Export & Publish

Get your figure ready for journal submission. SVG for editing, PNG for display, PDF for print. Plus optional digital copyright certificate for pre-print protection.

Export formats

Format	Best for	Editable?	Resolution
SVG	Final editable master; Illustrator/Inkscape handoff	Yes (vector)	Lossless
PNG	Web display, presentation slides, quick preview	No (raster)	300 DPI default; up to 600 DPI on VIP
PDF	Print submission, journal production	Yes (vector + raster fallback)	Lossless

How to export

Click Export in the top toolbar (or press Ctrl/Cmd + E).
Pick format: SVG, PNG, or PDF.
For PNG, choose DPI (150 for web, 300 for print, 600 for journal-final on VIP).
Choose scope: full canvas, or current selection only.
Click Download.

Journal DPI requirements (cheat sheet)

Most journals require 300 DPI minimum for color/gray photos and 600–1200 DPI for line art. Always check your target journal's guide for authors — these values are typical but not universal.

Journal	Color photo	Line art	Preferred format
Nature	300 DPI	600 DPI	EPS / AI / PDF
Science	300 DPI	600 DPI	EPS / PDF
Cell	300 DPI	500–1200 DPI	EPS / PDF
PNAS	300 DPI	600 DPI	EPS / PDF / TIFF
eLife	300 DPI	300–600 DPI	SVG / PDF / AI
PLoS ONE	300 DPI	300–600 DPI	TIFF / EPS / PDF

For TIFF submission: SCIDraw does not export TIFF directly. Export as PNG at the journal-required DPI, then convert to TIFF using ImageMagick (convert input.png -compress LZW output.tiff) or Photoshop. Most journals also accept PDF or EPS as alternatives.

Color profile

SCIDraw exports in sRGB by default — the standard for screen display and most online-first journals. If your target journal requires CMYK (rare for figures, common for cover art), open the SVG in Illustrator or Inkscape and convert before submission.

Font embedding

SVG exports from SCIDraw use system-default sans-serif fonts (Helvetica / Arial fallback chain). For journal submission:

SVG: fonts render using the viewer's system. Most journals accept this.
PDF: fonts are subset-embedded automatically — works everywhere.
Arial / Helvetica requirement: if your journal requires Arial specifically, open the SVG in Illustrator, select all text, set font to Arial, then export.

Digital copyright certificate

VIP users can attach a verifiable digital certificate to any exported figure. The certificate:

Records authorship (your registered email + timestamp + figure hash)
Is verifiable at /cert/<cert-id> by editors and reviewers
Does not constitute legal copyright registration (for that, use the US Copyright Office or your national equivalent)
Is most useful for pre-print authorship claims and lab-internal provenance

To generate a certificate: from the editor menu, choose Issue certificate before exporting. The certificate ID is appended to your figure's metadata.

Common export issues

"My PNG looks pixelated"

You likely exported at 96 DPI (web default). Re-export at 300 DPI for print. If text appears fuzzy, try exporting as SVG instead — text stays sharp at any zoom level.

"Some elements missing in PDF"

SVG filters (blur, shadow, gradient mesh) sometimes don't translate to PDF cleanly. Simplify filters before export — most journals prefer flat color anyway.

"File size too large"

High-DPI PNGs with many elements can exceed 50 MB. Reduce by:

Removing unused hidden layers
Compressing raster image uploads (PNG → WebP at quality 95)
Switching from PNG to PDF (vector sizes stay small)

"Colors look different in Illustrator"

SCIDraw uses sRGB; Illustrator may default to Display P3 or CMYK. Set Illustrator's color mode to RGB → sRGB when opening the SVG.

Best practice for journal submission: export SVG as your master copy, then export PDF as the submission file. Keep both. If the journal requests revisions, edit the SVG, re-export PDF, and resubmit.

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