Image Orientation Standards for Community Submitted Images

Image orientation standards.

To help maintain a consistent orientation of embryo images Xenbase makes the following recommendations for both images submitted to Xenbase and for publication, as the published images will also ultimately end up in Xenbase.

These recommendations are based on community discussions held back in the 90’s when online resources were first being set up, standards used and enforced in other model organisms (e.g. Drosophila), and pre-existing Xenbase datasets from high-throughput screens, of which there are more than 20,000.

Pages look awkward if some images face anterior left and others face anterior right, or the dorsal lip is sometimes to the left and others to the right.

The recommended guidelines are:

Lateral views

Pregastrular and gastrula; animal faces up, dorsal faces right Post gastrular; anterior faces left, dorsal faces up

Dorsal views

Pregastrular and gastrula; animal faces up, dorsal faces forward Neurula; anterior faces up Post neurula after axis elongation (>stage 20); anterior faces left

Vegetal views

Pregastrular and gastrula; dorsal faces up