Check the technical suitability of your scientific figure before journal submission or online publication. Figure Checker evaluates raster and vector figures for resolution and reproduction size, file characteristics, layout, label font size, and selected colour-accessibility issues.

For publication checks, you can use general recommendations, publisher-level guidance, or enter your journal's own requirements. The analysis is deterministic and rule-based, does not use AI, and provides practical recommendations when potential problems are detected. It assesses technical presentation only and does not evaluate the scientific validity of the data, analyses, or conclusions.

Check your figure

PNG, JPEG, TIFF, WebP or SVG. Static single-image files only.

Where will the figure be used?

Publisher profiles use broad publisher guidance and may not reflect journal-specific exceptions. Use Custom if your journal gives different requirements.

Journal-specific values Leave a field blank if the journal does not specify it; Figure Checker will use its general recommendation for that property.

Generic presets; always check the exact dimensions required by the target journal.

Use the approximate maximum width at which the figure will appear on the page.

Your figure is not stored. Raster images are processed temporarily on this server and discarded after analysis. SVG files remain in your browser; only derived technical measurements are sent to this server for rule evaluation. Figure files are not sent to an external AI or third-party analysis service.

Figure preview

Accessibility views

Your figure preview will appear here automatically after you choose a file.

Preparing preview…

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Colour-vision views simulate representative severe deficiencies. Individual perception varies.

Analysis result

Figure check

Requirements applied
General Figure Checker recommendations

Generic publication recommendations rather than a journal-specific profile.

Detected artwork type
Automatically assessed after upload.
Change classification

Override only if the automatic classification is clearly inappropriate. Resolution checks update immediately.

Other checks and limitations
Technical details

Figure terminology and FAQ

Brief explanations of the technical terms used by Figure Checker.

What are PPI and DPI, and how are they different?

PPI means pixels per inch and describes the pixel density of a raster image at a given reproduction size. DPI means dots per inch and technically refers to the resolution of a printer or other output device. Journal guidelines often use “dpi” when referring to digital image resolution; Figure Checker reports this quantity as ppi.

What is a raster image?

A raster image is made from a fixed grid of pixels. PNG, JPEG, TIFF, and WebP are common raster formats. Enlarging a raster image beyond the size supported by its pixel dimensions can make text, lines, or image details appear soft or pixelated.

What is a vector graphic?

A vector graphic stores shapes, lines, and text mathematically rather than as a fixed pixel grid. Vector elements can therefore usually be resized without loss of sharpness. SVG is the vector format currently accepted by Figure Checker. A vector file can still contain embedded raster images, and those embedded images retain a finite pixel resolution.

What is effective resolution?

Effective resolution is the pixel density of a raster image after it is scaled to its intended reproduction size. The same image may have adequate resolution at single-column width but insufficient resolution when enlarged to span two columns.

What are line art, combination artwork, and continuous-tone images?

Line art consists mainly of lines, text, symbols, and flat graphical elements, as in many plots and diagrams. Combination artwork mixes such elements with continuous-tone or raster content. Continuous-tone images include photographs and many microscopy or other scientific imaging figures. Publishers often specify different resolution requirements for these categories.

What do the colour-accessibility previews show?

The grayscale, protanopia, deuteranopia, and tritanopia views provide approximate previews of how colour-dependent distinctions may appear under different viewing conditions. They are screening aids rather than exact simulations of an individual reader's perception.

Are publisher profiles the same as journal-specific requirements?

No. Publisher profiles summarize broad guidance issued by a publisher or journal family. Individual journals may specify different requirements. If your target journal provides its own figure instructions, use the Custom journal requirements option and follow the journal's current author guidelines.

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