Scientific Visualization

Overview

Scientific visualization transforms data into clear, accurate figures for publication. Create journal-ready plots with multi-panel layouts, error bars, significance markers, and colorblind-safe palettes. Export as PDF/EPS/TIFF using matplotlib, seaborn, and plotly for manuscripts.

When to Use This Skill

This skill should be used when:

• Creating plots or visualizations for scientific manuscripts
• Preparing figures for journal submission (Nature, Science, Cell, PLOS, etc.)
• Ensuring figures are colorblind-friendly and accessible
• Making multi-panel figures with consistent styling
• Exporting figures at correct resolution and format
• Following specific publication guidelines
• Improving existing figures to meet publication standards
• Creating figures that need to work in both color and grayscale

Quick Start Guide

Basic Publication-Quality Figure

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

# Apply publication style (from scripts/style_presets.py)
from style_presets import apply_publication_style
apply_publication_style('default')

# Create figure with appropriate size (single column = 3.5 inches)
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(3.5, 2.5))

# Plot data
x = np.linspace(0, 10, 100)
ax.plot(x, np.sin(x), label='sin(x)')
ax.plot(x, np.cos(x), label='cos(x)')

# Proper labeling with units
ax.set_xlabel('Time (seconds)')
ax.set_ylabel('Amplitude (mV)')
ax.legend(frameon=False)

# Remove unnecessary spines
ax.spines['top'].set_visible(False)
ax.spines['right'].set_visible(False)

# Save in publication formats (from scripts/figure_export.py)
from figure_export import save_publication_figure
save_publication_figure(fig, 'figure1', formats=['pdf', 'png'], dpi=300)

Using Pre-configured Styles

Apply journal-specific styles using the matplotlib style files in assets/:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Option 1: Use style file directly
plt.style.use('assets/nature.mplstyle')

# Option 2: Use style_presets.py helper
from style_presets import configure_for_journal
configure_for_journal('nature', figure_width='single')

# Now create figures - they'll automatically match Nature specifications
fig, ax = plt.subplots()
# ... your plotting code ...

Quick Start with Seaborn

For statistical plots, use seaborn with publication styling:

import seaborn as sns
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from style_presets import apply_publication_style

# Apply publication style
apply_publication_style('default')
sns.set_theme(style='ticks', context='paper', font_scale=1.1)
sns.set_palette('colorblind')

# Create statistical comparison figure
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(3.5, 3))
sns.boxplot(data=df, x='treatment', y='response', 
            order=['Control', 'Low', 'High'], palette='Set2', ax=ax)
sns.stripplot(data=df, x='treatment', y='response',
              order=['Control', 'Low', 'High'], 
              color='black', alpha=0.3, size=3, ax=ax)
ax.set_ylabel('Response (μM)')
sns.despine()

# Save figure
from figure_export import save_publication_figure
save_publication_figure(fig, 'treatment_comparison', formats=['pdf', 'png'], dpi=300)

Core Principles and Best Practices

1. Resolution and File Format

Critical requirements (detailed in references/publication_guidelines.md):

• Raster images (photos, microscopy): 300-600 DPI
• Line art (graphs, plots): 600-1200 DPI or vector format
• Vector formats (preferred): PDF, EPS, SVG
• Raster formats: TIFF, PNG (never JPEG for scientific data)

Implementation:

# Use the figure_export.py script for correct settings
from figure_export import save_publication_figure

# Saves in multiple formats with proper DPI
save_publication_figure(fig, 'myfigure', formats=['pdf', 'png'], dpi=300)

# Or save for specific journal requirements
from figure_export import save_for_journal
save_for_journal(fig, 'figure1', journal='nature', figure_type='combination')

2. Color Selection - Colorblind Accessibility

Always use colorblind-friendly palettes (detailed in references/color_palettes.md):

Recommended: Okabe-Ito palette (distinguishable by all types of color blindness):

# Option 1: Use assets/color_palettes.py
from color_palettes import OKABE_ITO_LIST, apply_palette
apply_palette('okabe_ito')

# Option 2: Manual specification
okabe_ito = ['#E69F00', '#56B4E9', '#009E73', '#F0E442',
             '#0072B2', '#D55E00', '#CC79A7', '#000000']
plt.rcParams['axes.prop_cycle'] = plt.cycler(color=okabe_ito)

For heatmaps/continuous data:

• Use perceptually uniform colormaps: viridis, plasma, cividis
• Avoid red-green diverging maps (use PuOr, RdBu, BrBG instead)
• Never use jet or rainbow colormaps

Always test figures in grayscale to ensure interpretability.

3. Typography and Text

Font guidelines (detailed in references/publication_guidelines.md):

• Sans-serif fonts: Arial, Helvetica, Calibri
• Minimum sizes at final print size:
  • Axis labels: 7-9 pt
  • Tick labels: 6-8 pt
  • Panel labels: 8-12 pt (bold)
• Sentence case for labels: "Time (hours)" not "TIME (HOURS)"
• Always include units in parentheses

Implementation:

# Set fonts globally
import matplotlib as mpl
mpl.rcParams['font.family'] = 'sans-serif'
mpl.rcParams['font.sans-serif'] = ['Arial', 'Helvetica']
mpl.rcParams['font.size'] = 8
mpl.rcParams['axes.labelsize'] = 9
mpl.rcParams['xtick.labelsize'] = 7
mpl.rcParams['ytick.labelsize'] = 7

4. Figure Dimensions

Journal-specific widths (detailed in references/journal_requirements.md):

• Nature: Single 89 mm, Double 183 mm
• Science: Single 55 mm, Double 175 mm
• Cell: Single 85 mm, Double 178 mm

Check figure size compliance:

from figure_export import check_figure_size

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(3.5, 3))  # 89 mm for Nature
check_figure_size(fig, journal='nature')

5. Multi-Panel Figures

Best practices:

• Label panels with bold letters: A, B, C (uppercase for most journals, lowercase for Nature)
• Maintain consistent styling across all panels
• Align panels along edges where possible
• Use adequate white space between panels

Example implementation (see references/matplotlib_examples.md for complete code):

from string import ascii_uppercase

fig = plt.figure(figsize=(7, 4))
gs = fig.add_gridspec(2, 2, hspace=0.4, wspace=0.4)

ax1 = fig.add_subplot(gs[0, 0])
ax2 = fig.add_subplot(gs[0, 1])
# ... create other panels ...

# Add panel labels
for i, ax in enumerate([ax1, ax2, ...]):
    ax.text(-0.15, 1.05, ascii_uppercase[i], transform=ax.transAxes,
            fontsize=10, fontweight='bold', va='top')

Common Tasks

Task 1: Create a Publication-Ready Line Plot

See references/matplotlib_examples.md Example 1 for complete code.

Key steps:

1. Apply publication style
2. Set appropriate figure size for target journal
3. Use colorblind-friendly colors
4. Add error bars with correct representation (SEM, SD, or CI)
5. Label axes with units
6. Remove unnecessary spines
7. Save in vector format

Using seaborn for automatic confidence intervals:

import seaborn as sns
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(5, 3))
sns.lineplot(data=timeseries, x='time', y='measurement',
             hue='treatment', errorbar=('ci', 95), 
             markers=True, ax=ax)
ax.set_xlabel('Time (hours)')
ax.set_ylabel('Measurement (AU)')
sns.despine()

Task 2: Create a Multi-Panel Figure

See references/matplotlib_examples.md Example 2 for complete code.

Key steps:

1. Use GridSpec for flexible layout
2. Ensure consistent styling across panels
3. Add bold panel labels (A, B, C, etc.)
4. Align related panels
5. Verify all text is readable at final size

Task 3: Create a Heatmap with Proper Colormap

See references/matplotlib_examples.md Example 4 for complete code.

Key steps:

1. Use perceptually uniform colo