Matplotlib Publication Figure Template

What Makes a Publication-Quality Figure

Journal requirements typically demand:

• 300 DPI minimum (often 600 for line art)
• Figure width: 86 mm (single column) or 176 mm (double column) — exact values depend on journal
• Font size: 8–10pt for axis labels, consistent with body text
• No chart junk: white background, no box spines, minimal grid lines
• Colour-blind friendly palettes (avoid red/green alone)

This template sets all of these automatically. A single import figure_styles at the top of a notebook applies the preset.

Example Usage

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np
from figure_styles import apply_journal_style, save_fig, single_col_width

apply_journal_style()

fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(single_col_width, single_col_width * 0.75))
ax.plot(x, y, color='#2563eb', lw=1.5, label='Treatment')
ax.set_xlabel('Time (days)')
ax.set_ylabel('Response (AU)')
ax.legend(frameon=False)

save_fig(fig, 'my_figure', formats=['pdf', 'svg'])

Output: my_figure.pdf and my_figure.svg at the correct DPI, ready for submission.

Overview

A matplotlib style file plus example scripts that produce journal-compliant figures by default: correct single-column sizing (89 mm), colorblind-safe Okabe-Ito series, embedded-font vector export, and the quiet grid-and-spine styling reviewers never comment on — which is the point.

Why use it

Figure styling code copied between scripts drifts, and drift is how a paper ends up with three different font sizes across its figures. A style file makes the correct look the default: plt.style.use(...) at the top of every script, zero styling code below it, identical output forever.

How to use it

1. Download and place the .mplstyle file in your project (or matplotlib’s config dir).
2. Add plt.style.use("augmented-scholar.mplstyle") before any plotting call.
3. Use the included example scripts as starting points — line, bar, and multi-panel layouts sized for single and double columns.
4. Export with the included save helper: vector PDF for submission, 300-dpi PNG for slides.