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Design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology
Tables and charts have long been seen as effective ways to convey data. Much attention has been focused on improving charts, following ideas of human perception and brain function. Tables can also be viewed as two‐dimensional representations of data; yet, it is only fairly recently that we have begu...
Autores principales: | , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
John Wiley and Sons Inc.
2023
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10346464/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37456067 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10062 |
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author | Remshard, Miriam Queenborough, Simon A. |
author_facet | Remshard, Miriam Queenborough, Simon A. |
author_sort | Remshard, Miriam |
collection | PubMed |
description | Tables and charts have long been seen as effective ways to convey data. Much attention has been focused on improving charts, following ideas of human perception and brain function. Tables can also be viewed as two‐dimensional representations of data; yet, it is only fairly recently that we have begun to apply principles of design that aid the communication of information between the author and reader. In this study, we collated guidelines for the design of data and statistical tables. These guidelines fall under three principles: aiding comparisons, reducing visual clutter, and increasing readability. We surveyed tables published in recent issues of 43 journals in the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology for their adherence to these three principles, as well as author guidelines on journal publisher websites. We found that most of the over 1000 tables we sampled had no heavy grid lines and little visual clutter. They were also easy to read, with clear headers and horizontal orientation. However, most tables did not aid the vertical comparison of numeric data. We suggest that authors could improve their tables by the right‐flush alignment of numeric columns typeset with a tabular font, clearly identify statistical significance, and use clear titles and captions. Journal publishers could easily implement these formatting guidelines when typesetting manuscripts. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10346464 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | John Wiley and Sons Inc. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-103464642023-07-15 Design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology Remshard, Miriam Queenborough, Simon A. Ecol Evol Academic Practice in Ecology and Evolution Tables and charts have long been seen as effective ways to convey data. Much attention has been focused on improving charts, following ideas of human perception and brain function. Tables can also be viewed as two‐dimensional representations of data; yet, it is only fairly recently that we have begun to apply principles of design that aid the communication of information between the author and reader. In this study, we collated guidelines for the design of data and statistical tables. These guidelines fall under three principles: aiding comparisons, reducing visual clutter, and increasing readability. We surveyed tables published in recent issues of 43 journals in the fields of ecology and evolutionary biology for their adherence to these three principles, as well as author guidelines on journal publisher websites. We found that most of the over 1000 tables we sampled had no heavy grid lines and little visual clutter. They were also easy to read, with clear headers and horizontal orientation. However, most tables did not aid the vertical comparison of numeric data. We suggest that authors could improve their tables by the right‐flush alignment of numeric columns typeset with a tabular font, clearly identify statistical significance, and use clear titles and captions. Journal publishers could easily implement these formatting guidelines when typesetting manuscripts. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023-07-14 /pmc/articles/PMC10346464/ /pubmed/37456067 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10062 Text en © 2023 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
spellingShingle | Academic Practice in Ecology and Evolution Remshard, Miriam Queenborough, Simon A. Design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology |
title | Design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology |
title_full | Design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology |
title_fullStr | Design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology |
title_full_unstemmed | Design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology |
title_short | Design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology |
title_sort | design of tables for the presentation and communication of data in ecological and evolutionary biology |
topic | Academic Practice in Ecology and Evolution |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10346464/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37456067 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10062 |
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