Contributing images for commercial use

This includes images made available for use in editorial pieces, news and advertising in various formats including printed media. The minimum file requirements are more detailed and of higher specification to take this into account. Images submitted for commercial use may also have a lower quality version of the image submitted for non-commercial uses.

File formats we support

We support a wide range of file formats, but prefer the following image formats:

• TIFF (uncompressed)
• JPEG (compression set no lower than 8)

and these formats for movies and animations:

• MPEG
• Quicktime (preferably version 5 onwards)
• Macromedia Flash
• AVI
• Windows Media Player (version 6 onwards)

We may also be able to support other file formats, and you should contact us to discuss this.

What resolution should files be?

• image files for commercial use must have a minimum resolution of at least 300dpi and minimum dimensions of 150mm x 150 mm (at 300dpi, this is about 1770 x 1770 pixels)
• movie files do not have a minimum resolution or dimension, but the larger and clearer the movie the better

Other file specifications

Images submitted for commercial use should also adhere to the following guidelines:

• an RGB 24bit file (8 bits per channel)
• embedded with a color profile, preferably Adobe (1998)
• highlight setting no higher than 252
• shadow setting now lower than 3

Descriptive information we need for each image

All images and movies should be annotated with the following:

1. title (<20 words describing the image)
2. description (a complete description of what the image shows, its scientific significance and how it was produced)
3. keywords (relevant words not found in the title or description)
4. image type (photograph, micrograph, movie, illustration, or animation)
5. credit (the people involved with creating the image)
6. copyright holder (you or your institution, for example)

We recommend you use our Excel spreadsheet to send us your annotations.

If you are submitting a high-resolution commercial use AND a lower resolution non-commercial use version of the same image, you need only submit one annotation for both files, providing the appropriate information is provided in the Excel template for us to relate them together.