A curated list of tools, resources, and tutorials for creating scientific illustrations, figures, and graphics for research papers, journals, and presentations.
Whether you're a PhD student, postdoc, or research scientist, this list will help you create publication-ready figures without spending weeks learning design software.
- AI-Powered Tools
- Vector Graphics Software
- Specialized Scientific Tools
- Molecular Visualization
- Data Visualization
- Diagram & Flowchart Tools
- Color Palettes for Science
- Icon Libraries
- Templates
- Tutorials & Guides
- Communities
| Tool | Description | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| SciDraw | AI scientific illustration generator with SVG export. Text-to-image, sketch-to-image, and multi-round editing. | Freemium |
| BioRender | Templates for life science illustrations | Paid |
| Midjourney | General AI image generation (needs prompting for science) | Paid |
| DALL-E | OpenAI's image generator | Paid |
| Stable Diffusion | Open-source AI image generation | Free |
| Tool | Platform | Pricing | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adobe Illustrator | Win/Mac | $$$$ | Professional work |
| Inkscape | Win/Mac/Linux | Free | Free alternative to Illustrator |
| Affinity Designer | Win/Mac/iPad | $$ | One-time purchase |
| Figma | Web/Desktop | Freemium | Collaboration |
| Vectr | Web/Desktop | Free | Simple graphics |
- BioRender - Pre-made biology icons and templates
- ChemDraw - Chemical structure drawing
- SWISS-MODEL - Protein structure modeling
- Bioicons - Free life science icons
- ChemDraw - Industry standard for chemical structures
- ChemSketch - Free chemical drawing
- MolView - Free online 3D molecule viewer
- Avogadro - Open-source molecular editor
- LaTeX/TikZ - Programmatic figure generation
- Matplotlib - Python plotting library
- GeoGebra - Math visualization
- Fritzing - Circuit diagram design
| Tool | Description | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| PyMOL | Molecular visualization system | Free/Paid |
| UCSF Chimera | Protein structure visualization | Free |
| VMD | Molecular dynamics visualization | Free |
| Mol* | Web-based 3D viewer | Free |
| 3Dmol.js | JavaScript molecular viewer | Free |
# Essential libraries for scientific figures
pip install matplotlib seaborn plotly bokeh altair- Matplotlib - The classic Python plotting library
- Seaborn - Statistical data visualization
- Plotly - Interactive plots
- Bokeh - Interactive visualization library
- Altair - Declarative statistical visualization
# Essential R packages
install.packages(c("ggplot2", "cowplot", "ggpubr", "viridis"))- ggplot2 - Grammar of graphics for R
- cowplot - Publication-ready plots
- ggpubr - Publication-ready plots wrapper
- GraphPad Prism - Statistical analysis & graphing
- Origin - Data analysis & graphing
- Tableau - Business intelligence visualization
| Tool | Best For | Pricing |
|---|---|---|
| Draw.io / diagrams.net | General diagrams | Free |
| Lucidchart | Flowcharts, collaboration | Freemium |
| Miro | Collaborative diagrams | Freemium |
| Whimsical | Clean flowcharts | Freemium |
| Excalidraw | Hand-drawn style diagrams | Free |
Choosing the right colors is crucial for accessibility and clarity.
- ColorBrewer - Color advice for maps & graphics
- Viridis - Colorblind-friendly palettes
- Paul Tol's Palettes - Accessible color schemes
- Coolors - Color palette generator
| Library | Focus | License |
|---|---|---|
| Bioicons | Life sciences | Free |
| Reactome Icon Library | Pathways & biology | CC BY 4.0 |
| Servier Medical Art | Medical illustrations | CC BY 3.0 |
| Font Awesome | General icons | Free/Paid |
| Flaticon | General icons | Free/Paid |
- SciDraw - AI-generated figures, SVG export for LaTeX
- Overleaf Templates - Journal templates
- LaTeXTemplates.com - Free templates
- SlidesCarnival - Free presentation templates
- SlidesGo - Science presentation templates
- Nature: How to create scientific figures
- PLOS: Ten Simple Rules for Better Figures
- Scientific Figure Design Course (YouTube)
- r/labrats - Lab life discussions
- r/GradSchool - Graduate student community
- ResearchGate - Academic networking
- Academia.edu - Academic papers & discussions
- Twitter #SciArt - Scientific art community
Contributions welcome! Please read the contribution guidelines first.
This list is released into the public domain.
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