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Elsevier Science Author Artwork
Help us to reproduce your artwork to the highest possible standards – in both paper and
digital formats
Submitting your illustrations, pictures, tables and other artwork (such as Multimedia- and
Supplementary files) in an electronic format helps us to produce your work to the best possible
standards, ensuring accuracy, clarity and a high level of detail. This site shows how to prepare
your artwork for electronic submission and includes: common problems, suggestions on how to
ensure the best results, and guidelines for popular applications. See the links under Application
Guidelines for details about using specific artwork software for Windows and Macintosh platforms.
Checklist
Before you send us your artwork, make sure you can answer 'yes' to the following:
°
My files are in the correct format - TIFF, EPS or PDF. MS Office files (Word, Powerpoint, Excel) are
also accepted provided they meet certain conditions.
°
My colour images are provided in the RGB colourspace. Note that for a number of Elsevier Health
Science journals there is a preference to receive colour images in CMYK.
°
The physical dimensions of the artwork match the dimensions of the journal I am submitting to.
°
The lettering used in the artwork does not vary too much in size.
° I have used the recommended naming conventions.
If you are delivering your artwork on disk:
°
All illustrations are provided as separate files and as hardcopy on separate sheets.
° Artwork is numbered according to its sequence in the text.
°
Figures, schemes and plates have captions. I have provided these captions on a separate sheet
with the manuscript and have referred to them in the text.
°
I have specified the preferred magnification factor of my artwork on the sheet with filenames that
accompany the disk.
°
My artwork is on a 3.25 disk, or CD-ROM, ZIP disk or JAZ disk.
File Formats
Elsevier recommend that only TIFF, EPS or PDF formats are used for electonic artwork.
MS Office files (Word, Powerpoint, Excel) are also accepted provided they meet the
conditions outlined below.
EPS
Note: Virtually all common artwork creation software is capable of saving files as EPS, this 'option'
can normally be found under 'the 'Save As...' or 'Export...' commands in the 'File' menu.
For vector graphics EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) files are the preferred format as long as they
are provided in accordance with some common rules:
• when they contain bitmap images, the bitmaps are of a good resolution
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• when colour is involved, it should be encoded as RGB. Note that for a number of Elsevier
Health Science journals there is a preference to receive colour images in CMYK, click here
to view the list.
• they should always include an 8-bit preview/header at a resolution of 72dpi
• always inclu
Helvetica, Times, Symbol
• limit vertical space between parts of an illustration to what is necessary for visual clarity
• no data should be present outside the actual illustration area
• line weights should range from 0.35 pt to 1.5 pt
• when you are using layers make one layer before saving your image (Flatten Artwork)
TIFF
Note: Virtually all common artwork creation software is capable of saving files as TIFF, this 'option'
can normally be found under 'the 'Save As...' or 'Export...' commands in the 'File' menu.
TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is the recommended file format for bitmap, greyscale and colour
images. TIFF supports several good compression schemes ensuring filesizes are kept to a
minimum to aid easy file transfer.
When supplying TIFF files plea
se e
nsure that files are supplied at the correct resolution:
• line artwork = minimum of 1000dpi
• halftone artwork = minimum of 300dpi
• combination artwork (line/tone) = minimum of 500dpi
Acrobat PDF format
Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) is an increasingly common file format used for
distribution of files intended primarily for printing, this format can also be used for supply of
artwork to Elsevier.
In order to create PDF files at a suitable quality for print, authors should download and use
the relvant version of the Adobe Acrobat Distiller job options file supplied by following the
instructions given below:
• Macintosh users, 'ctrl-click' on the relevant link and save the file to: Macintosh
HD\Applications\Adobe Acrobat *.*\Distiller\Settings\ - where *.* indicates version
number in use
• PC users, 'right-click' on the relevant link and save the file to: C:\Program
Files\Adobe\Acrobat *.*\Distillr\Settings\ - where *.* indicates version number in use
Job Options: version 4 settings
, version 5 settings
.
In addition, the following criteria should also be met:
• Make sure that any artwork within the source document is at the appropriate,
minimum, resolution: 300 dpi for halftones, 500 dpi for combinations (line art and
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halftone together) and 1000 dpi for line art. These resolutions will be retained in the
PDF creation process if the above job options are used.
•
If possible, ensure that you use only the following fonts: Arial, Courier, Helvetica,
Symbol, Times.
MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint figures)
Microsoft® Office is essentially a family of applications that can be used to produce a
variety of document types including written documents, spreadsheets, presentations and
databases. Although we prefer artwork files in TIFF, EPS or PDF format, we are also
aware that a number of authors already (for convenience) submit their artwork in MS
Office formats and therefore we will continue to support these submission types now and
in the future.
When preparing your MS Office files you must ensure the following points are adhered to:
• Make sure that any artwork placed into MS Office applications is at the appropriate,
minimum, resolution: 300 dpi for halftones, 500 dpi for combinations (line art and
halftone together) and 1000 dpi for line art.
• Do not reduce or enlarge any images after placement in an MS Office application as
this can lead to loss of image quality.
• If possible, ensure that you use only truetype fonts. These should preferably be in
one, or a combination, of the following fonts: Arial, Courier, Helvetica, Symbol,
Times.
For more information on MS Office visit the Office homepage at http://www.microsoft.com/office
Note that for a number of Elsevier Health Science journals there is a preference to receive colour
images in CMYK, click here
to view the list.
File naming
To enable Elsevier Science to easily identify author source files in terms of figure number and
format please ensure this information is present in the filename. Some examples are given below:
• fig1.tif - figure 1 in TIFF format
• scheme10.eps - scheme10 in EPS format
Always ensure that the file extension is present to ensure quick and easy format identification.
Font information
To ensure that the final, published version (in print and online) matches your electronic file as
closely as possible make sure that you only use the following fonts in the creation of your artwork:
• Arial
• Courier
• Helvetica
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• Symbol
• Times
When your artwork contains non-Elsevier Science standard fonts, Elsevier Science will substitute
these fonts to an Elsevier Science standard font, which may lead to problems such as missing
symbols and overlapping type.
Acceptable media
Elsevier Science presently accept electronic data from authors on the following media types:
• 3
1/2"
floppy disk
• CD
• Zip disk
• Jaz disk
In addition, for an increasing number of journals, electronic submission of author files may be
possible. Please visit the relevant journal homepages in the Author Gateway
to check availability.
Sizing of artwork
The aim of Elsevier Science is to have a uniform look for all artwork contained in one article. It is
important to be aware of the journal style as some of our publications have special instructions
beyond the common guidelines given here.
• As a general rule the lettering on the artwork should have a finished, printed size of 7 pt for
normal text and not smaller than 6 pt for subscript and superscript characters. Smaller
lettering will yield hardly legible text. This is a rule-of-thumb rather than a strict rule. There
are instances where other factors in the artwork. For example, tints and shadings dictate a
finished size of perhaps 10 pt.
• When deciding on the size of a line art graphic, in addition to the lettering there are several
other factors to assess. These all have a bearing on the reproducibility/readability of the
final artwork. Tints and shadings have to be printable at finished size. All relevant detail in
the illustration, the graph symbols (squares, triangles, circles, etc.) and a key to the
diagram (to explain the explanation of the graph symbols used) must be discernible.
• Sizing halftones (photographs, micrographs, etc.) can normally give more problems than
line art. It is at times difficult to know what an author is trying to emphasise on a
photograph, so you can help us by identifying the important parts of the image for us,
perhaps by highlighting areas on a photocopy. The best advice that we give to our graphics
suppliers therefore is to not over-reduce halftones. They should pay attention to
magnification factors or scale bars on the artwork and compare them with the details inside.
If the set of artwork contains more than one halftone, again make sure that there is
consistency in size between similar diagrams.
•
Halftone/line art combinations are difficult to size, as factors for one may be detrimental for
the other part. In these cases the author can help out by suggesting an appropriate final
size for the combination.
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RGB/Greyscale
Images supplied in colour will sometimes only appear black and white in print due to the additional
costs involved. For this reason it is necessary to highlight what can go wrong in such a conversion.
If possible authors should check the results of such a conversion prior to supply.
• Colours that display a clear difference may appear very similar to each other when
converted to grey (see example below). This is true for both line and halftone images.
• Certain colours, for example light yellow lines, may not reproduce well in print.
RGB/CMYK
In our constant drive and focus on leading electronic products, Elsevier now require any colour
artwork to be supplied in the RGB (Red, Green, Blue) colourspace.
Note that for a number of Elsevier Health Science journals there is a preference to receive colour
images in CMYK, click here
to view the list.
By supplying RGB files we can ensure that we publish your artwork online at the highest quality
possible in services such as sciencedirect
.
RGB files will look good when viewed on a monitor, as they contain the largest possible range or
'gamut' of colours.
As normal, the RGB files will be converted to the CMYK (Cyan, Mageneta, Yellow, blacK)
colourspace for the print process.
The CMYK colourspace has a far smaller 'gamut' than RGB and hence it is not possible to
accurately produce all RGB colours in print (CMYK). See the example below:
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RGB
CMYK
Monitor Calibration
The colours on your monitor have to correspond with the colours of the final result. The image on
the screen after any colour manipulation you have made, must give you a good idea of the final
result without the necessity to make a colour proof.
Your monitor is an RGB-device, which means that the colours on your monitor will be built up from
red, green and blue. If you insist on a true exposure of the colours on your monitor, you have to
establish a correct grey- and colour balance. To get this balance you need to calibrate your
monitor.
Calibration can be done by using the Adobe Gamma or with any other calibration program. It is
important however, to always use the same calibration program. The use of two different
calibration programs can lead to incorrect settings.
An excellent guide to monitor calibration using the Adobe Gamma control panel can be found at
http://www.adobe.com/support/techguides/color/gamma/gamma.html
.
Scanning – Colour artwork
Colour artwork should be scanned according to the following requirements regardless of the
software and hardware used in the scanning process:
• Images should be scanned in RGB mode (note exceptions to the rule at
http://authors.elsevier.com/ArtworkInstructions.html?dc=AI51
)
• Images should be scanned at a minimum resolution of 300dpi
• Images should be tightly cropped
• If applicable please relabel your scanned artwork with a font supported by Elsevier Science
and ensure it is an appropriate font size
• Save your image in TIFF format with LZW compression applied
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Cropping Images
Find below a visual example of how colour artwork should be cropped (the red area around the
actual image should be removed):
Scanning – Combination artwork
Combination (line and tone) artwork should be scanned according to the following requirements
regardless of the software and hardware used in the scanning process. Good quality files are only
achieved by separate capture of the two images types prior to combination in an image
manipulation program such as Adobe Photoshop®.
• The tonal area(s) of the image should be scanned in RGB mode for colour, or Greyscale for
black and white at a minimum resolution of 500dpi
• Images should be tightly cropped
• If applicable please relabel your scanned artwork with a font supported by Elsevier Science
and ensure it is an appropriate font size
•
Save your image in TIFF format with LZW compression applied
Note: the author is responsible for scanning quality.
Cropping Images
Find below some visual examples of how colour artwork should be cropped (the red area around
the actual image should be removed):
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Scanning – Greyscale artwork
Greyscale artwork should be scanned according to the following requirements regardless of the
software and hardware used in the scanning process:
• Images should be scanned in Greyscale mode
• Images should be scanned at a minimum resolution of 300dpi
• Images should be tightly cropped
• If applicable please relabel your scanned artwork with a font supported by Elsevier Science
and ensure it is an appropriate font size
• Save your image in TIFF format with LZW compression applied
Note: the author is responsible for scanning quality.
Cropping Images
Find below some visual examples of how colour artwork should be cropped (the red area around
the actual image should be removed):
Scanning – Line art
Line art should be scanned according to the following requirements regardless of the software and
hardware used in the scanning process:
• Images should be scanned in Bitmap (black and white) mode
• Images should be scanned at a minimum resolution of 1000dpi (or 1200dpi if the image
contains very fine lineweights)
• Images should be tightly cropped
•
If applicable please relabel your scanned artwork with a font supported by Elsevier and
ensure it is an appropriate font size
•
Save your image in TIFF format with LZW compression applied
Note: the author is responsible for scanning quality.
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Cropping Images
Find below a visual example of how artwork should be cropped (the red area around the actual
image should be removed):
Scanning – Colour Line art
Colour line art should be scanned according to the following requirements regardless of the
software and hardware used in the scanning process:
• Images should be scanned in RGB mode
• Images should be scanned at a minimum resolution of 500dpi
• Images should be tightly cropped
•
If applicable please relabel your scanned artwork with a font supported by Elsevier and
ensure it is an appropriate font size
•
Save your image in TIFF format with LZW compression applied
Note: the author is responsible for scanning quality.
*Note that for a number of Elsevier Health Science journals there is a preference to receive colour
images in CMYK, click here
to view the list.
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Cropping Images
Find below a visual example of how artwork should be cropped (the red area around the actual
image should be removed):
Help/Frequently asked questions
If you cannot find the answer to your question below, please send an e-mail to
sqsartwork@elsevier.com
.
File formats
• Why do you not accept JPEG files?
There are a few reasons but mainly because the JPEG file format is 'lossy', that is to say
that the figure quality will be reduced each time the file is opened/manipulated. Also JPEG
filesize can be prohibitive.
• Why can't I supply in native format (Canvas, ChemDraw etc.)?
We prefer your artwork in TIFF or EPS format because these common interchange formats
are readable by a wide number of applications. Virtually all image creation/manipulation
software can 'Save As...' or 'Export...' to these common formats.
• Can I supply an EPS file created in CorelDraw?
We only currently accept TIFF files written by CorelDraw which are exported at the
appropriate resolution: 300 dpi for halftones, 500 dpi for combinations (line art and halftone
together) and 1000 dpi for line art. This is due to know problems with fills and patterns.
• Why do you accept figures in MS Office format?
We recognise that a large percentage of currently supplied artwork files are in this format,
also it is not possible to reliably save from these applications to TIFF/EPS. We have
developed conversion techniques that will ensure the source files can be used and will be
of sufficient quality if input resolutions of placed images are sufficient.
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