The rule that costs authors the most time is not a number, though: labelling and scale bars must not be flattened onto the image. The journal names uneditable and low-resolution artwork as two of the most common causes of delay in manuscript preparation.
Nature Medicine figure specifications at a glance
| Parameter | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Minimum panel resolution | 300 dpi |
| Single-column width | 88 mm |
| Double-column / maximum width | 180 mm |
| Text labelling inside figures | 5–7 pt sans-serif; Symbol font for Greek characters |
| Vector file formats | AI, EPS or PDF |
| Scale | Scale bars, not magnification factors |
| Labels and scale bars | Must stay editable — do not flatten onto images |
| Article main text | 4,000 words |
| Article abstract | 150 words, unreferenced |
| Display items per Article | up to 6 items |
| Final manuscript format | Word or TeX/LaTeX — PDFs are not accepted |
How wide can a figure be? Single vs double column
Height is governed indirectly, through the caption. In the artwork guide's layout table, a figure with a caption under 300 words can run to roughly 130 mm at one-column width or 185 mm at two-column width; a caption under 50 words leaves room for about 220 mm and 225 mm respectively. Long captions cost figure height — worth knowing before you design a tall multi-panel layout.
What's the minimum font size inside a figure?
That is small, and it is deliberate: it is the size type ends up at once a figure is placed at 88 mm. Set your labels at that size while you design, rather than typing at 12 pt and scaling the whole figure down afterwards — the second route is how line weights end up too fine to print.
Which file formats and resolutions does Nature Medicine accept?
Two tool notes come straight from the guide: Word is not recommended, because layers and vectorised elements do not survive it; Photoshop is not recommended for creating figures, because it is a raster application. PowerPoint is acceptable — but only if the figures in it are fully editable.
Rebuild a flattened figure into editable layers
Nature Medicine needs live labels and scale bars. Recover the layers instead of shipping a flattened export.
Explore the ToolDoes Nature Medicine require a graphical abstract?
No. The submission guidelines do not ask for a graphical or visual abstract, so there is nothing extra to prepare on that front.
How many figures can you include?
Figures may be multi-panelled if necessary, and all figures must be cited in sequence in the main text as Fig. 1, Fig. 2.
Extended Data and Supplementary Information figures
Extended Data is the overflow route for figures that support the main claims but do not fit the display-item budget. Each Extended Data figure must be sized to fit, with its legend, on a single PDF page, and its legend is prepared like a main figure legend and listed in the Inventory of Supporting Information.
.csv instead.Source data is encouraged throughout, and required in one case: full-length, unprocessed gels and blots must be provided as source data, as individual PDF files per figure.
Word and page limits by article type
| Article type | Main text | Abstract | Display items |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article | 4,000 words, excluding abstract, Methods, references and legends | 150 words, unreferenced | up to 6 items |
| Resource | up to 4,000 words | 150 words | up to 6 |
| Brief Communication | up to 2,000 words, including abstract, references and legends; no headings | up to 150 words | up to 2 |
| Comment | up to 1,000 words | — | up to 2 |
The Brief Communication line is the one to read twice: its 2,000-word budget is inclusive of the abstract, references and figure legends, where the Article's 4,000 words are exclusive of them. The two limits are not on the same scale.
Templates: LaTeX or Word?
Both routes are supported at the final stage, and there is an official template for one of them.
- LaTeX — download the Springer Nature LaTeX template from Springer Nature's LaTeX author support page. Submit all textual material as a single file in the default Computer Modern fonts, avoid non-standard fonts and packages, and strip personal macros before submitting.
- Word — no journal template is required; the journal imposes its own style automatically at production, and explicitly says there is no need to spend time visually formatting the manuscript.
- Chemical structures — use the Nature Portfolio ChemDraw stylesheet and submit final files at 100% as
.cdx. The Chemical Structures Style Guide has the full rules. - Figure preparation — the Nature Research Journals guide to preparing final artwork is the authoritative reference for widths, formats, and layers.
Title page, cover letter, and author information
The cover letter should explain why the work matters and why it suits the diverse readership of Nature Medicine — and it is not seen by peer reviewers, so it is genuinely a message to the editors rather than a second abstract.
List names and affiliations for all co-authors, with the primary affiliation being the institution where most of the work was done. If you opt into double-anonymized peer review, that author information goes in the cover letter instead of the manuscript. Large language models do not meet the journal's authorship criteria, since authorship carries accountability that cannot be applied to an LLM; where an LLM was used, document it in the Methods.
Formatting quirks specific to Nature Medicine
Four rules that catch people who are used to other journals:
- Two-stage formatting. Your initial submission does not need to be specially formatted — PDF, Word or LaTeX are all fine, and LaTeX users submit compiled PDFs. The full specification only applies once the paper is accepted in principle (AIP). Formatting early is wasted effort; formatting late is not penalised.
- Nothing flattened. The guidelines put it directly: do not flatten labelling or scale/error bars onto images. They stay as editable objects, not pixels.
- Scale bars, not magnification. Micrographs carry a scale bar; "×400" is not accepted as the scale statement.
- BioRender licensing is asked about explicitly. If a figure was made in BioRender, confirm whether you hold a full publication licence or a free trial plan.
Figure problems that delay manuscript preparation
- Flattened labelling or scale bars, which the journal names as one of the two most common delay causes.
- Panels below 300 dpi, the other one.
- Figures designed at screen size and scaled down, leaving type below 5 pt and hairlines too fine to print.
- Legends that exceed the article type's word limit, or that describe method detail instead of the panels.
- Legends that use visual cues rather than verbal ones — the guidelines ask for "open red triangles", not a symbol glyph.
- Missing statistical detail in the legend: centre values, error bar definitions, sample size, the test used, and P values.
Design at 88 mm from the start
Labels set at 5-7 pt in the final width survive production. Figures scaled down afterwards usually do not.
Try FreeBuild a Nature Medicine-ready figure
Work at final size in a vector tool, keep every label and scale bar in the scientific figure as an object, and export to AI, EPS or PDF with the layers intact. Place any photographic panel at 300 dpi or better. Check the legend against the word budget for your article type before you consider the figure done.
Does Nature Medicine allow AI-generated figures?
The only image-specific entry in the Red band is creating photorealistic images such as deepfakes. The other Red entries that can catch a figure are about substance rather than medium: fabricating data or results, and presenting AI-generated conclusions as human-derived.
What the policy does ask for is that accountability stays human and that AI use is disclosed. It describes low-risk use as "reversible and verifiable."
That gives you a workable self-test for any figure, however it was made: can you show where every element came from, and change any of them? A flattened one-shot render fails it; an editable vector figure you reviewed element by element passes.
It is the same standard a figure drawn by hand in Illustrator is held to. The tool changes how fast you reach a first draft, not who is answerable for the final one.
The policy does not say where an image disclosure belongs. The journal's own author guidance says an LLM's use "should be properly documented in the Methods section (and if a Methods section is not available, in a suitable alternative part) of the manuscript" — Methods is the closest existing convention to follow.
A disclosure sentence you can adapt: "Figure X was created using SciFig (scifig.ai). The authors reviewed and edited all elements and take responsibility for the accuracy of the content shown."
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Nature Medicine — AIP and formatting — resolution, width, labelling, tables, chemical structures, supplementary information
- Nature Research Journals — guide to preparing final artwork — column widths, vector formats, layer requirements
- Nature Medicine — Content Types — word limits and display-item caps by article type
- Nature Medicine — Formatting your initial submission — what the first submission does and does not need
- Nature Medicine — Preparing your material — cover letter and author information
- Nature Portfolio — Artificial Intelligence (AI) — the Green / Amber / Red risk framework and disclosure expectations
- Nature Portfolio — Image integrity and standards — image preparation and integrity requirements across the portfolio
