Most researchers have little, if any, formal graphic design training and instead figure out digital image presentation by trial and error. In the ten years after the Journal of Cell Biology instituted a universal screening policy on submitted manuscripts,* "at least 25% of authors had to remake at least one figure in their manuscript because manipulation was detected that violated the journal’s guidelines but did not affect the interpretation of the data. JCB had to revoke the acceptance of 1% of accepted manuscripts because manipulation was detected that affected the interpretation of at least one piece of data in the manuscript.”**
When preparing data for publication or presentation, you should know which software is appropriate and how actions like scaling and resampling an image affect the underlying data. As a collaborator and reviewer, you should know what types of image manipulation are acceptable and how to check figures you think are not quite right.
This seminar will cover the topics outlined in the link below*** using retracted papers and unpublished figures as examples.
* JCB data integrity statement
http://jcb.rupress.org/site/misc/about.xhtml
** Interview with Mike Rossner, former director of Rockefeller University Press
http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2013/07/11/interview-with-mike-rossner-on-scientific-integrity-making-research-data-publicly-available-and-routes-to-open-access/
*** Online Learning Tool for Research Integrity and Image Processing
http://www.uab.edu/researchintegrityandimages/guidelines/list.html