Tables and figures
Tables must be submitted as separate Word documents, one file per table, and uploaded through Manuscript Manager under the “Table” category. Each file should be labelled with the first author’s name and table number. Tables must be prepared using Word’s table function, with framed cells (all borders showing), and without bold lines or shading. Please avoid using autoformatting functions in tables. Very large tables may be published online as supplementary material at the Editor’s discretion.
Figures must be submitted separately as high-resolution TIFF or JPEG files, uploaded in numerical order. Each file should be named with the first author’s name and figure number. Captions and legends must be provided at the end of the manuscript, not within the figure itself. Captions should normally contain fewer than 40 words and define all abbreviations used in the figure.
Graphs should use simple, clear formatting without 3D effects. Axis labels must use sentence case (not all capitalised words), and font sizes should remain legible when reduced for single-column presentation unless the graph obviously requires full page width. Graphs prepared in Excel should be submitted with their original data tables, uploaded as a separate Excel file. Please see data formatting guidelines below when preparing graphs because (for example) axes labels should also conform with these formatting guidelines.
All patient images must be anonymised.
The approximate positions of tables and figures should also be identified in the manuscript text e.g., “Differences in rates of decompression illness were not significant (Table 1)”, etc.
Authors are responsible for obtaining permission to reproduce any figures, images, or tables from previous publications. This permission must be acknowledged in the figure caption using the format “Reproduced with permission of …” or as specified by the copyright holder.