suffixes (e.g. ‘figure 1a,b’).
• When referencing more than one part of a figure, refer to it in the singular, i.e. ‘figure 1a,b’, not ‘figures 1a,b’.
• For multipart figure part citations use e.g. ‘figure 1a(i)’, ‘figure 1a(i)(ii),b(i)(ii)’.
• If several sequential figure parts are being cited together, use an en rule, i.e. ‘figure 1a –c’, ‘figure 1a(i –iii)’.
• Figure numbering is continuous throughout a paper, including those in appendices (but not including electronic supplementary material)
• When more than one figure is cited, use ‘figures’, i.e. ‘figures 1 and 2’ or ‘figures 1a,b, 2a and 3c’.
• Figure parts should be labelled alphabetically and in a consistent manner (left to right then top to bottom (see below)).
• Alphabetical labels should be italicised in roman brackets, e.g. ‘(a)’ (see below).
• All parts should be labelled in the same position (see below):
• first instance: inside top left
• second instance: inside top right
• third instance: inside bottom left
• fourth instance: inside bottom right
• If the label is to appear on a black background put it inside a white circle (see below).

• If the label interferes with the figure content, put it outside the figure part at top left.
• Sub-parts should be labelled using bracketed roman numerals in roman, e.g. ‘(ii)’.
• White space should be kept to a minimum – figure parts should be no more that 5 mm apart.
• When there is an uneven number of figure parts (and they extend to more than one row), centre the part(s) in the last row.
• Where appropriate, ensure that the layout of a figure avoids the occurrence of large white spaces, i.e. where a figure is made up of parts that do not appear to be dependent on the layout, these may be rearranged in order to preserve space.
• However, if a figure appears to have been laid out by the author in a specific way, do not alter but query the author.

• Check for stray invisible objects altering the width or height.
• Unnecessarily large figures should be reduced as much as possible without reducing clarity.
• Position figures in portrait, unless it is necessary or sensible to make them full-page landscape.
• If the image is too small for 9pt text, the size should be increased until 9pt text can be used.
• If the image is still too crowded with 9pt text at the maximum width, the text can be reduced as necessary.
• Remove any unnecessary shading from the background of figure panels; additionally, if dashed (etc.) ‘guidelines’ confuse the content (in the editor’s opinion), remove them – but do this consistently across the article.

Placement

• Place figures at the top of the page (column) on which their first text mention occurs (or as near as possible).
• Figures should not appear on the first page of an article unless unavoidable.
• Place figures above tables if they are to appear on the same page.

Figure legends

• Legends are justified, with the last line left-aligned.
• Figure legends are roman, end with a full point, appear below the figure.
• Write out “Figure [figure number]”, not “Fig. …”
• Check for correspondence between referencing of part numbers and figure labelling (and correspondence to the text).
• The legend must include figure part numbers and all figure labels must be described, any omitted information must be queried.
• Where a figure is taken from another publication avoid changing the labelling. Credit should be given where necessary, query the author otherwise. If reproducing figures or data from other work, permission must be obtained by the author. The permission statement should be inserted within parentheses at the end of the legend. Common forms are
  • Reproduced with permission from [article].
  • Reproduced with permission from [article]. Copyright © [Publisher].
  • Where editing of the text is required to match RS style ‘Adapted from [article]’ should be used.
• For a figure that extends over more than one page, the legend should be fitted on the first page and e.g. ‘Figure 1. (Continued.)’ should appear as the legend on a page spread (rather than overleaf).
• When a legend will not fit on the same page or column:
  • It should appear at the top of the previous/subsequent page (wherever possible this should be on the same opening) or column.
  • It must be separated from body text by a hairline rule.
  • The figure should have a short legend ‘Figure 1. (Caption opposite.)’ or, if absolutely necessary, ‘Figure 1. (Caption overleaf.)’.
  • The legend should read ‘Figure 1. (Opposite.) [Legend]’ or, if absolutely necessary, ‘Figure 1. (Overleaf.) [Legend]’.
• Labelling in figures must be explained in the corresponding legends.
  • Abbreviations or symbols that appear in more than one figure can be explained in the first caption and then a reference added to further use, e.g. ‘symbols/data are the same as given in figure legend 1.’
• Figure keys should be retained in the figure, unless the symbols can be explained simply in words (e.g. ‘filled circles’ rather than ‘●’) in the legend rather than being left in the figure. Symbols too complex to describe in a few words can be left in the figure.
• Legends for landscape figures should run along the figure base, not at the bottom of the page.
• Reference citations within a figure should be moved to the legend.