Furthermore, the fact that they are non-commercial avoids both monetary and bureaucratic hassles, so you can build your figures with the same computer you use to store and analyze your data, rather than relying on shared workstations (keep backups!). All of these programs are available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, which is not always the case for commercial software. The focus on free software is facultative rather than ideological. Trying to do this with Photoshop is begging for trouble.Įmbed and Crop Images extension for Inkscape and The PDF Shrinker - Control image compression in your final figure files. Inkscape - Arrange, crop, and annotate your images bring in graphs and charts draw diagrams and export the final figure in whatever format the journal wants. For ImageJ bundled with a large collection of useful analysis tools, try the Fiji distribution. Yes, the user interface is a but rough, but this is a much more appropriate tool than Photoshop.
If you're lazy though, the graph-making program that you already use is probably fine. A steep learning curve, but absolutely worth the effort. Here are the software packages that will make up the core of the figure-building workflow: Not only will you save money on software licenses, you'll also be able to set up a workflow that is transparent, maintains the integrity of your data, and is guaranteed to wring every possible picogram of image quality out of the journal's publication format. You may be terrified by their price tags.īut here's the good news: It is entirely possible to build publication-quality figures that will satisfy the requirements of most (if not all) journals using only software that is free and open source. They may suggest software called Photoshop or Illustrator. So, what exactly do you need to do for "publication-quality" figures? The journal probably has a long and incomprehensible set of rules. And they have to be "publication-quality." Those PowerPoint slides you've been showing at lab meetings? Not going to cut it. You've tied it all together in a story so brilliant, it's sure to be one of the most cited papers of all time.īut before you can submit your magnum opus to Your Favorite Journal, you have one more hurdle to cross.
You've collected enough data to impress even the harshest reviewers.
So, after months (years?) of toil in the lab, you're finally ready to share your ground-breaking discovery with the world.
0 kommentar(er)
