ACS Style Guide - Chapter 1 - Figures - Preparing and Submitting Scientific Illustrations

Sep 21, 2026

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Chapter 1, “Figures,” provides general guidance for preparing and submitting illustrations with scientific manuscripts for ACS publication. It explains how the shift from camera-ready figures to computer-generated, electronic artwork changes author and publisher handling. The chapter covers technical requirements, style recommendations for color, fonts, and scanners, and best practices for citing and captioning figures, with reminders to check journal- and book-specific author instructions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Figures

When to Use Figures

Do I Need a Figure or a Table?

When to Use Figures

Do I Need To Use Color?

How To Cite Figures

➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ CHAPTER 1 5 Figures Betsy Kulamer This chapter discusses methods of preparing and submit ting the ﬁgures and other illustrations that accompany ascientiﬁc paper for publication. The past 10 years have seen a radical technological shift in the way ﬁgures are created by authors and handled by publishers. Whereas authors previously submitted ﬁgures that were camera-ready—that is, ready for the printer’s camera to photograph before making printing plates—today many authors create ﬁgures using computer software, and most publishers encourage electronic versions of ﬁgures. This chapter presents guidelines for working with ﬁgures using the computer tools currently in widespread use; it also includes recommendations regarding the use of color, fonts, and scanners, as well as good style for citing and captioning ﬁgures. Technical requirements and certain style points differ from publisher to publisher and from journal to journal, so bear in mind that this chapter presents general guidelines. ACS journals have some speciﬁc requirements that may differ from the general guidelines presented here, and these are noted throughout the chapter. As always, before you ﬁnalize ﬁgures for your manuscript, you should consult your publisher’s guidelines for submitting artwork. For ACS journals, consult recent issues as well as the Guide, Notes, or Instructions for Authors that appear in each journal’s ﬁrst issue of the year or at [https://paragon.acs.org/](https://paragon.acs.org/)[ ](https://paragon.acs.org/)[paragon/index.jsp](paragon/index.jsp) (see “Author Information”) . For ACS books, consult the brochure “How To Prepare Your Manuscript for the ACS Symposium Series” or see“Info for Authors” at [https://pubs.acs.org/books](https://pubs.acs.org/books). 343 Copyright 2006 American Chemical Society 344 ➤ The ACS Style Guide ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ ➤ Box 15-1 . Do I Need a Figure or a Table? Do I want the basic point to be communicated at a glance? Use a ﬁgure. Do I want the reader to see trends and relationships? Use a ﬁgure. Do I want the reader to see exact numbers? Use a table. Do I want to communicate a lot of information with words? Use a table. When To Use Figures A ﬁgure is an illustration used in scientiﬁc or scholarly publishing. Figures can be graphs of data, photographs, sketches, ﬂow charts, and so on. Figures can play a major role in highlighting, clarifying, and summarizing data and results and can substantially increase the readers’ comprehension of the text by communicating visually. For example, line graphs show trends. Bar graphs compare magnitudes. Pie charts show relative portions of a whole. Photographs can provide absolute proof of ﬁndings. In general, ﬁgures should be used when the picture really is worth a thousand (or so) words. However, ﬁgures can decrease a reader’s comprehension, and they can cause outright confusion if they are poorly rendered or cluttered, if they do little more than repeat data already presented in text, or, worse, if they present information at odds with the text. An excessive number of ﬁgures can dilute the value of any individual ﬁgure: when presented with too many ﬁgures, a reader may look carefully at none of them. Figures should not be used to present data that would be better presented in a table. See Box 15-1 and Chapter 16,“Tables.” The cost of publishing ﬁgures has decreased substantially over the past two decades, partly because authors are able to prepare better quality ﬁgures (so the publisher does not have to) and partly because of the shift to electronic methods of Web and print publishing that are less cumbersome than earlier technologies, which required a high-quality, pristine paper original of all art. The cost of publishing color ﬁgures has also decreased substantially because most color photographs can now be provided in electronic form and no longer require expensive color separations before being put on a printing press. The cost of using color i

FAQs

When should a reader use figures instead of tables?

Use a figure when the basic point should be communicated at a glance or when the reader needs to see trends and relationships. Use a table when the reader must see exact numbers or when communicating a lot of information with words.

What guidance does the chapter give on using color in figures?

Use color only when it is essential to understand the chemical nature of the material. Color is rarely required for line graphs, bar graphs, or pie charts, and it is not needed merely to catch the reader’s eye or to organize related information.

What are the rules for citing figures in the text?

Figures must be “called out” by name and number in the text. Capitalize “Figure” when followed by the figure number, number figures sequentially, and designate figure parts with consistent labels such as 1a/1b or 1A/1B.

Sep 21, 2026

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