IEEE TRANSACTIONS, JOURNALS, AND LETTERS

Guidelines for Author

Supplied Electronic
Text and Graphics

Introduction p. 2 Fonts p. 3

Acceptable File Formats p. 2 Preparing Electronic Graphics

for Submission p. 3
Unacceptable File formats p. 2
Naming Convention p. 3
Dots Per Inch p. 2
Multiple-Part Figures p. 3
Sizing of Graphics p. 3
Transmitting Graphics Files p. 3
Size of Author Photographs p. 3
Graphics Checker Tool p. 4
Print Color Graphics Requirements p. 3

Web Color Graphics p. 3

IEEE AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Guidelines for charts, drawings, tables, and photographs will be referred to as

a graphic.)
electronic text files
Acceptable File Formats
The IEEE electronically processes all its Transactions, Journals, All graphics may be submitted electronically in Postscript (PS),
and Letters. To complete the production and final printing of Encapsulated Postscript (EPS), Tagged Image File Format
your paper, the Transactions Department will need to receive (TIFF), Microsoft Word, Microsoft Power Point, Microsoft
your electronic files in the formats described below. Excel, or Portable Document Format (PDF). As part of the
production process, all submitted files are converted to TIFF
General Instructions format. If there is a problem with your initial submission, your
1) Files should be submitted via e-mail, CD, DVD, or on-line Transactions/Journals staff editor will contact you for a revised
manuscript submission as directed by your society/publication. electronic graphic. If the revised graphic is unusable, we will
2) Note the operating system, software, and version number scan your hardcopy and you may submit a new graphic during
used to create your files. the page proof process. Graphics submitted in other formats
3) Make sure your files are self contained, i.e., that there are may be rejected and may need to be scanned.
no pointers to your system setup.
4) Check that your file is complete. Please submit one file Unacceptable File Formats
that contains abstract, index terms, text, references, footnotes, In general, files prepared as GIF, JPEG, WMF, PNG and
biographies, and figure captions. BMP (or in any other file formats not listed), are not
5) Please include all necessary contact information, acceptable and will not be processed. If you have a specific
including the e-mail address, to which you would like your question about formats, please contact the IEEE Graphics Help
PDF proof notification sent. Desk at [email protected].

Software Dots Per Inch

For the most accurate and efficient processing of your manu- DPI is an acronym for Dots Per Inch and describes the
script (especially if it contains extensive mathematics), use density of the dots; it is also referred to as “resolution.” DPI
LaTeX or Microsoft Word. Include macros used with your files. determines how sharply the image is represented. If a printer
Set manuscript column size to 21 picas (3.5” wide). IEEE La- specifies 300 DPI, it means that for every inch of image there
TeX style files and TRANS-JOUR.DOC, an author template are 300 dots (or pixels). In order to achieve the highest quality
and user’s guide for Microsoft Word, are available at: of reproduction, resolutions of 600 dpi (1 bit/sample) at final
http://www.ieee.org/organizations/pubs/transactions/stylesheets.htm printed size for line art (graphs, charts, drawing or tables) and
When using Word, please use the equation editor for equations 300 dpi (8 bits/sample) at final printed size for photographs
or symbols. Manuscripts written in other word processors (such and other grayscale images are required by the IEEE.
as Wordperfect or Framemaker) are acceptable, but math may
need to be rekeyed into a TeX format. Please note that while Using a lower-than-recommended resolution setting may result
PDFs should be included with your submission as an accurate in degradation of the printed image. Images prepared for Web
representation of your paper, a PDF is not acceptable as an use with low resolution will not reproduce correctly and will
editable source file. be rejected. Conversely, saving an image at a resolution higher
than the recommended settings will not improve the image
Guidelines for quality. Image quality is very important to how yours graphics
will reproduce. Although we can accept graphics in many
electronic graphics files formats, we cannot improve the quality of your graphics if the
source files are poor.
Introduction For highest quality:
In order to facilitate the accurate handling of your graphics, • Save line art images (graphs, charts, drawings, or
the IEEE Transactions/Journals Department has developed tables) as black and white bitmap and not grayscale.
the following guidelines. (In this context any line art, graphs, • Save halftones or photographs and graphics that have
combinations of line and tone or shading as grayscale,

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 IEEE AUTHOR GUIDELINES
and not as black and white bitmap. Garde, Bookman, Zapf Chancery, Zapf Dingbats, and New
Century Schoolbook. If you are supplying EPS, PS, or PDF
Sizing of Graphics files make sure you embed the fonts. Some fonts may only be
Most charts, graphs and tables are one column wide (3 1/2 native to your operating system; without the fonts embedded,
inches or 21 picas) or two-column width (7 1/16 inches or 43 parts of the graphic may be distorted or missing.
picas wide). The maximum depth of a graphic is 9 inches or
54 picas. Please allow space for the caption. The exceptions Preparing Electronic Graphics for Submission
are for graphics submitted for publication in The Proceedings Use lower case letters when naming figures, tables, and
of the IEEE and IEEE Transactions on Professional
author photographs. Figures should contain only the image
Communications. We recommend that you avoid sizing figures and not the caption. If your figure has multiple parts, please
less than one column wide, as enlargements may distort your embed callouts to identify parts of figures, i.e., (a), (b), (c),
images and result in poor reproduction. Therefore, it is better if within the figure. Callouts should be in a Times Roman font
the image is slightly larger, as a minor reduction in size will not with a consistent 8-point size. Avoid mixing point sizes in
have an adverse affect the quality of the image. your graphics.

Size of Author Photographs Naming Convention

The final printed size of an author photograph is fixed at Figures (line artwork or photographs) should be named
exactly 1 inch wide by 1 1/4 inches long (6 picas x 7 1/2 starting with the first 5 letters of the author’s last name. The
picas). Please ensure that the author photographs you submit next characters in the filename should be the number that
are proportioned correctly. JPEG files are accepted for author represents the sequential location of this image in your article.
photos only. For example, in author “Anderson’s” paper, the first three
figures would be named ander1.tif, ander2.tif, and ander3.ps.
Print Color Graphics Requirements Please do not use descriptive names.
IEEE accepts color graphics in the following formats: EPS, PS,
TIFF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDF. The resolution of a Tables should contain only the body of the table (not the
RGB color TIFF file should be 400 dpi. caption) and should be named similarly to figures, except that
‘.t’ is inserted in-between the author’s name and the table
When supplying color graphics, please supply a high quality number. For example, author Anderson’s first three tables
hard copy or PDF proof of each image. If we cannot achieve would be named ander.t1.tif, ander.t2.ps, ander.t3.eps.
a satisfactory color match using the electronic version of your
files, we will have your hard copy scanned. Any of the files
types you provide will be converted to RGB color EPS files. Author photographs should be named using the first five
characters of the author’s last name, followed by the type of
Web Color Graphics file TIF, EPS, PS, JPEG, PDF, DOC, PPT, or XLS with the
IEEE accepts color graphics in the following formats: EPS, PS, resolution at 300 dpi, 8 bits/sample. For example, four author
TIFF, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and PDF. The resolution of a photographs for a paper may be named: smith.ps, jones.tif,
RGB color TIFF file should be at least 400 dpi. lee.eps, simps.pdf, and moshf.ps.

Your color graphic will be converted to grayscale if no separate Multiple-Part Figures

grayscale file is provided. If a graphic is to appear in print as Please submit your figures so that they are already electronically
black and white, it should be saved and submitted as a black composed in the way that you would like them published, i.e.,
and white file. If a graphic is to appear in print or on IEEE stacked or side-by-side. Please include the callouts in the figures.
Xplore in color, it should be submitted as RGB color.
Transmitting Graphics Files
Fonts Files should be submitted via CD, DVD, e-mail or Electronic
When preparing your graphics IEEE suggests that you use Manuscript Submission (ask your society repesentative if this
of one of the following Open Type fonts: Times Roman, is available to you). Note the operating system, software, and
Helvetica, Helvetica Narrow, Courier, Symbol, Palatino, Avant version number used to create your disk (e.g., DOS/Windows

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IEEE AUTHOR GUIDELINES
XP/Macintosh/Unix). Write this information on the disk
label with a felt pen or include in a readme.txt file with your
electronic submission. When using Unix, note method of
encoding.

In order to save disk space or to fit a graphic on a disk or in an

e-mail, please use compress, pkzip, stuffit, or gzip.

Other Hints
• Do not submit images as JPEG, unless they are author
photos.
• Do not send images with resolution settings of lower
then 300 dpi.
• Be sure to size you images correctly.
• Use the correct image resolution: 600 dpi (1 bit/
sample) at final printed size for line art (graphs, charts,
drawing or tables) and 300 dpi (8 bits/sample)
at final printed size for photographs and other
grayscale images.
• The image resolution for print and Web color is
400 dpi at final printed size. A high quality hard copy
or PDF proof of each image should be supplied.
• Include all necessary contact information, including
email address, phone number, fax number, and
mailing address.

Graphics Checker Tool

The IEEE Graphics Checker Tool enables you to check
graphic files before they are submitted. The tool will check
graphics files against a set of rules for compliance with IEEE
requirements. These requirements are designed to ensure
sufficient image quality. A report will then be e-mailed,
listing each graphic and whether it met or failed to meet the
requirements. If the file fails, an explanation will be sent as well
as instructions on how to correct the problem.
Link: http://graphicsqc.ieee.org/

For questions or more information contact:

Graphics H-E-L-P Desk [email protected]
A member of the Transactions/Journals graphics staff will
respond and may suggest you e-mail a test file.

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 IEEE AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Examples of BAD Line Art Images

Notice that some of the lines in the figures are dropping away.

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IEEE AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Examples of BAD Line Art Images (continued)

The lines in this graph are

fuzzy and the type looks
unclear.

The lines in this graph are

fuzzy and seem to blur
together making it difficult
to decipher.

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 IEEE AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Examples of GOOD Line Art Images

0.0025 stator misalignment=2mrad

0.0024
control on
Roto misalignment, γr (rad)

0.0023
Max relative misalignment
0.0022

0.0020
control off
0.0019

0.0018

0.0017

0.0016
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

Time (sec.)

Z
s

Sprung Mass, m5

The text in both graphs is

easy to read and the lines are
clear and sharp.
k b

Z
u

Unsprung Mass, m u

Z
k bt r

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IEEE AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Examples of GOOD Line Art Images (continued)

0.0025 stator misalignment=2mrad

0.0024
control on
Roto misalignment, γr (rad)

0.0023
Max relative misalignment
0.0022

0.0020
control off
0.0019

0.0018

0.0017

0.0016
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

Time (sec.)

The text is easy to read and the lines are clear and sharp.

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 IEEE AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Enlarged Author Photographs Showing Examples

of Both BAD and GOOD Quality

BAD Quality Image GOOD Quality Image

Photo is blurry and out of focus Photo has detail and is in focus
Low resolution file (72 dpi) High resolution file (300 dpi)

BAD Quality Image GOOD Quality Image

Photo is blurry and out of focus Photo has detail and is in focus
Low resolution file (72 dpi) High resolution file (300 dpi)