House Style Guide – Summary for Authors
About this Document
This document provides advice for Wiley authors seeking presentational guidance on the most common points of style.
A full version of Wiley’s House Style – the Wiley Content Guidelines – can be found here. Wiley’s typesetters and copyeditors will apply the House Style as standard during the production of your title.
For any issue not covered by our guidelines, please present consistently in a style that is acceptable in your field or apply guidance from the Chicago Manual of Style (CMS), 16e: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org.
Other Styles
Please inform your project editor (or relevant Wiley contact) if you have followed any other style (e.g. APA) that your readership will require be retained. We can then take this into account during production.
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Abbreviations
Accounting
Acronyms
Ampersands
APA style
Appendices
Chapter sections
Chemistry
Computing
Consistency (references)
Contractions
Credits
Cross-references
Dates
Decades
Endnotes
Figures
Footnotes
Harvard style
Headings
Initials
Italics
Latinisms
Life Sciences
Mathematics
Notes
Numbers
Offensive, Defamatory, or Libelous Content
Other styles
Quotation marks
Part sections
Permissions
Possessive for names ending in “s”
References
Scientific units
Sections
Serial comma
Sources
Spelling Style
Tables
Third party material
Trademarks
Web addresses/URLs
Vancouver style
Abbreviations
· Abbreviations formed by omitting the end of the word or where words are followed by a period (e.g. Inc. not Inc, Co. not Co, Mass. not Mass).
· Unless you are using Standard International (SI) units or chemical symbols, abbreviations should be spelled out in full at first use in each chapter with the abbreviation given in parentheses.
· Time: a.m. and p.m. should be lower case with periods.
· Do not use periods in abbreviations of academic degrees or professional and religious designations (e.g. MBA not M.B.A, PhD not Ph.D., RN not R.N.).
· See References section for information on abbreviation of journal titles.
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Acronyms
· Plurals of acronyms do not take an apostrophe (e.g. ABCs not ABC’s).
· Capitalized acronyms do not use periods (e.g. USA, US, UK not U.S.A, U.S., U.K.).
· Lower-case acronyms do not use periods (e.g. bpm not bpm. or b.p.m.).
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Ampersands
· Do not include ampersands in the text, unless they appear in the name of a company or organization, e.g. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Marks & Spencer, Ernst & Young, etc.
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APA style
· We also support work presented in APA style and will retain that style during production on request. Please notify your project editor (or relevant Wiley contact) if APA has been consistently applied or you want it to be applied.
Appendices
Title
· Each appendix must have a title and each must be listed in any contents pages. For example chapter-level appendices in the main contents and heading-level appendices in the detailed contents if these present in the prelims or chapter openers.
Position
· Appendices either appear at the end of the chapter or at the end of the book.
End-of-chapter appendices
· Occasionally chapters may have their own appendices at the end of the chapter. In this case, the number should appear as, e.g. Appendix 3.A, 3.B, etc. for appendices to Chapter 3. They should appear before the references and/or further reading sections.
Figures and tables in end-of-chapter appendices
· Figures and tables within these chapter-end appendices should be numbered as follows: Figure 3.A.1, Figure 3.A.2, etc. (e.g. the first figure in the first appendix at the end of Chapter 3).
End-of-book appendices
· Appendices should appear before the references and/or further reading sections
Figures and tables in end-of-book appendices
· Figures and tables within appendices should be numbered as follows: Figure A.1, Table C.2, etc.
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Contractions
· US style: Contractions (i.e. words minus their middle parts but still with their final letter) should end with a period (e.g. Mr. not Mr, Mrs. not Mrs, Ltd. not Ltd).
· UK style: do not end contractions (i.e. words minus their middle parts but still end with their final letter) with a period (e.g. Mr not Mr., Mrs not Mrs., Ltd not Ltd.).
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Cross-references
· Where specific chapters, sections, figures, parts, tables, etc. are referred to in the text they should take an initial cap (e.g. Chapter 6, Section 1.3). Use lower-case “c” for references to chapters in other books (e.g. “As Chen says in chapter 4 of her…”).
· Ensure any cross-references refer to a fixed element in the text (e.g. see Figure 1.1 or see Section 4.3 not see above, see below, or see page 000.
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Dates
· Order should be day/month/year without internal punctuation (e.g. 2 October 2007).
· Where a named day is given before the date use a comma (e.g. Tuesday, 2 October 2007).
· If year is not specified, follow same order (e.g. on 2 October he left for Madrid).
· Do not use “st”, “nd”, “rd”, or “th”, except in quoted material.
· For clarity – so as to not confuse US/UK readers – always use 2 October 2007 style in the text rather than 02/10/07 or any variant.
· Spell out the names of centuries (no caps), e.g. the twentieth century not the 20th C., the 20th century, etc.
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Decades
· Do not include apostrophes in decades (e.g. 1920s not 1920’s) unless the apostrophe must be used to indicate possession (e.g. the 1960s’ cohort).
· Do not abbreviate decades (e.g. 1960s not ‘60s).
· Decades can be spelled out (e.g. sixties).
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Figures and Tables
· The rules below apply to tables as well as figures.
Numbering
· Use double numeration – numbered through the chapter with Arabic numerals: Chapter number + Figure number (Figure 1.1, Figure 1.2, etc.).
· Numbered figures must be cited within the text (e.g. see Figure 1.1).
Unnumbered figures
· Figures do not need to be numbered unless they are captioned or cross-referenced in the text. It is acceptable to have a mix of numbered and unnumbered figures. You must make it clear, however, where the unnumbered figures should appear in the text.
Figure parts
· Parts of figures are to be designated (a), (b), (c), etc. in the caption – i.e. lower case letters within parentheses – not (1), (2) or *, †, etc. Parentheses enclose the letter that labels the separate parts of figures in captions and on the figures themselves, but not in the text citations of figures (e.g. see Figure 1.1b not see Figure 1.1(b). Separate the descriptions of the parts in the caption using semi-colons.
Cross-references
· Cross-references within the text to figures must be upper and lower case, and never abbreviated (e.g. see Figure 1.1. not see Fig. 1.1).
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Italics
· Use italic for the title of a publication, play, musical, TV/radio program, film, video game, ship (e.g. The Lancet, Kiss Me Kate, The Godfather, SS Eisenhower).
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Latinisms
· Do not italicize the following Latinisms: i.e., e.g., via, vice versa, etc., a posteriori, et al., cf., c. (where c. signifies circa, rather than ca.).
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Notes
· Notes should be numbered 1-x throughout the chapter, never with the symbols *, †, etc.
· End-of-chapter placement for notes will be applied as the house style. If it’s essential that positioning is at the foot of the page or at the end of your book, please inform your project editor when you submit your final MS to Wiley.
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Numbers
· Spell out numbers below 10 unless used in conjunction with a unit of measurement (e.g. 5 kg not five kg; Five children not 5 children).
· Use numerals rather than words spelled out when used in conjunction with % (e.g. 5% not five percent or 5 percent).
· For precise values of 10 and greater use numerals.
· Where numbers are approximate words should be used (e.g. around five hundred).
· However, where the number is approximate but more complicated, use numerals (e.g. about 2.5 million years ago not about two-and-a-half million years ago).
· Use numerals for: mixed numbers (an integer and a proper fraction), fractions, ages, dates (except centuries), mathematical terms, probabilities, ratios, numbered items (e.g. pages, chapters, “type 1”, “step 2”, etc.).
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Offensive, Defamatory, or Libelous Content
· Please do not include disrespectful/dismissive/rude attitudes towards other beliefs, cultures, individuals or accusations or wrongdoing by groups/individuals.
· Swear words (profanity) are acceptable in quotations from third-party material. For visual profanity please seek advice of your project editor.
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Permissions
Source and credit lines
· Provide a source, and a credit to the rightsholder, for all third-party material used in your work. This “attribution” ensures you conform to our publication ethics by making it clear wherever material is not original to you and that its use in your publication is authorized.
· Always introduce source information using the wording “Source:” and place this after the description of the material being used. The source is the publication or location from which third-party material has been obtained. This will most usually be a book or journal, a photo vendor (e.g. museum, gallery, or dedicated image vendor such as Getty Images), or an individual/employer.
· Credits are standardly placed following the source location. They act as an explicit acknowledgement to the rightsholder that they hold the rights to the content being used and have given permission for its reuse in the publication. The credit may also include a copyright line if requested by the rightsholder.
· Never add a credit to the rightsholder unless you have obtained permission for reuse.
· For transparency and absence of doubt, especially where a chapter has a mix of original and third-party assets, best practice is to self-attribute any original work being published for the first time as follows (Jane Smith being the author of the chapter in this instance): Source: Jane Smith. Alternatively, when you submit final content to your project editor, confirm that all material without attribution is original work by you or your contributors.
· If no third-party source/credit information is provided for any third-party material, your Wiley project editor will ask for confirmation that this material is original to the author of the chapter.
How to present source and credit lines
· Figures and tables: Use the author-date shorthand and the standard credit (i.e. “Reproduced with permission of X” – with X being the name of the rightsholder). The full citation must be included in the end-of-chapter references. For example:
o Harvard system: Source: Smith 1990. Reproduced with permission of Elsevier.
o Vancouver system: Source: Source: [17]. Reproduced with permission of Elsevier.
Or, where you want to provide a more detailed reference to the original material:
Source: Smith 1990, figure 12.2 (p. 198). Reproduced with permission of Elsevier.
Source: [17], figure 12.2 (p.198). Reproduced with permission of Elsevier.
· Photos: add the source and any image reference number/ credit/copyright line specified by the rightsholder. For example:
o Source: Private Collection/ The Bridgeman Art Library, DACS 2011. Reproduced with permission of the Towner Museum, Eastbourne, and © Estate of Eric Ravilious.
If no credit line is specified, generate photo credit in this form
o Source: Shutterstock/Travis Smith. Reproduced with permission of Shutterstock.
· For material used with the permission of a colleague/employer:
o Source: Courtesy of John Smith.
o Source: Courtesy of BASF AG.
· For author’s original work being published for the first time:
o Figure 2.7. Synergistic mutual effects through the food web and environment between hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus x O.aureus) and the bottom feeder common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Source: Jane Smith.
· For material modified by the author with permission of rightsholders always indicate this modification using one of the following expressions: “Adapted from”, “Modified from,” or “After”. For example:
o Figure 2.7. Synergistic mutual effects through the food web and environment between hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus x O.aureus) and the bottom feeder common carp (Cyprinus carpio). Source: Adapted from Smith 1990 (figure 3.17) and Jones 2016 (figure 17.2). Reproduced with permission of Elsevier.
· For material licensed under Creative Commons or similar you must always attribute fully by providing the author/originator name, a link to the online location, and the CC license information (with license number, e.g. 1.0, 2.0, etc., where available). There is no need to provide a link to the online CC license. For example:
o Source: Jorgebarrios, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Valdivia.JPG. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
· For public domain or fair use (as defined by Wiley) material that did not require permission to be obtained always indicate this after the source for clarity. For example:
o Source: Smith 1864 (p. 198). Public domain.
o Source: Best Movie Ever (2017). Directed by Steven Spielberg. Produced by Universal/Goldstar Productions/Rox Media, Inc. Fair use.
· Copyright lines where required are expressed as follows: © 2017 Science Images. Use the copyright symbol without spelling out word “copyright”.
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Possessive for names ending in “s”
· Make the possessive of singular names ending in “s” by using an apostrophe followed by a second “s” (e.g. Rawls’s philosophy not Rawls’ philosophy).
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Quotation marks
· US style: Use double quotation marks, except for quotes within quotes, which should take single quotation marks.
· UK style: Use single quotation marks, except for quotes within quotes, which should take double quotation marks.
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References
· Click here for examples of different reference types and how these should be cited in the text.
Choice of Harvard or Vancouver
· You can choose to use either the Harvard or Vancouver referencing system but ensure that you use one system consistently throughout.
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Harvard references and in-text citations
· References should appear in alphabetical order by author surname with multiple books by the same author(s) arranged in chronological order.