Transmitting graphics files to AIP production

Instruction topics:

The American Institute of Physics accepts electronic graphics files for production of author proofs and subsequent publication of articles. Although you may be required to send hard copies of your figures to the editorial office of the journal in which you are publishing, we strongly encourage you to send electronic graphics files to AIP to receive optimal quality. Files should be sent to AIP as soon as you receive notification of acceptance from the editorial office. Sending the files as soon as you know the AIP code number (e.g., 001704jap) will ensure that AIP will use your electronic graphics.

If your electronic files are received after we have already processed the hardcopy illustrations, the electronic files will not be used.

AIP can accept PostScript (PS), Encapsulated PostScript (EPS, using either Arial or Times Roman fonts), or TIFF (lzw compressed) files. We cannot accept application files, i.e., Corel Draw, Microsoft Word, etc.

Figure preparation

It is important that the following instructions be followed precisely for the graphics files to be utilized in the initial journal production process.

  1. Size your illustrations according to your journal's specifications for column widths. Submit each illustration at the final size in which you would like it to appear in the journal. Each illustration should be prepared for 100% reproduction.
  2. Avoid submitting illustrations containing small axes with oversized labels.
  3. Ensure that line weights will be 0.5 points or greater in the final published size. Line weights below 0.5 points will reproduce poorly.
  4. The graphic should be sent with the correct orientation.
  5. Set the graphic for 600 dpi resolution for line art, 264 dpi for halftones, and 600 dpi for combinations (line art + halftone).
  6. Save line art as black/white bitmap; not grayscale.
  7. Save halftones and combinations as grayscale, not black/white bitmap.
  8. Submit color files at 300dpi TIFF, PS, or EPS format. If selecting a file mode, use CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) or RGB (Red, Green, Blue).
  9. Set the bounding box to image to avoid excess white space around the image.
  10. Submit ALL illustrations for each article, including line art.
  11. Make sure there is only ONE figure per file. Each figure file should contain all parts of the figure. For example, if Figure 1 contains three parts (a, b, c), then all of the labeled parts should be combined in a single file for Figure 1. 8 pt. labels are preferable.
  12. Check files for extraneous information. Edit out any figure captions or e-mail headers. The only data in the file should be the figure itself.

File naming conventions:

Use the 9-character alphanumeric AIP code number (included in the letter of acceptance you receive from the editorial office), and name the files as follows:

[9-character AIP code No.][figure No.].[file format]

Example: 001704jap1.ps

For color figures to be printed in color, a .col extension should be used in conjunction with the 9-character alphanumeric AIP code number. The files should be named as follows:

[9-character AIP code No.][figure No.].[col]

Example: 001704jap1.col

Electronic graphics pre-FTP checklist:

  • Article has been accepted for publication by the editorial office. Do not send electronic graphics prior to acceptance.
  • Corresponding hardcopy of the illustration has been submitted.
  • Files are in acceptable formats, PS, EPS or TIFF.
  • Files are named according to AIP file naming conventions.

FTP instructions:

ALL figure files for the article should be FTP'ed. Multiple graphics can be zipped or tarred into one file, however, each individual graphic file must be named following the conventions explained above. Do not use uuencode or BINHEX compression utilities.

  1. FTP to ftp://ftp.aip.org
  2. Login as anonymous
  3. Password: Your full E-mail address
  4. Change Directory to /elecsubs
  5. Transfer TIFF files as BINARY

The "elecsubs" directory is a secure directory, meaning that you cannot overwrite files, nor can you view a listing of all files in the directory. You will need to type in the exact file name to view a listing of files that you have FTP'd to the directory. If you must re-FTP your files, you will not be able to overwrite files that are already in the directory. Therefore, add an extra ".2" extension to the end of the file name.

Example: 001704jap1.ps.2 (add the .2 extension)

User support

Questions regarding AIP electronic submission procedures should be sent to the appropriate journal, see http://www.aip.org/pubservs/journassis.html.