Improved Color Figures Coming Soon to ASPB Journals

It wasn’t that long ago that authors submitted figures as glossy photographs with their manuscript to the ASPB journals Plant Physiology and The Plant Cell. How times have changed!

Advances in technology have given way to all-digital workflows that allow us to process manuscripts faster while achieving a higher quality final product. As authors become increasingly comfortable with online submission systems for uploading manuscripts, they have also become more adept at preparing high-quality images for publication. Beginning January 1, ASPB will take yet another step forward and request that all color art figures be submitted in RGB format.

When creating digital art figures, the two primary ways color can be represented are in the Red Green Blue (RGB) space or Cyan Magenta Yellow (CMYK) space. Using the RGB color space, all colors are produced using combinations of red, green, and blue light in an additive model (the presence of all colors achieves white). An example of an RGB device is your computer monitor. In addition, the RGB color space has the advantage of being able to produce more vivid colors in an image versus the same image in the CMYK color space.

The CMYK color space uses combinations of cyan, magenta, yellow, and black in a subtractive model (the presence of all colors achieves black). Images printed in journals are reproduced in the CMYK color space.

Historically, our Instructions for Authors (www.plantcell.org/misc/ifora.shtml and www.plantphysiol.org/misc/ifora.shtml) have requested that all figures be submitted in the CMYK color space, in anticipation of their use in the printed journal. However, beginning January 1, all figures submitted for publication in The Plant Cell and Plant Physiology will have to be submitted as RGB files. There are two main reasons why we are making this switch:

1. The online journal is now considered our journal of record. We must tailor our workflow to ensure that this version of the journal is the very best representation of the science that it can be.
2. Technology has evolved to the point where we can take RGB-submitted files and automatically and accurately convert them for the CMYK-based printed journal workflow while achieving color reproduction that is as good as or better than what we were producing before.

In short, CMYK was good for print, but not as good for online. Now, we can improve the color quality for both print and online by using RGB files from the start.

We are excited about this opportunity to improve the presentation of our journals. Instructions for Authors have been updated to reflect the changes to our figure requirements. Please direct any questions to John Long, the managing editor (jlong@aspb.org).