Although this subject has been aired before, I though this letter from
a journal copy editor to me might put the issues practically. I sent a
paired -graph box - with three shades of grey using scheme(s2mono).
Not one should worry, as I will fix it with the editor, but the letter
is interesting.
"Dr. Wolfe,
With respect, the artwork sent for this article does not meet minimum
standards for print reproduction <snip> ... you will note the fine
lines and details of the text and art are blurred and turning 'grey'
or disappearing. And complicating the problem, there's a frame of grey
shading all around the 2 graphs (an artefact from the original slide)
that will show up in print as a distracting mess of shadow.
As a general guideline, artwork intended for publication should be
prepared in black and white only, with no grey-colored shading or
lines, because material in grey cannot be printed clearly with good
contrast. Where a different 'color' is needed to differentiate data
or columns, cross-hatching effects in black and white are useful.
As well, for best quality reproduction, it is best if charts and
graphs are sent to us in the original program in which they were
created (such as MicroSoft Word or Excel), not as "image scans" in
MicroSoft Document format. When an image is scanned, it inevitably
loses some sharpness of detail. But with artwork in the original
program we are sometimes able to make adjustments for clarity of
print.
The department of publications at one of the authors' institutions
may be able to assist in preparation of good quality artwork that
communicates your data effectively.
Is it possible that better quality artwork could be prepared somehow?"
--
Fred Wolfe
National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases
Wichita, Kansas
NDB Office +1 316 263 2125 Ext 0
Research Office +1 316 686 9195
[email protected]
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