[R] Using graphics straight from R into published articles

[Philipp Pagel]

On Tue, Mar 29, 2011 at 09:31:18AM -0700, blanco wrote:
> I was just wondering if people use graphics from R straight into articles or
> are they always edited  in some way; fonts, headers, axis, color etc?  Using
> photoshop or some other programs?
> 
> I would like to think it is possible, better and more profession to do it
> all in R.
> I tried google and the search option but found nothing on the topic.  
> 
> What are the experiences for all the professionals out there that use R?
> Are there any articles on this specific subject?

I'm not aware of any articles on the topic but I can share what I do:

95% of the time I tweak various graphics parameters in R and see no
necessity for postprocessing in other applications.

In about 5% I do some manual editing for a "camera ready" figure.
These are usually the result of exotic request from referees. But
under no circumstances would I use Photoshop or any other pixel
graphics software for this. My R graphics are always created as eps or
pdf vector graphics and any editing is done with a proper vector
graphics software (Illustrator or Inkscape).

I share your feeling that it is better to do as much as possible in R
because it means that I won't have to do it again if I need to produce
another revision of the figure - all it takes is anoother run of my
script. And I can re-use good solutions in the future. Any manual
touch-ups have to be done manually every single time => not my idea of
efficiency.

cu
	Philipp

-- 
Dr. Philipp Pagel
Lehrstuhl für Genomorientierte Bioinformatik
Technische Universität München
Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan
Maximus-von-Imhof-Forum 3
85354 Freising, Germany
http://webclu.bio.wzw.tum.de/~pagel/