Supplementary Materials

Overview

Supporting information is supplementary to the main content of the article. In the online version of a published article, readers reach supporting files through hyperlinks in the Supporting Information section. The journal hosts these files on its servers and also deposits them on an external repository. Supporting information files are published exactly as provided and are not subject to copyediting. Authors are encouraged to deposit all research data in a suitable repository wherever possible.

File Types

The journal's publishing platform accepts any file type for supporting information submissions.

File Size

To make access as straightforward as possible for readers, supporting information files should be kept below 10 MB.

Tips for reducing file size:

Compress large files where possible — for example, apply LZW compression to TIFF files, or similar compression to EPS or SVG files.
Convert to a more compact format, such as converting a very large EPS or SVG file to PDF.
Bundle multiple related files into a single ZIP archive — for example, when submitting multipage datasets.

Figures and Tables

Supporting figures and tables are subject to a different set of requirements from those that apply to figures and tables in the main body of the manuscript. Because supporting files are hosted on the journal's servers rather than typeset into the article, the platform can accommodate a wider range of file types than is permitted for published figures and tables. Authors should consult the supporting information guidelines rather than the main figure and table guidelines when preparing these items.

Item Description

Almost any label may be used as the item name for a supporting information file, provided it includes an "S" prefix followed by a number. Examples include "S1 Appendix", "S2 Appendix", "S1 Table", "S2 Table", and so on.

The following item descriptions are among those commonly used, though the list is not exhaustive:

Alternative Language Abstract
Appendix
Checklist
Dataset
Figure
File
Movie
Protocol
Supporting Information
Table
Text
Video

Use whole numbers when naming supporting information files. Where separate parts exist — for example S1A Table and S1B Table — these should be combined into a single file (S1 Table), or renamed using whole numbers (S1 Table and S2 Table).

The file names of supporting information items must match the corresponding captions in the manuscript. For instance, a PDF file for "S2 Fig" must be saved as S2_fig.pdf.

Captions

A caption for each supporting information item must include the item name and number. Including a one-line title is also strongly recommended. A legend may optionally be added to the caption but is not required. Supporting information captions should be formatted as follows:

S1 Text. Title is strongly recommended. Legend is optional.

In the published article, supporting information files are accessed exclusively through hyperlinks attached to the captions. For this reason, all captions must be listed at the end of the manuscript document. A caption may also be placed within the supporting information file itself, provided that same caption is present in the manuscript. A separate caption file must not be submitted.

In-Text Citations

Citing supporting information within the manuscript text is recommended but not mandatory. When citing, use the format described in the Item Description section.

When supporting information is cited in the text, citations do not need to follow numerical order.

Important — citing elements within a supporting file: When referring to a component inside a supporting information file — such as a table within a supporting text file — cite it using one of these formats: "Table A in S1 Text", "Table in S1 Table", or "data in S1 Text". Do not use the format "S1 Table in S1 Text", as this may produce broken hyperlinks.

Multimedia Files

Quality and format

A reasonable standard of video quality is expected. The preferred specification is 128 kbits AAC audio, 2D, and 480p H.264 video delivered in an MPEG-4 container. Other video file formats are also accepted, including .mov, .avi, .mpp, .mpeg, and .mp4.

File size

The preferred maximum size for video files is 10 MB. If reducing the dimensions or recompressing the video would compromise its quality or usefulness, the file may be accepted as submitted.

Video players

Submitted video files must be openable and playable in widely used media players, such as QuickTime Player, Windows Media Player, or VLC.

Codecs

A codec (short for "compression-decompression") is a software module containing algorithms used to encode or decode video and audio content. Widely used proprietary codecs include Windows Media Video and QuickTime. Open source alternatives include x264 and the XviD codec. XviD is a high-quality codec and the most widely supported open source option, with broad native support across most players.

Standards

Video compression standards such as MPEG1, MPEG2, and MPEG4 are specifications developed by the Motion Picture Experts Group. They define the set of codecs and formats that video files must conform to. The MPEG4 standard comprises several components, including Advanced Simple Profile (MPEG4 Part 2) which contains elements implemented in codecs such as XviD, 3ivX, DivX, and H.264 (MPEG4 Part 10).

Contact

Authors with questions about supporting information submission are welcome to contact the Editorial Office.

Editorial Office — SAFE Journal of One Health
Published by The SAFE Society Publishing
Email: editor@thesafesociety.com
Website: https://journal.thesafesociety.com