The production graphics team at JAMA Network reimagines author art following AMA style guidelines. Our department is a fantastic resource to assist editors and authors with submission of art and reassure them that, with only a bit of tweaking, images can be not only press ready, but also meet journal style guidelines.

Because there are limited ways to present medical data graphically, we tend to see the same issues with author-provided art occur over and over again. Here is a short list of common submission errors to watch out for as editors before relaying an author’s images to your publication’s graphics department.

• Plotting odds ratios as arithmetic instead of logarithmic.

Odds ratios need to be graphed on log scales, because plotting odds ratios on a linear scale is misleading.

• Log scales that use half numbers.

Using half numbers on a log scale does not meet AMA style guidelines.

• Failure to include tick marks with numbers on the x and/or y axis.

Our department reproduces author-submitted art to conform to style guidelines, and when art is submitted without ticks, it is sometimes difficult to align it with our templates.

• Not providing vector art for Kaplan-Meier plots, forest plots, dot pots, or other plotted data.

• Low-resolution images provided for photographic imagery.

• Providing photographic imagery with text, arrows, A/B designators, or other types of callouts in the image area of the art.

• Providing dot plots, scatter plots, and other types of images with inappropriate symbols.

• Plotting mean values as bar graphs.

Bar charts are not an acceptable format for mean values and may only be used for frequency data (counts) only.

Our team’s goal is to work with editorial staff to produce images that support an article, are visually appealing, and produce the best possible results at press. Hopefully this information can aid authors and editors in submitting art to obtain these goals!–Carolyn Hall