pnas-figures

Display Items (pnas-figures)

When to trigger

• Figures and tables push the page/item allowance (pnas-writing).
• Fonts are unreadable at print size, or colors are not colorblind-safe.
• Bar charts hide the underlying data (no points, no n).
• Panels are screenshots of software output pasted into the figure.
• You are unsure which column width to design to.

Sizing for PNAS columns

PNAS is a multi-column journal; design each figure to render at a standard print width without rescaling text:

• 1 column ≈ 9 cm wide
• 1.5 column ≈ 11.4 cm wide
• 2 columns (full width) ≈ 18 cm wide

Confirm exact widths in current PNAS author/digital-art guidelines.

• Minimum font in the final figure: ~6–8 pt (sans-serif, e.g., Helvetica/Arial), legible after reduction to print size.
• Line weights ≥ ~0.5 pt; avoid hairlines that vanish in print.
• Submit at the required resolution (line art high-dpi; halftones/photos at the specified dpi) — confirm specs.

Show the data, not just the summary

• Replace bar-of-means with dot plots / box+points / violins+points wherever n is small.
• Always state n in the legend, and what n is (cells? animals? subjects? independent experiments?).
• Error bars must be defined in the legend (SD vs SEM vs 95% CI) — never undefined.
• For images (blots, micrographs): include scale bars, and keep full, uncropped key blots for SI Appendix.

Color and accessibility

• Use a colorblind-safe palette (avoid red/green as the only contrast).
• Don't encode meaning by color alone — add shape/pattern/labels.
• Color mode: prepare figures in RGB for online; PNAS prints in color and may request or convert to CMYK for print — confirm the current color-figure policy and any charges. Check that figures remain interpretable in grayscale.
• No rainbow/jet colormaps for continuous data — use perceptually uniform maps (viridis, etc.).

Figure legend structure

Each legend: a short title sentence (the claim of the figure), then per-panel descriptions (A, B, C…), then statistics (test, n, error-bar definition, exact P or values). The legend should let the figure stand alone.

Integrity rules (non-negotiable)

• No selective deletion, splicing, or beautification of gels/blots/images without a labeled boundary; disclose any grouping.
• Quantitative comparisons must come from the same experiment/exposure.
• Keep unprocessed source images and source data — PNAS may request them (pnas-data).

Multi-panel discipline

• Keep panels purposeful; if a figure sprawls, split it or move panels to SI Appendix.
• Consistent axis scales across comparable panels.
• One message per figure; the legend title states it.

Output format

【Item count】 figures + tables vs page/item allowance (confirm guidelines) → ok / over
【Sizing】 designed at 9 / 11.4 / 18 cm? fonts ≥ ~6–8 pt? yes/no
【Data shown】 points + n + defined error bars? yes/no
【Color】 colorblind-safe? RGB online / CMYK-print aware? grayscale-readable? yes/no
【Integrity】 scale bars / uncropped blots in SI / source data kept? yes/no
【Fixes】 [...]
【Next】 pnas-statistics

Anti-patterns

• Do not paste raw Stata/Prism/ImageJ screenshots as figures.
• Do not use bars to hide n=3 with huge spread — show the points.
• Do not leave error bars undefined or mix SD and SEM across panels.
• Do not rely on red-vs-green as the sole encoding.
• Do not assume color print is free — confirm the color policy.