As you have mentioned, Supermongo and IDL are in fact very popular among astronomers. It basically comes down to the programming language the astronomer is using. Matlab, IDL etc are not open source, which doesn't make them the first option to start with. Python on the other hand is open source and very popular in the field of astronomy, and people using Python use matplotlib, which produces publication quality figures. 

Python offers a wider set of choices in graphics packages:

matplotlib produces high-quality non-interactive 2-D and 3-D graphs, and is more than adequate for most scientific graphics. Generating publication-ready output with Python and matplotlib requires less tweaking than with Matlab.

GNU plot is also another option, but unlike matplotlib, it needs small tweaks to produce an attractive figure.

For 3D plots if you may want them, matplotlib does come with a handy inbuilt package called mplot3d.  There are various options available that you can play with, please find the links attached with this answer. 

http://matplotlib.org/

http://matplotlib.org/mpl_toolkits/mplot3d/tutorial.html

Thanks a lot for your Srivatsan. Your answer was really illuminating.

+1 for python+matplotlib.  

One major advantage is that you can integrate the process of scientific computing and generating your plots.  This makes development much, much easier.  

It's true that you could do the same thing in matplotlib or IDL, but both are proprietary, whereas python+matplotlib is open source.  The availability of oodles of scientific computing, data visualisation, and astro-specific packages is also a big plus for python.  

I would suggest that a few years ago python eclipsed IDL as the working environment of choice for astro Ph.D. students (and now postdocs), and is fast becoming a de facto standard.  

That said, you should also check out R, which is primarily a statistics language, but is becoming more and more popular for scientific computing.

Thanks E. N. Taylor for your answer. I am using Gnuplot integrated with latex and with this we can produce high quality eps figures. Also since latex is used there is no issue with using complicated symbols. 

However, I am also using XMGRACE  which I prefer than GNUPLOT for some cases. Resolution of figures with XMGRACE is much better than GNUPLOT, although XMGRACE has the disadvantage that it cannot produce 3D figures.

Hi again Biplob.  You may be interested to know that matplotlib also recognises LaTeX formatting, so that you can get all the amsmath symbols in your plots without any extra work.  It will also allow you to write figures as either .png or vector .pdf or .eps formats, so resolution is not an issue.  If 3D figures are important to you, then you might also want to look in to the s2plot package (linked below), which was developed at Swinburne University, and which allows fully interactive 3D figures.  Very cool!

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/s2plot/index.php?title=S2PLOT

Gnuplot is useful in quick view of your plots. However IDL and SM (SuperMoongo) look good for publication purposes. You can do alot of wonderful  things with these particularly, SM, which I have been personally using. But yea, the problem is IDL and SM are not open-source.

I prefer IDL for everything (spectrographs remote control, data reduction, plotting...). Note that GDL is a good open-source alternative to an official IDL.

It doesn't support widgets, but there are no problems in producing excellent PS-output based on standards IDL-codes

http://gnudatalanguage.sourceforge.net/

I prefer IDL for  everything in Astronomy. Though superMongo is also useful.

If buying a Matlab license is within your indirect cost budget, I advise you to go for it. Over the past 15 years I switched from IDL to Matlab. I also have some experience with Python but Matlab is superior in my opinion when it comes to data analysis, matrix computation, and making cool graphics. Python originally was not meant for astronometrs or other researches dealing with large arrays of data and statistical analysis, whereas Matlab is closer to IDL which used to be the language of choice for professional data analysts. With a little more funds you can also get some "toolboxes" useful to astronomers such as statistical analysis and time signal processing. That said, there are unfortunate things about Matlab too. Yes, they are greedy and want a lot of money from you. To run a parallel computation in Matlab, you need a separate stand-alone license for each core, running the cost to many thousands. The graphical capabilities are fine though and will cover your publication needs. I started to use Mathematica recently too. It is a powerful toll for researchers, but the graphical applications do have some features and even errors and require a lot of trial-and-error approach, so I would not recommend it in all honesty.

MatLab is very good tool for plotting ...

I prefere MATLAB, but I know some my friends which like MATCAD. I suppose that all depend from personal experiance. For plot of results of calculation by MATLAD I preferre very simple program which made my friend Alex Berezin special for this purpose. Vladimir G. Kurt. 

Biplob Sarkar There are many plotting software that astronomers and astrophysicists use for publication, depending on their preferences and needs. Some of the popular ones are:

- PGPLOT: A graphics plotting package that can produce high-quality plots in various formats².

- SuperMongo (SM): A graphics plotting package that has many features and options for customization².

- Karma: A package for visualizing multi-dimensional images, signal and image processing applications¹.

- IDL: A commercial data analysis/visualization package that has many built-in functions and libraries for astronomy¹.

- Mathematica: A commercial mathematical package/environment that can perform symbolic and numerical computations, as well as create interactive graphics¹⁵.

- AstroImageJ: A simple and powerful tool for astronomical image analysis and precise photometry that can handle FITS files and perform aperture photometry, differential photometry, astrometry, image calibration, and more⁴.

-GraphRobot: A free smart web app that can make publication quality plots and automatically select the appropriate statistical analysis for your data³.

Matlab is also a widely used software for scientific computing and visualization, but I could not find any specific references to its use in astronomy or astrophysics publications.

(1) Graphics Guide - AAS Journals. https://journals.aas.org/graphics-guide/.

(2) Astronomical Tools and Software - Australia Telescope National Facility. https://www.atnf.csiro.au/computing/software/index.html.

(3) Wolfram and Mathematica Solutions for Astronomy. https://www.wolfram.com/solutions/industry/astronomy/.

(4) AstroImageJ: A Simple and Powerful Tool for Astronomical ... - astrobites. https://astrobites.org/2016/04/15/astroimagej-a-simple-and-powerful-tool-for-astronomical-image-analysis-and-precise-photometry/.

(5) Best open-source free software for plotting scientific graphs?. https://www.researchgate.net/post/Best_open-source_free_software_for_plotting_scientific_graphs.