How to handle the citation of charts and graphs in an article?

Charts and graphs in academic writing require proper attribution to acknowledge the source of the data or the reproduced figure itself. Like textual information, they demand citation to uphold academic integrity and avoid plagiarism. Key principles involve including essential source information directly in the figure caption. This typically comprises the author(s), year of publication, title of the source, and specific location (e.g., page or figure number). When reproducing a figure from another source, "Adapted from" or "Reprinted from" must precede the source citation in the caption to denote modification or direct replication; permission is mandatory for significant reuse. Always adhere to the specific style guide (e.g., APA, Chicago, IEEE) mandated by your publication or institution for precise formatting rules. Remember, copyright clearance may be needed beyond citation if republishing copyrighted figures. For implementation, first identify the chart's source: if original and based on your own data analysis, a simple caption describing the content suffices. If you created the chart using data from an external source, cite the data source in the caption as "Data from..." along with the citation details. If you reproduced or significantly adapted an existing chart from another work, use "Adapted from..." or "Reprinted from..." followed by the complete source citation within the caption, ensuring necessary permissions are secured before final publication.