Tables and Figures Guidelines
It is normally better to use tables to present detailed numeric information, while graphs are better for broad comparisons and indicating trends. Each table and illustration must contain all necessary information to be understood independently of the text. The same data should not be reproduced in both diagrams and tables. All schemes, figures (graphs, photographs, diagrams, etc.) and tables should be cited in order in which they appear in the text and their placement should be indicated. Number of tables and figures is limited to 8 in original scientific paper, 6 in preliminary communication, 4 in scientific note, and 4-6 in minireview and review, respectively. Additional non-textual material can be included in supplement, published only online. Figures and tables should be cited as Fig. 1, Fig. 2, Table 1, Table 2, and in supplementary material Fig. S1, Table S1, etc.
In tables and table headings Arial font, size 11 on white background should also be used. Table heading should be placed above the table, do not use bold type or background shades. Do not use lines thicker than 1 pt. Outer borders should not be visible. Physical quantitites should be written as explained above. Footnotes to tables should be indicated by superscript letters or symbols, unless abbreviations are explained in which case superscripts are not required. All abreviations used should be described in table footnote by writing the abbreviation followed by unspaced equals sign and definition.
All figures should be enclosed in an editable (vector) format (.eps, .xls, .svg or similar), or jpeg, tiff or pdf for micrographs and other photograps with resolution of at least 300 dpi. Avoid using GIF, BMP, PICT or WPG, as they tipically have a low number of pixels and limited set of colours. They should be preferably in colour. Arial font should be used both on figure axes and in figure legend. Figure legend should be placed below the figure and it must not be embedded in the image. Key to symbols used in graphs should be placed in the graph, not in the legend. Lables on the axes must contain the following information: symbol for physical quantity/units (no spacing before and after the forward slash) as in the examples: γ(glucose)/(g/L), V(ethanol)/mL, w(moisture)/%, t(incubation)/day, Wavenumber/cm-1, (m(immobilized dye)/m(membrane))/(mg/g), etc.
In figures with multiple panels, all panels must be marked with lower-case letters: a), b), c) etc. and must all be mentioned in the text (e.g. Fig. 1a and Fig. 1b). The size of letters and other symbols on diagrams and figures should be such as to allow reduction to column width without loss in legibility. The values on the x- and y-axes must be clearly and precisely defined, decimal numbers must be written with decimal points, not commas. Standard deviation must be clearly marked where applicable. All figure parts (e.g. panels, panel labels, axis labels, etc.) must be aligned and written in the same font (Arial). Do not put borders around the chart area. Bars in graphs should be in colour, without pattern.
Figures are published in colour free of charge. Colour should be used to correspond to the differences in meaning of the presented data. Use basic colours and do not place too similar colours together. Do not use effects such as shadows, outlining or 3D either on graps or letters. Colours are harder to see and tell apart when objects are small or thin, such as text, thin lines, and small data points, so use contrasting colours and more saturated colours for lines and points.
Precision of mean values and standard deviation
In figures, experimental error and statistical significance should be indicated clearly. In tables, when selecting the number of significant digits, precision must be taken into account. The correct number of significant figures in a mean value is the number of digits that are certain plus only one uncertain digit. The mean value should have the same number of places after the decimal point as the rounded standard deviation. When necessary, statistical significance can be indicated by lower-case letters in superscript, but in that case the mean value and its standard deviation must be written in brackets (superscripted letter must be after the bracket).
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