256 Shades of Grey

You have all heard this story: apparently a girl has died unexpectedly and now we see her lover wandering the streets on his own with the whole world around him turning BLACK, from young girls' summer dresses to his own heart. People avoid his gaze and black cars are lined up in front of the cemetery. The loss of his love has cast him into a depression which wants even the sun to be blotted out from the sky. These grave thoughts are accompanied by a fierce double-time oriental drum beat and wailing Indian sitar sounds—a sad and desperate love song of a different kind.[1]

The colour BLACK is commonly associated with sadness, sorrow, and mourning, at least in the “Western” world. Physicists may argue that it is not a true colour at all because it absorbs all visible light frequencies, leaving behind something of a spectral void. Its opposite is, of course, WHITE which, by triggering all colour receptors equally strong, creates an impression of universal brightness. In between are many, many shades of GREY, definitely more than fifty[2]—but we won't really go into that one. In fact, the “True Color” system with a colour depth of 24 bits, as commonly used in computers, is able to generate 256 pure shades of grey, the so-called greyscale, offering even more interesting options. Why, you may ask, is that of relevance for The Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeon (ThCVS)?

It is of definite interest for our authors who must read in our instructions that they “will be charged € 845 for the first colour illustration and € 179 for each following one,” and are asked if they are willing to do so. If not, colour illustrations are converted into black-and-white (b/w) ones by the publisher, utilizing the above-mentioned greyscale. The reason for this is printing cost. As our journal is still proud to be a printed medium (in conjunction with the fully electronic eFirst access and its possibilities, of course), this is a real issue. A reproduction in colour requires a different printing machine, the common setup of which will print eight journal pages per printed sheet, even if only one has an illustration in colour. This is expensive. Just compare the cost per page of a b/w laser printer at home to that of an ink-jet one. Coloured and b/w pages have to be joined again to build the volume which makes the whole process even more complex.

Other journals offer colour printing for free. This may seem as an advantage over the ThCVS, but, of course, there is no such thing as a free lunch—or colour print. They subsidize the authors' print files with the colour advertisements they get from the industry. The ThCVS contains comparatively few ads. In the eyes of the editor, this makes it very pleasant to read because you do not have to leaf through countless pages before you reach the first real content. Our cover pages are ideal for colour advertisements because they must be printed differently anyway and this makes them our primary offer to the industry. Keeping the journal uncluttered with nonscientific content, however, has its price (see the free lunch theory above). Here, the authors have to pay it. Even if it hurts a bit, they should realize that many pictures, especially in surgery, do really benefit from colour and should be worth it. And the readership may be additionally attracted to the journal (and thus the article) because it is such an easy read. For each disadvantage, there is usually an advantage. Thank you for keeping paying the fees.

Finally, what about the eternal confusing spelling question: colour and grey rather than color and gray? Or vice versa? Well, the former is used in the UK including England, the latter by Obama in America. Make your choice. Mercifully, Black Is Black.[3]

• References

• 1 Jagger M, Richards K. Paint It, Black. F.12395. Decca Records, London, UK; 1966
• 2 James EL. Fifty Shades of Grey. Vintage Books, New York, USA; 2012
• 3 Hayes T, Wadey S, Grainger M. Black Is Black. F.22419. Decca Records, London, UK; 1966