| We are frequently requested to give guidance to nervous or inexperienced contributors. By now it will be apparent to readers of the current Journal that this is a question about which the editor is quite relaxed. Nonetheless, and in the interests of potential contributors, we are developing some notes on style which we hope will be of assistance.
What follows is intended in the nature of interim advice.
- Do not be hung up regarding exact compliance with real or imagined stylistic criteria. ALJ is not an academic organ, and you will not be penalised, nor your contribution regarded any the less highly if it fails to comply with some real or imagined protocols. The important thing is to write.
- Nonetheless, there are certain conventions which will make the editor's and typesetter's tasks easier; the most important of these is to give us a disk version of your contribution, preferably in MicroSoft Word for Windows format.
- The AGPS Style Manual and the Macquarie Dictionary are our lodestones. If in doubt, follow them and you will not err irretrievably. Secondary sources such as The Cambridge Australian Style Manual are also useful, as is Stephen Murray-Smith's Right words.
- Citation and reference styles are probably the most contentious issue; we prefer 'modified Harvard' or the author-date system that is in the body (Smith, 1993) of the text. We do not like footnotes and would prefer that you separate the body of your references from the text proper.
- Layout and other apparatus - a considered glance at a current article will show you what is needed: the title of the article, a brief abstract [100 words] and a similarly brief biographical note, including (if you wish) contact details, position held, and of course the body of the article itself.
- Some simple stylistic requirements:
- no double spaces between a full stop and the following sentence
- contractions do not need a full stop following as in Dr or vol
- abbreviations are rarely written - do not use don't
- acronyms are written without full stops, for example RSPCA, ACT
- avoid double paragraph returns
- do not underline for emphasis - use italics
- use single quotes throughout except for embedded quotes [that is, quotes within quotes]
- Refereed versus unrefereed contributions. The editor is aware of the distinctions which are made in some contexts, and acknowledges the limitations of his own expertise; where, in his judgement, recourse to outside advice is desirable, he will forward the contribution to a referee or referees for comment and advice. Where this advice is extensive, and a substantial rewrite is indicated, he will refer the contribution back to the author/s with anonymous copies of such parts of the referees' report/s as may be deemed useful to the author/s.
- Policy on refereeing - a clarification. We have recently been made aware that DETYA requires a that articles should be refereed by persons who are not members of the relevant journal's editorial board, that is, by independent peers. This in fact, has been this Journal's policy since the practice of refereeing was introduced in 1996.�
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