Molcell Figures

Display Items (molcell-figures)

When to trigger

• Figures will not render legibly at Cell Press print widths.
• Bar charts hide the data (no points, no n, no defined error bars) behind a mechanistic claim.
• Gels/blots are cropped without disclosure; structural figures over-render the model.
• Color is the sole encoding, or rainbow/jet maps are used for continuous data.

Sizing for Cell Press columns

Design figures to render at final print width without rescaling text:

• 1 column ≈ 85 mm wide
• 1.5 column ≈ 114 mm wide
• 2 columns (full width) ≈ 174 mm wide
• Minimum font in the final figure: ~6–7 pt sans-serif (Helvetica/Arial), legible after reduction.
• RGB color mode (Cell Press is online-first); line weights heavy enough to survive reduction.

Confirm exact widths, resolution, and file formats against the current Cell Press figure/digital-image guidelines.

Show the mechanism's data, not just a summary

• Replace bar-of-means with dot plots / box+points / violins+points, especially for small n.
• State n and what n is in every legend: independent biological replicates? technical replicates? molecules? cells?
• Error bars must be defined (SD vs SEM vs 95% CI) — never undefined — and the replicate type stated.
• For a mechanistic claim, pair the quantification with the primary data (the gel, the trace, the density map) in the same or an adjacent panel.

Molecular-biology figure integrity (non-negotiable)

• Gels/blots: show representative full lanes; disclose any splicing with a clear dividing line; present uncropped key blots in Supplemental; keep unprocessed scans.
• Quantitative comparisons must come from the same gel/exposure/experiment.
• Structures (cryo-EM/X-ray): report resolution, map-to-model fit, and the region actually resolved; do not draw side chains or interactions the density does not support. Include a validation/FSC or Ramachandran summary per Cell Press/PDB norms.
• Genomics tracks (ChIP/RNA/ATAC-seq): state normalization, show replicates or a replicate-correlation metric, and give the genomic scale.
• Single-molecule / kinetics: show example traces and the distribution, not only a fitted rate.

Color and accessibility

• Use a colorblind-safe palette; avoid red/green as the only contrast (common in merge micrographs).
• Do not encode meaning by color alone — add shape/pattern/labels.
• No rainbow/jet colormaps for continuous data — use perceptually uniform maps (viridis, etc.); for structures, use consistent domain/chain coloring.
• Check the figure in grayscale.

Multi-panel discipline

• Group panels by the mechanistic step they prove; one message per figure.
• Consistent axis scales across comparable panels; align structure orientations across panels.
• Label panels A, B, C…; the legend title states the figure's mechanistic claim.
• Move orthogonal-confirmation panels to Supplemental rather than shrinking fonts.

Figure legend structure (stand-alone)

Each legend: a short title sentence (the mechanistic claim), then per-panel descriptions (A, B, C…), then statistics (test, exact n, replicate type, error-bar definition, P values or exact values), plus any structure/genomics metadata (resolution, normalization). The figure + legend must be interpretable without the main text; cross-reference STAR Methods where relevant.

What a Molecular Cell referee checks in figures

Referees interrogate the proof of mechanism, so they read figures for evidence sufficiency. Common figure-driven major-revision triggers: a mechanistic claim resting on one assay with no orthogonal confirmation; a point-mutant panel missing the wild-type-rescue control; a structure figure asserting an interaction the density cannot resolve; bar-of-means hiding n = 3 with wide spread; genomics tracks with no replicate metric; error bars whose definition or n is missing; and any blot spliced without a disclosed boundary. Pre-empt each: pair every key claim with a second method, show the points and the primary data, and keep uncropped scans and half-maps ready — Molecular Cell may request them.

Output format

【Item count】 N (standard Article ≤ ~7 main) → ok / over → move to Supplemental
【Sizing】 designed at 85 / 114 / 174 mm? fonts ≥6–7 pt? RGB? yes/no
【Data shown】 points + n + replicate type + defined error bars + primary data? yes/no
【Blot/structure/genomics integrity】 uncropped blots? resolution/fit stated? replicate metric? yes/no
【Colorblind-safe】 yes/no (palette used)
【Legends】 title + per-panel + stats, stand-alone? yes/no
【Fixes】 [...]
【Next】 molcell-star-methods

Anti-patterns

• Do not paste raw Prism/ImageJ/instrument screenshots as figures.
• Do not use bars to hide a tiny, variable n — show the points.
• Do not draw structural contacts the density does not support.
• Do not crop or splice blots without a visible boundary and disclosure.
• Do not show a single genomics replicate as if it were the result.

Confirm specs against the current Cell Press figure and digital-image guidelines.