boxplot - Weird lines appearing in the R graph

Question

Journal in which I am submitting a research paper requires that article should be submitted in PDF-format. I am using R for statistics and graphs.

I have used basic formulas to print my graphs. barplot() for bar charts, boxplot() for boxplots and draw.triple.venn in VennDiagram package. I am not using special commands or formulas for device or graphical parameters.

I print my graphs in R and then copied them "as metafile" to produce high quality graphs.

When i attach these graphs in R they appear just fine. However, when I print my work as PDF in Word these lines appear to graphs.

Example for the first graph:

venn.plot <- draw.triple.venn(45, 34, 32,
14, 5, 11, 3, c(sprintf("Elevated
WB Cr and Co"), sprintf("Mixed       or
solid PT"), sprintf("Moderate to severe
g.minimus atrophy")),
lwd = 4,
lty = 'solid',
cex = 3.5,
fontface = "bold",
fontfamily = "sans",
cat.cex = 1.8,
cat.fontface = "bold",
cat.default.pos = "outer",
cat.pos = c(-20, 20, 180),
cat.dist = c(0.115, 0.115, 0.095),
cat.fontfamily = "sans",
rotation = 1
);

Example for the second: boxplot(df$Crmri~df$gmed2,log="y",yaxt="n",ylim=c(0.3,200)); axis(2,at=c(0,1,2,10,20,100),labels=c("0 ppb","1 ppb","2 ppb","10 ppb","20 ppb","100 ppb"),las=2);

I have several barplots in Word file and after saving as PDF these graphs are just fine.

At first I tried to save those graphs as metafile in R and adding them to Word after but the lines still appear. If I open my EMF-files in any other Viewer those lines are not there.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Answer 1

This has been discussed on r-help before. See:

https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2011-September/289705.html

Seems to be due to the way Word converts documents to PDFs when you use "Save As" and then choose PDF.

If you have Acrobat (not just the reader), printing the document via the Adobe PDF "printer" should get rid of the lines. Otherwise, you may have to consider switching to another graphics format (e.g., png).