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January 2009

Color Figures in the Online Journal

APS publishes figures online in color whenever the author supplies them as color PostScript files, without the costs associated with print publication of color figures. "Color online only" occurs without special charges to authors and is available in all of the APS journals (Physical Review, Physical Review Letters, and Reviews of Modern Physics).

In order to accomplish this service, any usable color figures included in an electronic manuscript submission will appear in the online journal in color. Authors will have the opportunity to review the color figures in the pdf proof of their article.

The additional costs for printing illustrations in color must be borne in full by the respective authors and their institutions, and must be paid before an accepted article is sent for production. For further information about color in print, see Color Figures in the Print Journal.

Figures intended for color in the online journal should be submitted as separate electronic files (PostScript or Encapsulated PostScript preferred). Photographic images should be submitted as high resolution JPEG, or PNG files. Only one file and one caption per figure should be submitted and must be suitable for both online and print publication. The black and white figure in print will be derived from the color PostScript file; the complications to the workflow if different versions of the figure were submitted by the author would likely prevent us from offering "color online only" as a free service.

If a figure is to appear in color online only, the figure caption should begin with "(Color online)'' as an alert to readers of the print journal. Authors also have the responsibility to be sure that the figures are sufficiently clear in both the online color and print black and white versions, and that the captions and text references to the figures are appropriate for both versions.