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Graphical Abstracts

Guidelines for Creating Graphical Abstracts for Accepted Manuscripts

Authors of manuscripts that are about to be accepted or have just been accepted at Medical Decision Making and MDM Policy & Practice are encouraged (but not required) to submit a graphical abstract for their paper before the manuscript is sent to production.

Accepted graphical abstracts will then be published on each article’s online abstract page, where they are free to view without subscription along with the scientific abstract and key highlights. The graphical abstracts will also be used in social media postings promoting the article. The graphical abstract is not, however, part of the published PDF or print article.

More than anything else, graphical abstracts should present the single most important takeaway message from the paper. Focus on presenting one message clearly rather than summarizing all findings. Three panel layouts that roughly follow a Problem-Finding-Implications structure are often effective.

Requirements:

  • The aspect ratio for the graphic should be 16:9
  • The recommended size ratio is 600px x 338px.
  • The figure file type should be JPG/JPEG.
  • Do not use images subject to copyright clearance for graphical abstracts. Images should either be features of original artwork from the paper or be free for use.
  • The graphic filename should be labelled as “graphical abstract” or similar, so that it is clear the file is not an article figure file (e.g., it should not be labelled “Fig1”, “Fig2” etc.)
  • A caption should be provided with the graphic that reads: “This is a graphical representation of the abstract and article highlights.”

The graphical abstract should either be submitted in the manuscript submission system with revised manuscripts or sent directly to the MDM Journals Editorial Office (mdm-journal@umich.edu) shortly after article acceptance. NOTE: The graphical abstract must be sent to the publisher (SAGE Publications) at the same time as the manuscript in order for it to be included with the published article.

Recommended format / style:

  • Highlight one or more ideas from the Key Highlights section of the paper.
  • Include a condensed citation of the paper as well as the DOI at the bottom of the graphical abstract.
  • Use background colors that are complementary to the journal branding. For example, Medical Decision Making uses a blue color scheme (e.g., #0090CC), while MDM Policy & Practice uses a green color scheme (e.g., #008076).
  • Use a sans serif font (e.g., Helvetica, Arial, or similar)

Templates

We encourage use of the following prepared templates in order to build brand identity of our journals:

Sample graphical abstracts: