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Preparing Your Supporting Online Material
As an accompaniment to manuscripts for the print version of Science, authors may submit supporting material for posting on Science Online. To be accepted for posting, supporting online material must be essential to the scientific integrity and excellence of the paper. The material is subject to the same editorial standards and peer-review procedures as the print publication.
At the stage of initial manuscript submission, before peer review, authors should submit materials and methods, text, tables, figures, and references intended as supporting online material in a special section at the end of their manuscript. Other supporting online material such as video clips and complex databases should be sent separately by mail. When submitting a revised manuscript, after peer review, authors should upload supporting material in a Word or PDF file separate from the main manuscript file or in another allowed format.
For a given paper, supporting online material is subject to some broad limits on file sizes, so authors should make every effort to keep file sizes reasonable and should carefully consider whether the material is genuinely essential to the paper in question.
Categories of Supporting Online Material
In general, Science will accept the following nine categories of supporting online material:
- Materials and methods -- Science now requests that, in general, authors place the bulk of their description of materials and methods online as supporting material, providing only as much methods description in the print manuscript as is necessary to follow the logic of the text. (Obviously, this restriction will not apply if the paper is fundamentally a study of a new method or technique.)
- Supporting text -- Additional information regarding control or supplemental experiments, field sites, observations, hypotheses, etc., that bear directly on the arguments of the print paper.
- Supporting figures -- Figures that cannot be accommodated in the print version but that are integral to the paper's arguments. Note that Science does not allow certain electronic modifications or enhancements to figures; see our detailed figure guidelines for more information.
- Supporting tables -- Extensive data tables useful in assessing the arguments of the print paper.
- Supporting references and notes -- References cited within the supporting online material.
- Online movies and animations -- Online video clips showing cell motions, model results, or other dynamic data discussed quantitatively in the print text.
- Audio clips -- Sound files essential to an understanding of the arguments in the print text.
- Databases -- In certain cases, Science will consider linked database presentations more complex than a flat text file or table; these can include, for example, tables hyperlinked to public sequence, array, or protein databases, or collections of hypertext tables or Excel files linked to explanatory image files or tables. Such presentations may require special treatment, and should be discussed in advance with the online editor.
Submission of databases such as those described above will generally only be appropriate when the data in question cannot be accommodated by an established public repository such as Genbank or PDB.
- Other -- Material that does not fall into one of the categories above must be discussed in advance with the online editor, Stewart Wills (swills{at}aaas.org).
File Formats and Sizes
Acceptable File Formats
- Text, Tables, and Figures. At the initial submission stage, items in categories (1) through (5) in the list above (i.e., materials and methods, supporting text, supporting figures, supporting tables, and supporting references and notes) should be included in the main manuscript file, as described in a later section; acceptable formats are detailed in our instructions for initial submission.
For revised manuscripts after peer review, items in categories (1) through (5) should be placed in a single Microsoft Word-compatible word processing file, in the sequence listed. Figure/image files and Excel spreadsheets should be embedded directly into the Word file. Descriptive legends for each item should be included within the file. Authors without access to Word, or using specialized markup languages such as LaTeX, can instead submit a single PostScript or PDF file that includes the material in the sequence indicated. (Authors using TeX or LaTeX are asked, if possible, to use an outline or PostScript font such as Times, rather than Computer Modern, to generate their PostScript or PDF, to ensure the best possible screen legibility. We do not accept TeX or LaTeX source for supporting online material.)
For ease of reading of the SOM file, the text and tables should be single spaced; figures should be individually numbered, and each figure should have its legend on the page on which the figure appears, immediately beneath the figure. To keep file sizes manageable, figures should appear on the page at the smallest size (pixel dimensions) compatible with clarity.
We will in limited cases accept Excel data tables, but only if those tables are so large or complex that they cannot successfully be embedded in a Word file or PDF. In these cases, the tables should be packaged in a single compressed archive (e.g., a *.zip file). Authors are strongly encouraged, however, to embed tables in the main Word or PDF file, as described in the paragraph above, whenever possible.
- Movies. Online video clips should be in QuickTime (preferred) or AVI format; MPEG movies may also be acceptable. Authors should opt for the minimum frame size and number of images that are consistent with a reasonably effective on-screen presentation. Animated GIFs are not accepted. Authors should submit online videos or movies as separate files, with accompanying captions, and should not integrate them into a custom-written Web page or presentation.
- Audio files: WAV, AIFF, or AU formats are accepted.
- Databases and other complex material: Authors wishing to post presentations of data more complex than flat text files or tables that can be converted to PDF format (e.g., author-supplied Web databases or HTML tables hyperlinked to collections of data or images) need to consult with the online editor, Stewart Wills (swills{at}aaas.org), regarding such material. In most cases, the files will need to be packaged as a compressed archive for download and installation on the user's computer; additional information is available here.
Unacceptable File Formats
Authors should limit their file types to those outlined in the section above. If other formats are necessary in exceptional circumstances, authors must make a request by e-mail to the online editor, Stewart Wills (swills{at}aaas.org).
Science cannot at this time accept as supporting online material: executable files; CGI-script-driven, author-customized Web presentations; HTML files including JavaScript or other scripting languages (whether client-side or server side) or Cascading Style Sheets (CSS); PowerPoint presentations; and TeX or LaTeX files (authors should convert the compiled DVI files to PostScript or PDF).
File Size Limitations
The file sizes for supporting online material are subject to the following limitations:
- The total size of the file or files containing items (1) through (5), above, may be no greater than 6 MB. (Please also see below for limitations related to total manuscript file size at the initial submission stage.)
- The total size of all files (including text, tables, images, movies, audioclips, and other material) may be no greater than 50 MB.
Authors seeking an exception to these limitations should contact the online editor, Stewart Wills (swills{at}aaas.org).
Referencing Supporting Online Material Within the Manuscript
Please observe the following conventions when citing supporting online material in the manuscript text:
- Materials and methods. For materials and methods, include a "callout" [e.g., (14)] at appropriate points in the text to a note in your reference list that reads "Materials and methods are available as supporting material on Science Online."
- Supporting online text. At relevant points in the text, simply refer parenthetically to "supporting online text." No reference note is required.
- Figures, tables, movies, and other material. Number the material as you would an ordinary figure or table, but add the prefix "S" -- e.g., fig. S2, table S1, Movie S3, Database S1. No reference note is required
Finally, include a statement at the end of the references listing the supporting online material. Following is an example showing the form this statement should take:
Supporting Online Material
www.sciencemag.org
Materials and Methods
Figs. S1, S2, S3
Movie S1
Submitting Supporting Online Material
Important: The procedures for supporting online material differ depending on whether you are submitting an initial draft of the manuscript for peer review or a revised draft after peer review.
- With Initial Manuscript Submission
- Supporting online material in categories (1) through (5) -- materials and methods, supporting text, figures, tables, and references -- should be placed in the same electronic file as the main manuscript, beginning on a new page (after the manuscript text, references, tables, and figures) labeled with the heading "Supporting Online Material." Image files and tables can be embedded directly in the electronic text file. Alternatively, if authors are uploading their figure files separately from the manuscript text file, categories (1) through (5) of supporting online material can be included as a separate file that can be uploaded as the final figure file.
[Note: The maximum total file size allowable by our Web submission form for initial submissions is 6 MB. If uploading supporting online material, either within the main manuscript file or as a separate file, will increase the combined size of the uploaded files beyond 6 MB, authors should send the supporting material separately by regular mail or overnight express, as described for material in categories (6) through (9), below.]
Authors wishing to include supporting online material in categories (6) through (9) -- movies, audio clips, linked databases, and other complex material -- should not attempt to upload this material with the initial submission of the manuscript using the Web form; any attempt to do so will substantially delay processing of the manuscript. Instead, this material should be sent under separate cover by regular mail or overnight express on a CD or DVD to the address listed on our preparing your initial manuscript page.
Descriptive legends for each item of supporting online material should be included in the main manuscript file. In the cover letter accompanying their main manuscript, authors should note that the manuscript includes supporting online material, list the categories of material included, and briefly explain the rationale for including the supporting material. In addition, if some or all of the material is being sent by mail under separate cover, the cover letter for the main manuscript should state that the material is coming and list the number of files, type of files, and approximate size.
- With Revision After Peer Review
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Authors submitting supporting online material at the revision stage (after peer review) are asked to upload the material in files separate from the main manuscript file, as part of the process at our revision upload site. Include with your upload the supporting online material files; a plain-text or Word file describing the name, type of file, and approximate size for each uploaded supporting data file; and a separate text or Word file with brief captions describing each supporting item (for use on the online index page for the supporting online material).
The files should be named according to the following convention: the manuscript number, followed by an "s," followed by the supporting data number (if any), followed by the file extension. Thus, for example, a QuickTime movie intended as movie 2 of manuscript number 1058927 would be named "1058927s2.mov" for the upload. Material in categories (1) through (5) included in a single PDF file would be named "1058927s.pdf" The accompanying text file listing the name, file type, and file size of each uploaded file would be "1058927s_list.txt," and the Word document containing the captions would be "1058927s_captions.doc."
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