cell-figures

Display Items (cell-figures)

When to trigger

• Figures will not render legibly at Cell Press print widths.
• Bar charts hide the underlying data (no points, no n, no defined error bars).
• Panels are raw software screenshots; blots are cropped without disclosure.
• Color is the sole encoding, or rainbow/jet maps are used for continuous data.

Sizing for Cell Press columns

Design figures to render at final print width without rescaling text:

• 1 column ≈ 85 mm wide
• 1.5 column ≈ 114 mm wide
• 2 columns (full width) ≈ 174 mm wide
• Minimum font in the final figure: ~6–7 pt (sans-serif, e.g., Helvetica/Arial), legible after reduction.
• RGB color mode (Cell is online-first); line weights heavy enough to survive reduction.

Confirm exact widths, resolution, and file formats against the current Cell Press figure/digital-image guidelines.

Show the data, not just the summary

• Replace bar-of-means with dot plots / box+points / violins+points, especially for small n.
• State n and what n is in every legend: cells? animals? independent biological replicates? technical replicates?
• Error bars must be defined (SD vs SEM vs 95% CI) — never undefined — and the replicate type stated.
• For images (blots, micrographs): show scale bars; present full, uncropped key blots in the supplement.

Color and accessibility

• Use a colorblind-safe palette; avoid red/green as the only contrast.
• Do not encode meaning by color alone — add shape/pattern/labels.
• No rainbow/jet colormaps for continuous data — use perceptually uniform maps (viridis, etc.).
• Ensure adequate contrast; check the figure in grayscale.

Multi-panel discipline

• Group panels by the claim they support; one message per figure.
• Consistent axis scales across comparable panels.
• Label panels A, B, C…; the legend title states the figure's message.
• Move overflow panels to Supplemental Information rather than shrinking fonts.

Figure legend structure (stand-alone)

Each legend: a short title sentence (the claim of the figure), then per-panel descriptions (A, B, C…), then statistics (test used, exact n, replicate type, error-bar definition, P values or exact values). The figure + legend should be interpretable without the main text. Cross-reference related STAR Methods where relevant.

Image integrity (non-negotiable)

• No inappropriate manipulation: no selective deletion, splicing, or beautification of gels/blots/images; disclose any grouping with a clear dividing line.
• Quantitative comparisons must come from the same experiment/exposure.
• Keep unprocessed source images and source data — Cell may request them.
• Follow the Cell Press digital image guidelines for adjustments (apply linearly to the whole image; no obscuring/eliminating features).

Output format

【Item count】 N (typical Cell Article ≤ ~7–8 main) → ok / over → move to Supplemental
【Sizing】 designed at 85 / 114 / 174 mm? fonts ≥6–7 pt? RGB? yes/no
【Data shown】 points + n + replicate type + defined error bars? yes/no
【Colorblind-safe】 yes/no (palette used)
【Integrity】 scale bars / uncropped blots in supplement / source data kept? yes/no
【Legends】 title + per-panel + stats, stand-alone? yes/no
【Fixes】 [...]
【Next】 cell-star-methods

Anti-patterns

• Do not paste raw Prism/ImageJ/instrument screenshots as figures.
• Do not use bars to hide a tiny, variable n — show the points.
• Do not leave error bars undefined or omit what n represents.
• Do not crop or splice blots without a visible boundary and disclosure.
• Do not rely on red-vs-green as the sole encoding.

Confirm specs against the current Cell Press figure and digital-image guidelines.