Figures & Tables (agsy-figures-and-tables)
Exhibits are where a systems reviewer checks whether the model and the trade-offs are real. At AgSy the strongest exhibits make interactions, dynamics, and trade-offs visible, and let a reader judge model performance at a glance. A wall of single-treatment bar charts does not belong in a systems paper.
When to trigger
- Designing the main results figure or a key model-performance exhibit
- Deciding what belongs in the article vs. supplementary material
- A reviewer found an exhibit unclear, mislabeled, or not self-contained
- Presenting scenario comparisons or trade-offs
Principles
- Self-contained. A reader should understand each exhibit from its caption, axis/column labels, and note alone. State units, system level (field/farm/landscape/region), scenario, N, and time horizon.
- Show the system, not one factor. Prefer exhibits that reveal interactions and trade-offs:
- Trade-off / Pareto-front plots (e.g., profit vs. N leaching across options)
- Observed-vs-simulated (1:1) plots with fit statistics (RMSE/NSE/bias) for model evaluation
- Time series of state variables to show dynamics and feedbacks
- Sankey / flow diagrams for resource, nutrient, or energy flows
- Conceptual system diagrams (boxes/arrows) for boundaries and components
- Multi-indicator / radar profiles for sustainability comparisons
- Show uncertainty. Intervals, ensemble ranges, or boxplots — not bare point estimates from a single model run.
- Accessible. Colorblind-safe palettes; legible in grayscale; no chartjunk or 3D; vector output (PDF/EPS) for print.
- Reproducible. Each exhibit is generated by the master workflow; numbers match the deposited
data/code/model exactly (see
agsy-reproducibility-and-data-policy).
Article vs. supplementary
- Keep the few exhibits that carry the systems argument (trade-offs, key dynamics, model fit) in the article; move full calibration tables, parameter lists, and exhaustive scenario grids to supplementary material.
Anti-patterns
- A single-treatment bar chart presented as the main result of a "systems" paper
- Observed-vs-simulated shown without fit statistics, or fit statistics with no plot
- Scenario tables that bury the trade-off instead of plotting the frontier
- Point estimates from one model run with no uncertainty shown
- Color-only encoding that fails in grayscale or for colorblind readers
- Exhibit numbers/values that don't match the deposited model output
Output format
【Main exhibit】what system interaction / trade-off / fit it shows 【Type】trade-off frontier / 1:1 / time series / flow diagram / system diagram / radar 【Self-contained?】caption + labels + units + level + scenario + N? [Y/N] 【Uncertainty shown?】intervals / ensemble / boxplot? [Y/N] 【Article vs supplementary】split decided 【Reproducible?】generated by master workflow, matches package? [Y/N] 【Next】agsy-writing-style
Supplementary resources
../../resources/external_tools.md— plotting, flow-diagram, and mapping tools for systems exhibits../../resources/official-source-map.md— Highlights / graphical-abstract requirements
