Editor’s Note: This article was prepared at
my invitation following a discussion with the
editorial board over a rather ironic situation
that we face in reviewing manuscripts. Whereas
one would expect a discipline that claims special
expertise in information display to be
exemplary in presenting its own graphic material
for publication, we find quite the contrary.
The illustrations accompanying the typical
manuscript submitted to Human Factors border
on the abysmal. So I decided to approach several
well-known researchers in this topic area
with the idea of distilling their expertise into a
set of useful guidelines. They agreed. However,
for the sake of consistency, I felt it necessary to
have the manuscript reviewed, and it was – by
the HFES Communications and Publications
Subcouncil. The end result is published here for
the benefit of all would-be authors. Excerpts
will be included in future editions of the
Authors’ Guide