As of August 18, 2004, The Journal of Neuroscience will switch from the CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) color standard to a new color standard, RGB (red, green, blue). This change applies to all submitted manuscripts and papers published in the Journal. The Journal and the Society Council have recognized the importance of color in the presentation of neuroscience research. In May 2002, the Journal instituted a policy of free color illustrations for SFN members, notably a membership benefit not available in most commercial journals that publish neuroscience. The change to RGB color is the next step to enhance color in your papers.
Journals began as print media, and thus it has been traditional to use a color reproduction method in which four ink colors were mixed and applied to paper, the CMYK method. Unfortunately not all colors are well rendered by this method, particularly fluorescent colors that are now so widely used in biology. Thus many authors were disappointed when their beautiful triple-labeled immunofluorescent images, prepared with RGB color on their monitor, appeared somewhat dull and muted in the Journal. The RGB standard, the additive color used by computer displays, is capable of more colors and, more importantly, more vivid colors. Thus following the lead of another society journal, the Journal of Cell Biology, which introduced RGB color earlier this year (Rossner and O'Donnell, 2004), we now announce the switch to RGB. Thus the figures you see in the on-line version of the Journal should exactly match the quality of the submitted RGB image. Because printing technology is based on CMYK color, the RGB figures will be converted to such for use in the print version. Our print test suggests that the quality of the reproduction in the print version will not be adversely affected by this change. From now on color figures in the on-line Journal will be What You See Is What You Get.
Although we see this change as a major benefit to authors and readers, it will require some effort on the part of authors to understand the new requirements. We have prepared instructions to guide you through the process, and we stand ready to provide guidance and support as you navigate this change with us. For those of you about to submit papers, please refer to the following information:
http://www.jneurosci.org/misc/ifa_rgbworkflow.shtml
We appreciate your continued support of The Journal of Neuroscience.
