Designing the layout

The layout – in other words the page design of your paper – should be clear and functional.

• Font and font size: Use a simple font, e.g. Times New Roman or Arial.
• Captions: All tables, equations, figures, and schemes must be numbered in the order in which they are mentioned in the text; examples: “Table 1”, “Figure 1” – It is best to use the automatic captioning function of your word processor. All figures and tables must be introduced in the text.
• Use abbreviations and acronyms sparingly but consistently. At the first mention, the full term must also be given.
• Nomenclature, symbols, units: The rules and recommendations of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), the International Union of Biochemistry (IUB), and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) should be followed. Furthermore, the DIN EN ISO 80000 must be observed.

Formatting the document

• Italic type is used for symbols of physical quantities, but not for the corresponding units, e.g.: T for temperature, stereochemical descriptors (cis, E, R), locants (N-Methyl), symmetry and space groups (C_2v), and prefixes as in “tert-Butyl”, but not for Latin expressions such as “in situ”.
• The stereochemical descriptors D- and L- as well as the terms molar (M) and normal (N) should be written in small caps.
• Oxidation states should be written in small caps in parentheses when the element name is written out, and as superscript when using the element symbol; example: iron(II) resp. Fe^II; iron(III) resp. Fe^III.
• Formulas of coordination compounds must be written in square brackets (IUPAC rule).
• For axis labels, units are separated by a slash; e.g. T / K. The ordinate is labeled perpendicular to the axis. An arrow indicates the direction of increasing values, e.g. on coordinate axes or next to labels.

Specifying chemical formulas

You should label chemical formulas consecutively with formula numbers (Arabic numerals, bold, and not in parentheses). Alternatively, you may label them as figures:

• Common abbreviations such as Me, i Pr, s Bu, and Ph may be used, but consistency is important.
• General substituents should be denoted as R¹, R² or R, R‘.
• The spatial arrangement of substituents must also be indicated.

Extensive reaction conditions should be listed in the legend.

Creating tables

The following general rules apply to tables:

• Tables should have a descriptive heading and be divided only by three lines (header, neck, and footer lines).
• Tables with only one or two columns, or columns with only one or two entries, should be avoided.
• For footnotes in tables, lowercase Latin letters in square brackets are used.
• All tables must be numbered in the order in which they appear in the text.

The word “table” must always be written out in full.

Labeling figures

The coordinate axes (horizontal axis: abscissa; vertical axis: ordinate) must be labeled with their quantities (in italics) and units, e.g.: λ / nm→.

The ordinate should, if possible, be labeled perpendicular to the axis, and the quantities or the axes should be indicated with an arrow.

The arrow always indicates the direction in which the numerical value of a quantity increases.

• A general or calculated relationship between quantities should be shown in the diagram as a solid line (Figure 1).
• Measured values, on the other hand, should be shown as data points without connecting lines (Figure 2). Exception: spectra.
• If the trend between measured points is important, it should be represented by a physically meaningful fitting function (Figure 3 and Figure 4). However, this function must be based on a theoretical relationship.
• Each figure must have a descriptive caption that briefly conveys the content of the figure.

Literature: DIN German Institute for Standardization e. V.: Graphical representation in coordinate systems, Beuth Verlag GmbH, Berlin 1973 (DIN 461).

Labeling equations

Equations must be numbered consecutively and referred to in the text.

The variables used must be explained in the text.

Specifying physical data

The qualitative and quantitative description of states and processes is done using quantities that describe measurable properties.

Every value of a quantity (e.g. measured value) can be expressed as the product of a numerical value and a unit.

Example:

Quantity value = numerical value • unit (quantity value = {quantity value} • [quantity value])

U = 5 V (U = {U} · [U])

G = 3 kJ mol-1 (G = {G} · [G])

Literature:
DIN German Institute for Standardization e. V.: Quantities, Beuth Verlag GmbH, Berlin 1998 (DIN 1313).
DIN German Institute for Standardization e. V.: Quantities and units – Part 1: General, Beuth Verlag GmbH, Berlin 2009 (DIN EN ISO 80000-1).

Frequently asked questions

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Initial situation

As a rule, charts created by default in Excel are not immediately usable and require revision.

Figure 1 shows an example of an automatically generated Excel chart with three datasets, based on the publicly available “Iris flower data set”. This dataset is often used as an example for discriminant analyses and as a test dataset for various statistical classification methods.

Adjusting charts

The following section explains general aspects for a successful presentation of Excel charts. Depending on the application area and research question, however, deviations from these may also be appropriate.

It is therefore important to consider the specific requirements and objectives of each analysis and to make corresponding adjustments where necessary.

As a rule, the aspects mentioned correspond to the requirements of Physical Chemistry at Nuremberg Institute of Technology.

Data points should be displayed as points, while calculated or fitted curves should be shown as lines.

An exception are spectra, which should always be displayed as lines.

First, remove the chart title, the gridlines, and the border around the chart.

Make sure that the tick marks for both the major and minor types are displayed outside the axes.

For improved readability and better contrast, always use black text color for axis labels and black axes.

Avoid using Excel’s default pastel tones for individual graphs. Instead, use bold and not too bright colors.

Examples of suitable colors and their corresponding RGB values are listed in Table 1:

When formatting the numerical values on the axes, ensure an appropriate number of decimal places and avoid unnecessary zeros.

Make sure that all numbers have the same number of decimal places. Always ensure an appropriate font size corresponding to the purpose of the chart.

For integration into text documents, the font size should match that of the body text. For presentations, a font size of at least 16 pt is recommended.

When labeling axes, follow the DIN EN ISO 80000-1, Chapter 7.

• Axis titles may be bold, but this is not mandatory.
• Ensure that the two axes always intersect at the bottom left of the chart.
• Always use an appropriate font size that suits the purpose of the chart.

For integration into text documents, the font size should match that of the body text. For presentations, a font size of at least 18 pt is recommended.

Insert legend

If you display more than one dataset in the chart, it is important to insert a legend to identify and distinguish the different data series clearly.

The legend can be optionally enclosed by a border to visually separate it from the rest of the chart.

Fitting functions

Always display fitting functions such as a linear trendline as a line in the chart. If possible, include the fitting function and the coefficient of determination directly in the chart.

If you need the parameters of a linear fit of the form y = mx + b, in other words the slope m and the intercept b of your experimental data, it is important not to use the values displayed from the chart’s linear trendline.

Instead, calculate them dynamically in the Excel worksheet, for example using the Excel functions =SLOPE(…) and =INTERCEPT(…).

This ensures that your further calculations are based on current, dynamically calculated values and that no rounding errors occur.

Result

Figure 2 shows the optimized version of the chart:

Frequently asked questions

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