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Figures

Figures are a central part of an ISSCC submission. They must remain legible in print and should not be overloaded, because figure clarity directly affects the review. This page covers the figure requirements and the new Figure Density Check.

Figure requirements

Submit figures using the ISSCC Figure Template. The template mimics the digest publication and has six slots for figures per page (two figure pages). The first seven figures (including a die photo) must be referred to in the text. Up to three optional supplementary figures (Fig. S1 / S2 / S3) may be included for reviewers only. They are not part of the final manuscript and must not be referred to in the text. Tables must be included as figures, not in the text. Do not use subfigure labels (a, b, c, …).

Figure Density Check NEW

New for ISSCC 2027. Many ISSCC figures are too dense and hard to read. Reviewers and future readers appreciate figures that are not overloaded, so their message stays clear. To help you understand what we consider a good figure, ISSCC developed the Figure Density Check, a browser tool that gives you feedback on the readability of your figures before you submit. It runs entirely in your browser; nothing is uploaded.

Poor figure quality, dense figures and tiny text, is a common reason for rejection. ISSCC reviewers read your figures at digest size, so legibility directly affects the review. The tool runs a single combined check: it first scores each figure (PASS / WARNING / FAIL, with the reason and limits for every flag), then shows a downsampled version of your pages at digest size. At paper submission you will be asked to confirm that you have used the tool.

Reading the downsampled preview. The downsampled image is intentionally coarse and will look blurry, that is expected, and you are not checking whether it stays sharp. Instead, view it the way a reviewer would and ask whether, from a normal reading distance, the text and lines are still interpretable: can you still read the labels and tell the curves apart? If text becomes illegible or lines blur into each other, the figure is too dense and should be simplified.

Note. This is a guiding tool to help your figures meet what reviewers consider readable. It is not a pass/fail gate and is never used to automatically accept or reject a submission. The tool is also new and still under development: it might incorrectly flag (or fail to flag) certain features. You can override misclassified subfigures, or simply ignore those warnings.

Figure resources

For figure advice, see Writing a Good ISSCC Paper and the Figure Template. Full figure and reference rules are in the Author Instructions & FAQ on the Paper Submission page.