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Submission of Electronic Figures for Accepted Manuscripts: Detailed Instructions

**For our printer, electronic art files are accepted only when created in either TIFF or EPS format and only when the digital file specifications are adhered to. We also require two hard copies of the files at the final acceptance stage to properly size and color match your figures. Detailed instructions for electronic artwork format are available below which may aid you in converting files to those suitable for processing by our printer. Artwork does not need to be supplied electronically, but this provides the best quality for both the print journal and especially for PDFs. Cover proposals must include an electronic version as a TIFF.**

Please note we CANNOT accept Canvas, PowerPoint, SuperPaint, Corel Draw, Harvard Graphics, PDFs, or Excel graphics because they are not compatible with our printer's output devices.

1. For final publication purposes, we can only accept your electronic art as an EPS or TIFF file. See specific instructions below on saving your files in the most common programs. (For reviewing purposes, other file types are okay, as outlined above under manuscript submission.)

2. AUTHORS MUST PROVIDE A HIGH-QUALITY CAMERA-READY PRINT WITH THEIR ELECTRONIC FILE for cases when electronic versions of the art fail, and as an additional check for the quality of the electronic version for publication. Always include a printout of the art at the same size it is saved on the disk. Do not enlarge or reduce the printout. This is important in case we cannot read your file and to make sure that what is on the disk is exactly the same as what you provided on paper. We will also be using this printout to size the artwork. If the art is in color, please provide a high-quality color print so we can use your print as a guide for colors.

3. The artwork should be put on a zip disk or CD-ROM. We do not accept Syquest disks. Please make sure that your files are properly labeled by first author's name/figure number (for example, Smith_Fig1, Smith_Fig5) and that the printout is properly labeled and corresponds to the file name. Let us know the program you created your artwork in as well.

4. Send only FINAL electronic art files. Do not send text, such as figure legends, on the same disk with the art files. DO NOT EMBED FIGURES WITHIN THE MANUSCRIPT TEXT FILES or embed legends with the figures. If there are color keys to the figures, these should be included in the body of the figure rather than in the legend, as it can be difficult to match legend and figure colors.

5. Use Helvetica (or similar) typeface in point sizes no smaller than 8 pt and no larger than 10 pt, except for the main callouts (e.g. A, B, C), which should be 12 pt.

6. We cannot make any art corrections to TIFF or EPS files. All figures should be proofread carefully before they are sent to us.


Electronic Artwork Requirements


All digital art must be created in either Illustrator or Photoshop and saved as an .eps or .tiff file. This applies to all art types listed below. [NOTE: If you are working in Illustrator CS3, please back-save to Illustrator CS2 before sending the file. Art files saved in Illustrator CS3 format are currently not yet usable by our compositor.]

Note: Make sure that the weight of all rules used in artwork is 1/2-point or heavier. Lighter-weight lines will not be picked up.

Line Art
Line art (without halftone dots) should be scanned or produced at a minimum of 800 dpi in bitmap mode.

Halftone or Grayscale Art
Art to be reproduced as halftones should be scanned or produced at 300 dpi in grayscale mode. This is for halftone/grayscale art only (art that doesn't also have line art within it). If within the halftone artwork there also exists line art, please follow the dpi specifications for Combo Art instead. When in doubt with halftone art, always default to the Combo Art specifications to ensure that halftone digital art will be used.

Combo Art
Combo art, which means both halftone art and line art within the same piece of art, must be 800 dpi in grayscale mode.

Color Art
Color art to be reproduced as halftones should be scanned or produced at 300 dpi in CMYK mode. Always save your color scans into the CMYK color space. Never submit color electronic files in the RGB mode. When color files are converted from RGB into CMYK, the color can change significantly and type can be lost. Please convert any RBG files to CMYK files prior to submitting such artwork to make sure the file is correct. Also, make sure not to choose the ICC selection; CMYK MUST be selected in all color art files. (If a digital color art file is submitted with ICC selected, the digital art file will be rejected and will not be used.

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