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Reviewed October 28, 2026

Graphical abstract examples

Eight graphical abstracts made with Scientific Figure Generator, one per field, each with the layout pattern it uses, why it reads well, and the exact prompt behind it. Open any of them as a template and swap in your own study.

  • 8 fields
  • Prompt under every example
  • Open any one as a template
  • 3 free figures to start

Pipeline, left to right

Inputs on the left, the method or model in the middle, outcomes on the right. The most common pattern for methods papers and tools.

Clinical AI workflow connecting health data sources, model approaches, applications, and outcomes
Clinical AI workflow connecting health data sources, model approaches, applications, and outcomes

Clinical informatics

Multimodal Clinical AI Pipeline

  • Four columns carry the whole story in one reading direction: data, harmonization, model, patient outcome.
  • Only the outcome gets a warm colour, so the eye lands where the claim is.
The prompt behind it

Create a publication-ready scientific diagram of Multimodal Clinical AI Pipeline for Clinical Informatics. Build four left-to-right columns for clinical inputs, data harmonization, multimodal model, and patient-facing outputs with one central model hub. Use clear directional arrows to show the main relationships and flow. Label imaging, omics, electronic health records, wearable signals, feature fusion, prediction model, clinical decision, and patient outcome. Use navy, teal, muted violet, and warm outcome highlights on a clean white background with precise, legible typography, balanced spacing, and no decorative elements or watermark.

Try changing: Replace the clinical data modalities · Add a human-review checkpoint · Emphasize one patient outcome

Young double-slit experiment with path geometry, fringe spacing equation, and intensity profile
Young double-slit experiment with path geometry, fringe spacing equation, and intensity profile

Physics

Young's Double-Slit Interference

  • Source, slits, screen and intensity profile follow one optical path, so no arrow is needed to explain the order.
  • One equation inset gives the quantitative result without a second figure.
The prompt behind it

Create a publication-ready scientific diagram of Young's Double-Slit Interference for Physics. Arrange the source, double slit, projection screen, ray geometry, and intensity profile in one left-to-right optical path with an equation inset. Use clear directional arrows to show the main relationships and flow. Label coherent source, slit separation, screen distance, path difference, central maximum, fringe spacing, wavelength, and intensity. Use black line art with indigo wavefronts and subtle gray construction lines on a clean white background with precise, legible typography, balanced spacing, and no decorative elements or watermark.

Try changing: Change slit separation and wavelength · Add single-slit envelope · Color alternate interference fringes

Theranostics figure showing peptide internalization, targeted therapy, apoptosis, and fluorescence imaging
Theranostics figure showing peptide internalization, targeted therapy, apoptosis, and fluorescence imaging

Cancer nanomedicine

Cell-Penetrating Peptide Theranostics

  • The construct, the uptake step and the two outcomes read left to right, and the outcomes split only at the end.
  • Colour separates the drug cargo from the fluorescence signal, which is the paper’s dual claim.
The prompt behind it

Create a publication-ready scientific diagram of Cell-Penetrating Peptide Theranostics for Cancer Nanomedicine. Place a targeted peptide construct at left, a tumor-cell uptake mechanism in the center, and split therapeutic and imaging outcomes on the right. Use clear directional arrows to show the main relationships and flow. Label targeting ligand, cell-penetrating peptide, drug cargo, fluorophore, receptor binding, internalization, apoptosis, and fluorescence signal. Use teal and navy cells, coral therapeutic cargo, and violet fluorescence highlights on a clean white background with precise, legible typography, balanced spacing, and no decorative elements or watermark.

Try changing: Change the targeting receptor · Replace the therapeutic cargo · Separate imaging and therapy branches

Hub and branches

One subject in the centre with the methods or arms of the study around it. Suits characterization studies and anything with parallel measurements.

Research workflow comparing community profiling with physiological, molecular, and bioinformatics characterization
Research workflow comparing community profiling with physiological, molecular, and bioinformatics characterization

Microbial ecology

Methanotroph Functional Characterization

  • The methane-fed sample sits in the centre and every method is a branch, so the study design is visible at a glance.
  • The integrated conclusion has its own place instead of being implied.
The prompt behind it

Create a publication-ready scientific diagram of Methanotroph Functional Characterization for Microbial Ecology. Place methane-fed samples at the center and branch into community profiling, physiological assays, molecular measurements, and integrated bioinformatics conclusions. Use clear directional arrows to show the main relationships and flow. Label methane enrichment, amplicon sequencing, growth assay, enzyme activity, transcript analysis, pathway reconstruction, and phenotype integration. Use forest green, teal, slate blue, and restrained orange methane accents on a clean white background with precise, legible typography, balanced spacing, and no decorative elements or watermark.

Try changing: Change the microbial community types · Add a stable-isotope probing branch · Recolor assay families by method

Public-health contact-tracing workflow with index case, interview, exposure windows, testing, and follow-up
Public-health contact-tracing workflow with index case, interview, exposure windows, testing, and follow-up

Public health

Contact Tracing Workflow

  • The index case is the centre and every public-health action branches from it with its time window labelled.
  • Amber marks the alerts, so risk is visible without reading every label.
The prompt behind it

Create a publication-ready scientific diagram of Contact Tracing Workflow for Public Health. Arrange a centered index case with branches to interview, exposure-window reconstruction, contact notification, testing, isolation, and follow-up outcomes. Use clear directional arrows to show the main relationships and flow. Label index case, symptom onset, exposure window, contact list, notification, test, isolation, quarantine, and follow-up. Use clinical blue, teal, warm amber alerts, and neutral gray people icons on a clean white background with precise, legible typography, balanced spacing, and no decorative elements or watermark.

Try changing: Change the testing schedule · Add digital notification path · Highlight high-risk contacts

Precision-agriculture monitoring system with satellite, drone, field sensors, soil parameters, and variable-rate application
Precision-agriculture monitoring system with satellite, drone, field sensors, soil parameters, and variable-rate application

Agronomy

Precision Agriculture Monitoring

  • The field map is the hub; satellite, drone and sensors feed one dashboard that drives the machinery.
  • Data flows are drawn as teal lines, distinct from the physical objects, so the two layers do not mix.
The prompt behind it

Create a publication-ready scientific diagram of Precision Agriculture Monitoring for Agronomy. Center a field map and connect satellite, drone, weather station, and soil sensors to an analytics dashboard and variable-rate machinery. Use clear directional arrows to show the main relationships and flow. Label satellite imagery, drone, multispectral camera, soil moisture, nutrient sensor, weather station, decision map, and variable-rate application. Use agricultural green, soil brown, sky blue, teal data lines, and yellow crop accents on a clean white background with precise, legible typography, balanced spacing, and no decorative elements or watermark.

Try changing: Change the monitored crop · Add irrigation-control output · Highlight nitrogen stress zones

Paired panels

A mechanism or geometry beside the signal it produces, with markers aligned between the two. Suits physics, astronomy and instrumentation.

Exoplanet transit photometry diagram with stellar light curve, depth, duration, and orbital geometry
Exoplanet transit photometry diagram with stellar light curve, depth, duration, and orbital geometry

Astronomy

Exoplanet Transit Photometry

  • Orbital geometry on the left, light curve on the right, with ingress, mid-transit and egress aligned across both.
  • Black line art keeps the geometry readable at journal column width.
The prompt behind it

Create a publication-ready scientific diagram of Exoplanet Transit Photometry for Astronomy. Pair an orbital geometry schematic on the left with a synchronized stellar light curve on the right and aligned transit-phase markers. Use clear directional arrows to show the main relationships and flow. Label host star, exoplanet, orbital path, ingress, mid-transit, egress, transit depth, duration, and normalized flux. Use black line art with muted gold star and cool blue planet accents on a clean white background with precise, legible typography, balanced spacing, and no decorative elements or watermark.

Try changing: Change planet-to-star radius ratio · Add limb-darkening annotations · Highlight ingress and egress phases

Loop

Stages arranged in a circle. Use it when the point of the paper is that the material, patient or signal comes back around.

Mechanical polymer recycling loop showing collection, sorting, washing, shredding, extrusion, and remanufacture
Mechanical polymer recycling loop showing collection, sorting, washing, shredding, extrusion, and remanufacture

Polymer engineering

Mechanical Polymer Recycling Loop

  • Eight stages around a circle say "closed loop" before any label is read.
  • A short branch for rejects shows where material leaves the loop, which is usually the finding.
The prompt behind it

Create a publication-ready scientific diagram of Mechanical Polymer Recycling Loop for Polymer Engineering. Arrange eight process stages in a circular material loop from consumer product through collection, sorting, washing, shredding, extrusion, pelletizing, and remanufacture. Use clear directional arrows to show the main relationships and flow. Label collection, resin sorting, washing, shredding, flakes, melt extrusion, pellets, remanufacture, rejects, and recycled product. Use forest green, teal, cool blue, pale gray, and restrained orange reject accents on a clean white background with precise, legible typography, balanced spacing, and no decorative elements or watermark.

Try changing: Add chemical-recycling branch · Change the polymer resin type · Show material-loss percentages

What the eight have in common

Apply the same checks to your own draft before you export it. Sizes by journal are on the graphical abstract maker page.

  • One claim. Each example shows one finding or one workflow, not the whole paper.
  • One reading direction. Left to right, centre outwards, or around a loop; never two at once.
  • Eight to twelve labels. Every example stays within that range, which is what fits a journal column.
  • Colour with a job. One accent for the outcome or the alert; everything else is neutral.
  • No data that is not in the paper. The examples draw mechanisms and workflows, never numbers or charts.

Graphical abstract questions

Your paper, as one clear picture.

Paste your abstract, approve the plan, and refine any detail by marking it. 3 free figures to start.

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