Editorial Guidelines for Digital Publications

Introduction

ISAW publishes two main forms of digital works, stand-alone book-length works and articles published via ISAW Papers. Book length works appear in-print via a partnership with NYU Press and also online via a partnership with the NYU Library. Articles in ISAW Papers appear online via the library. While ISAW's digital publication efforts are in their early stages, both forms of publication are already available. R. Bagnall and G. Ruffini's Amheida I: Ostratka from Trimithis 1 is available from the press and the text is online in a preliminary state. Articles have begun to appear in ISAW Papers, with more in the editorial process.

This page describes general considerations and provides specific guidelines for authors submitting works to ISAW's digital publications program. Because ISAW's disciplinary scope is extremely broad, there is no expectation that every book and article will adhere to the same, very detailed set of editorial conventions. ISAW's editorial teams also recognizes and embraces the fact that different disciplines have established varied practices that meet their needs. We do ask authors to be consistent in the application of whatever conventions they use within a single workd and to be aware of how those conventions might need to be adapted for use in a richly-linked online environment.

Authors should also be keep in mind that this document is a work in progress. Best-practices for digital publication of high-quality scholarly research are still in active development as new tools and techniques become available. At ISAW we have incorporated certain principles into our early design. These include a commitment to open licenses, the use of pre-existing standards for text encoding, a preference for linking to stable and public URIs to identify references and concepts within an article, and a commitment to the long-term preservation of articles through a partnership with the NYU library system. While currently beyond the scope of this document, the ISAW digital publications initiative is also committed to the development of tools that lower the cost of creating high-quality digital content.

General Considerations

ISAW Papers publishes article-length works on any topic related to ISAW's research agenda. Most submissions will be between 10 and 50 pages  (3,000 to 15,000 words) and will resemble print-based articles in scope and format. We are open to articles that take unique advantage of online capabilities. Book-length works can be of any length.

For the time being we are particularly interested in publishing works by members of the ISAW community but are open to external submissions as well, particularly for ISAW Papers.

When writing for digital publication, authors should keep in mind that the nature of the online environment has implications for the vocabulary used to describe parts of a document. Specifically, digital pubilcations do not have pages. Authors therefore should not make reference to specific pages in the body-text of an article or in notes. As part of the editorial process, unique identifiers will be assigned to all paragraphs and to other components of an article, such as figures, tables, and major sections. Authors can therefore make reference to individual components of a text. All such cross-reference should be marked in the submitted manuscript.

While digital publications can have notes, it is not technically correct to call these footnotes, a term that implies positioning at the bottom of a page. All notes in an digital work are therefore endnotes, which is the preferred term here. In the course of formatting for different reading environments - ranging from screen to print - endnotes may be rendered as footnotes.

One reason to publish material online is to enable links to relevant resources - such as digital versions of cited books and articles, objects in museum collections or field databases, and further descriptions of individuals and places mentioned in the the text. Linking to stable URIs, or web addresses, for all these categories of information provides direct benefit to readers and also makes each article more likely to be found via special purpose and generalized search engines.

The benefits of linking to stable URIs suggest the following practical steps:

  • Items listed in each article's bibliography should be accompanied by links to digital versions when available, particularly for articles. In the case of books, links should be made to Worldcat or the US Library of Congress. See the section 'Bibliography and Citation' for more discussion.
  • Authors can link references to people and places to relevant URIs on Wikipedia, Geonames.org, and Pleiades. If an article makes repeated reference to the same entity, this can be listed as a keyword, with only the keyword being linked to the URI.

Submission and Review

ISAW Papers

There are two forms of review by which articles can be published in ISAW Papers. Articles submitted directly to the editors will be externally reviewed by at least one expert reader. Papers forwarded to the editors by a member of ISAW's faculty can be published on the basis of that faculty members endorsement. Each article will clearly indicate which review process led to its publication.

Potential authors should contact the editors with a brief proposal (one paragraph) describing the nature of a proposed article. Please do not write directly to members of the ISAW faculty.

Book-length works

ISAW sends all book-length works to external readers. After that initial round, which can include an opportunity for authors to respond to comments, the manuscript is sent to NYU Press for consideration. The Press makes its own decision as to its participation in the publication of the work.

Copyright and Creative Commons License

Book-length works are distributed online using either the Creative Commons (CC) "Attribution" license (CC-BY) or the CC Attribution Non-Commerical license (CC-BY-NC). By agreement with the NYU Press, CC-BY-NC is used for a period while the book is in print, after which time all content will be available under the CC-BY license. Articles in ISAW Papers appear only under the CC-BY license.

Book-length works

Author of book-length works will sign a contract that gives ISAW and its partners the right distribute the work, including the right to distribute the work under CC-BY and CC-BY-NC licenses. Authors should refer to that document for details.

ISAW Papers

All articles in ISAW Papers must be submitted, and are then distributed, under the Creative Commons Attribution License (unported, version 3.0 or later) or CC-By.

 

Language and Style

The language of ISAW digital publicaions is English, with the preferred idiom and spelling being American English. Style should conform to one of the standard guides for scholarly writing, such as those from the MLA or the Chicago Manual of Style.

Because ISAW is committed to creating connections across scholarly disciplines, we encourage authors to make their articles readable by experts in other disciplines. Shorter articles that present new information may be more narrowly targeted but large-scale studies should be written so as to have a wide impact.

Format of Submitted Files

For the time being, Microsoft Word or Open Office files are preferred. Do not submit only as PDF. In the case of unusual formatting or characters, a PDF may be useful in ensuring the intent of the author is successfully communicated to the editors.

Images

Images should be submitted as individual files with a consistent naming pattern that matches how they are identified in the text. As in, a photograph that is described as "Figure 9" should have the filename "figure09.jpg". Consistency is the most important criterion.

Authors should submit high-resolution images. Within reason, there is no limit to the file size and more detail will mean that images will continue to look good as screen resolution improves. A rule of thumb is that photographs should be at least 2000 pixels wide.

Fonts

All articles must use Unicode fonts. Many word processing applications, including Microsoft Word and Open Office, will correctly handle most character sets. Questions about character encoding can be directed to the editors.

Title

The title of an article should promote its discovery via search tools such as Google.

Abstract

Authors should supply a one-paragraph English abstract that summarizes the main points of the article. Abstracts in other languages can also be submitted.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Authors can supply a list of LOC Subject Headings that describe the content within the document.  The editors may supplement or change the subjects supplied by the authors. LoC Subject Headings can be search at http://id.loc.gov/

Headings

Hierarchical headings should be consistently used to divide an article into well-defined sections. The final appearance of the heading will be set by the editors.

Notes

As described in the section 'Bibliography and Citations', notes can be used to communicate references to secondary literature. Lengthy notes that supplement the main text by making additional points should be avoided.

For articles that do use notes, these should be continuously numbered from 1 onwards. An opening note associated with the title or author list can be indicated by a '*', '†' or similar character.

Bibliography and Citations

Bibliography

Every article in ISAW Papers must have a bibliography listing all titles cited. The bibliography should not include titles that are not cited in the article.

Authors have leeway in the particular format they use for listing titles. Examples of well thought-out formats can be found in:

In addition to the conventions described in these existing guides, authors should supply a link to an online version of a listed title if one is available. For articles and books with more than 50 items in the bibliography, authors must supply such links.

Citations

Citations of secondary literature can appear in the text or in endnotes and should refer to the titles listed in the bibliography.

In-text citations should be marked off by parentheses: as in, "(Smith 2009, p. 100)" or " ... as Smith (2009:100) establishes ...". Authors only need to be consistent.

References in endnotes should also refer to the bibliography of titles cited.

Significant variation from either of these widely used approaches should be discussed with the editors prior to submission.

Conventions such as ibid., supra, op. cit. cannot be used.

Links to Stable Resources

Authors may choose to link certain words or phrases in their text to other resources available on the public internet. This is encouraged as it helps create a richly-linked research environment in which concepts are more discoverable. AS part of the editorial process, ISAW may add such links to document prior to publication.

While ISAW does not specifically endorse any third party sites, authors should consider using the following as well-known identifiers for concepts and other publications appearing or cited in their articles:

  • Wikipedia
  • JSTOR
  • Worldcat
  • Pleiades
  • geonames.org
  • Trismegistos
  • Papyri.info

Lists of stable resource for the classical world are available on the wiki pages of Digital Classicist: Archaeological Collections and Aggregators, Digital Encyclopedias, Museum Collections, Text Corpora.

Illustrations and Figures

Authors are responsible for submitting all illustrations and figures. These should also be submitted under a Creative Commons or compatible license. If authors cannot obtain images that are available under such a license, a link to a stable version of the image that is maintained by another institution or repository is acceptable.

There are no set standards for the size or resolution of images. Authors should submit high-quality images that will continue to effectively communicate their intended point as screen and printing technologies improve.

Tables

Authors should use the standard tools in their preferred word processor to format tables. The appearance of tables should be kept simple. The final details of exact padding, background, header format, etc. is up to the editors. Authors should note any details of line-wrapping or alignment that particularly affect the information that a table communicates.

References to Ancient Authors and Texts

There is no single list of standardized names that will include all the ancient authors and texts that are likely to appear in ISAW Papers. Accordingly, names of authors and texts cited should be consistent within each article. It may be useful for authors to indicate which convention or list they are using.

Quotation of Primary Sources (and Secondary Sources in Other Languages??)

Translations should be provided of all non-english passages. These can appear in the text or in an endnote.

Catalogs

ISAW Papers can publish lengthy catalogs of objects or texts that contribute to the argument being made in analytical sections, along with complete visual documentation. Each catalog entry must have a unique identifier, with a simple sequence of numbers being preferred, perhaps with major divisions. Authors should work to make the structure of each entry is highly standardized and repetitive.

Supporting Data and Files

Articles can refer to supporting data that is simultaneously published in files that are included as part of the publication. Authors have discretion in how best to represent such data, with the proviso that proprietary formats -such as Excel spreadsheets - are not acceptable.

Preferred Specific Conventions

Numbers

Numbers up to nine are spelled out, 10 and above written as numerals. Use commas for numbers over 999, "1,000". Do not mix numerals and words: "there were 20 of one and 3 of the other."

Dates

Authors may use B.C/A.D. or B.C.E./C.E. at their discretion. Use of other eras should only occur when they contribute to the argument of an article. For example, comparison of the use of different eras by different political entities. In such instances, the relationship to our modern era should be clear.

Examples of correctly expressed dates are:

  • 323 B.C.
  • 8th century B.C.E.
  • A.D. 14
  • 4th century A.D.
  • 161 to 180 A.D., 160 to 161 A.D., (161 - 180 A.D.)
  • 1900 A.D. (Do not use commas in dates)
  • 180s (no apostrophe)
  • 12th century
  • third century

The abbreviations 'b.p.' can be used for 'before present' when citing or publishing the results of scientific analysis. Authors should be clear as to whether or not such dates are calibrated to some known standard.

Chronological Periods

Broad historical periods should not be capitalized: "early middle ages", but "early Roman". Specific archaeological phases should be capitalized: "Phase 3b", "Late Helladic IIIc".

Foreign Terms and Phrases

Common foreign terms with an accepted English meaning can remain unitalicized. For example, "raison d'etre" does not need to be italicized. Other foreign words and terms should be italicized, as in "vir clarissimus".