---
name: joc-tables-figures
description: Use when building tables and figures for a Journal of Communication (JoC) manuscript so exhibits are self-contained, accessible, APA-formatted, and counted toward the page budget correctly. JoC's 35-page limit includes tables and figures, so exhibits must earn their space. Designs exhibits; it does not run the analysis.
---

# Tables & Figures (joc-tables-figures)

Exhibits are where an expert reviewer checks whether the result is real. At JoC they also **cost
pages**: the main-document limit of **35 pages** explicitly includes the abstract, text, references,
**tables, figures**, and endnotes. So every exhibit must pull its weight, and formatting follows
**APA 7th edition**.

## When to trigger

- Designing the main results table/figure or a key descriptive exhibit
- Deciding what belongs in the article vs. the supplemental materials
- A reviewer found an exhibit unclear, mislabeled, or non-self-contained
- Trimming to the 35-page limit by moving exhibits to supplemental materials

## Principles

1. **Self-contained.** A reader should understand each exhibit from its title, axis/column labels, and
   note alone — without hunting through the text. State units, sample, N, and what the estimate is.
2. **Figures over dense tables for effects.** Coefficient/forest plots, marginal-effects and
   predicted-probability plots, mediation path diagrams, and interaction plots communicate magnitude
   and uncertainty better than a wall of coefficients. Show intervals.
3. **APA format.** Table/figure numbering, titles, and notes per **APA 7th edition**; consistent
   decimals and reported statistics.
4. **Accessible.** Colorblind-safe palettes; legible in grayscale; no chartjunk, no 3D, no needless
   color. Reviewers and readers must parse it quickly.
5. **Main text vs. supplemental.** Keep the few exhibits that carry the argument in the article; move
   full specifications, robustness grids, and codebooks to the **supplemental materials** (also
   anonymized). This is also how you fit under 35 pages.
6. **Reproducible.** Each exhibit is generated by the master script; numbers match the materials behind
   your Data Availability Statement (see `joc-open-science-and-transparency`).

## Discipline-specific exhibits
- Conjoint/AMCE plots; survey- and message-experiment treatment-effect plots.
- Content-analysis reliability and category-frequency exhibits.
- For computational work: topic-model/corpus diagnostics, validation-against-human tables.
- For qualitative work: evidence tables linking claims to sources; coding-scheme summaries.

## Anti-patterns

- Tables that require the prose to be intelligible (not self-contained)
- Reporting significance stars with no effect size or interval
- Cramming every robustness check into the main text (blows the 35-page budget — use supplements)
- Color-only encoding that fails in grayscale or for colorblind readers
- Exhibit numbers/values that don't match the deposited code output


## Exhibit pass for Journal of Communication

Treat this skill as an executable review pass, not a prose hint. First lock the communication process, platform/media setting, construct measurement, and study design; then judge whether the current manuscript answers the venue's real reader: communication reviewers who balance theory, media context, measurement, and social implications.

- **Do the pass:** For every table or figure, state the estimand or object, sample or case base, uncertainty display, and one sentence the exhibit proves for the venue audience.
- **Return a ledger:** give `claim / evidence / risk / manuscript location` rows, so the next agent can edit rather than rediscover the issue.
- **Sibling guard:** compare against Communication Research for quantitative communication, New Media & Society for platform focus, Human Communication Research for theory testing; if a sibling owns the contribution, recommend re-routing before polishing format.
- **Stop condition:** do not give submission-ready advice until the pack's `resources/official-source-map.md` has been checked for volatile rules and the manuscript has one concrete fix for the largest venue-specific risk.

## Output format

```
【Main exhibit】what it shows + why a figure/table
【Self-contained?】title + labels + note + N/units present? [Y/N]
【APA format?】numbering/titles/notes per APA 7th? [Y/N]
【Accessible?】grayscale-legible + colorblind-safe? [Y/N]
【Article vs supplemental】split decided, page-budget impact noted
【Reproducible?】generated by master script, matches materials? [Y/N]
【Next】joc-writing-style
```

## Supplementary resources

- [`../../resources/external_tools.md`](../../resources/external_tools.md) — plotting, mediation-diagram, and corpus-diagnostic packages
- [`../../resources/official-source-map.md`](../../resources/official-source-map.md) — 35-page rule (includes tables/figures) and APA 7th style