House style Navigation
Spelling and hyphenation
British style or US style?
OUP house style
Numbers, dates, and units of measure
Introduction
‘House style’ is the set of conventions adopted by a publishing house such as OUP, covering such elements as spelling, punctuation, text formatting, abbreviations, acceptable language, numbers, dates, and units of measure. OUP’s house style will be applied to your manuscript during production. If you do not want it to be applied, please speak to your OUP editorial contact.
Once you have signed a publishing contract with OUP, you will be eligible for free access to Oxford Dictionaries Pro, OUP’s current English dictionary, thesaurus, and language reference website. The site offers quick access to definitions of words, phrases, and idioms; expert guidance on style and usage, grammar, and spelling; and specialist guides for professional writers, as well as the valuable resource, New Hart’s Rules: The Oxford style guide. (Oxford University Press, 2014). Please ask your OUP editorial contact for more information on how to gain access this site. Please note: If there is a conflict between New Hart’s Rules and these Instructions for Authors, these Instructions for Authors take precedence.
When reproducing quoted material, you should copy it verbatim from your source. Do not alter the spelling, capitalization, punctuation, or any other aspect of the original style to match with of your manuscript. With regards to notes and references, follow the title page of the original source for wording, such as author name and spelling of the title. However, capitalization and punctuation should match OUP house style rules.
Spelling and hyphenation
Spelling and hyphenation must be consistent throughout your text. Keep a list of the spelling and hyphenation choices you make and refer to it as you write. Submit the list with your manuscript for your copy editor to reference.
Use a good dictionary when writing. We recommend:
- the Concise Oxford English Dictionary for British style and spelling
- the New Oxford American Dictionary for US style and spelling.
British style or US style?
Choosing between UK and US style will depend on:
- the nationality of the author(s)
- the type and subject of your book
- the intended readership and market.
The choice you make will affect vocabulary, idioms, spelling, and punctuation. Consistency of style within a text is crucial. Editors of multi-contributor volumes should agree with their OUP editorial contact whether consistency should be within individual chapters or across the title as a whole.
OUP house style
Serial or Oxford comma
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| The serial or Oxford comma is a hallmark of OUP house style and must be used in both British and US style. | red, white, and blue |
| In a list of three or more items, insert a comma before the ‘and’ or ‘or’. | feminine, masculine, or neuter |
| Note that no comma is used when there are only two items in a list. | convex and concave |
Ellipsis
An ellipsis (three points ‘. . .’) is used to indicate content omitted from a quotation.
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| You should use three full points, spaced equally from each other and from the words either side. | Political language . . . is designed to make lies sound truthful. |
| Where the preceding sentence ends immediately before the ellipsis, retain the punctuation. | A nightingale began to sing. . . . It was a strange sound to hear. Where was Godfrey? . . . They said he was murdered yesterday. |
-ize, -yse, and -yze endings
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| OUP house style for British style also takes -ize, -ization, -izing endings; however, a 'z' may not be substituted for 's' in words ending -yse. | materialize analyse paralyse |
| US style always chooses -ize, -ization, -izing endings as well as -yze endings. | materialize analyze paralyze |
Hyphens
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| Used to join words together to form compound terms and expressions. | short-lived |
| There are often no hard-and-fast rules, so consult your dictionary to determine whether two elements should be hyphenated, run together, or set as single words, and apply one form consistently. | airstream, air stream, or air-stream |
| There are particular rules governing placement of hyphens in compound terms and expressions depending on how the terms and expressions are made up. | a well-known story (meaning the story is well known) |
| Words with prefixes are usually written without hyphens unless there is a collision of vowels or consonants. | predetermine multinational but anti-intellectual pre-eminent |
| Note that ‘cooperate’ and ‘coordinate’ should be spelt without a hyphen. |
En rules –
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| Longer than a hyphen.* | |
| Used to close up elements that form a range. | pp. 23–36 1939–45 |
| Used to express a connection or relation between words; roughly meaning ‘to’ or ‘and’. | Monday–Saturday Dover–Calais |
| Sometimes used instead of a solidus (/). | editor–author relationship on–off relationship |
Em rules —
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| Twice the length of an en rule.* | |
Oxford style uses it as a parenthetical dash. No space is required either side of the em rule. | There is nothing—absolutely nothing—half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. |
*Tip: To insert a rule or dash in MS Word, go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols > Special Characters, then select and insert.
Quotations
Use varies depending on whether British or US style is employed. Quotation marks are not used around displayed (or block) quotations (as opposed to those run on in the main text). Generally, quotations of less than fifty words are run on; those more than fifty words, displayed.
British style quotation marks
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
Use single quotation marks first. Use double quotation marks for quoted matter within a quotation. | Weber saw it as embodying ‘the typical power of the “non-economic”’ ‘Have you any idea what “red mercury” is?’ |
| When quoting a complete sentence, place punctuation within the quotation marks. | Rather than mince words she told them: ‘You have forced this move upon me.’ |
| When quoting a word or incomplete sentence, place punctuation outside the quotation. | Why does he use the word ‘poison’? No one should ‘follow a multitude to do evil’, as the Scripture says. |
US style quotation marks
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
Use double quotation marks first. Use single quotation marks for quoted matter within a quotation. | Weber saw it as embodying “the typical power of the ‘non-economic.’” “Have you any idea what ‘red mercury’ is?” |
| Always place commas and periods inside the closing quotation mark, regardless of whether or not it is part of the quoted material. Colons and semicolons—unlike periods and commas—following closing quotation marks; question marks and exclamation points follow closing quotation marks unless they belong within the quoted matter. | Why does he use the word “poison”? |
Capitalization
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
Keep the use of capitalized letters to a minimum. | |
| Use capital letters only for proper nouns, and for the initial letters of the full formal names of institutions, organizations, buildings, and the like. |
|
| Do not use capital letters for common nouns. |
|
For guidance on capitalization in bibliographies see‘Referencing styles’.
Use of italics, Roman, and bold text
Non-italicized font is known as ‘Roman’. Consistent application of italics throughout the text is crucial.
Use of italics
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| For foreign words. | thecatenacciodefensive system employed by the Italians |
| For binomial nomenclature. | hom*o sapiens |
| For titles of books, journals, works of art, films, and other self-contained works. | A Christmas Carol Journal of Infectious Diseases Mona Lisa The Times West Side Story |
Use of Roman
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| For the names of places and institutions. | Pont du Gard Österreichische Nationalbibliothek |
| For commonly used Latin abbreviations (note that in some areas, such as Academic and Practitioner Law, full points are omitted). | i.e. e.g. viz. |
| When terminology has become the accepted language of your discipline; look at other examples of OUP publishing in your area or speak to your OUP editor for advice on what is relevant for you. | |
| For foreign or Latin words that have become naturalized into English; sometimes this will be obvious but not always; it is wise to check a current dictionary will advise. A list of the most common terms and their presentation is provided below. | It was a delicious croissant. |
| Roman | italic |
|---|---|
| a posteriori a priori ad hoc ad infinitum ad nauseam de facto en route et al. fait accompli id. inter alia laissez-faire par excellence per se prima facie vis-à-vis | c. (circa) de novo ex parte ex post facto in situ joie de vivre passim raison d‘être stare decisis |
Use of bold text
in some titles, like textbooks, bold is used for key terms or concepts to be distinguished at the point of introduction. This device must be used systematically if readers are to find it helpful. Example: A kangaroo is amarsupial.
Abbreviations - format
Abbreviations fall into three categories. US style uses more full points than British style.
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| Abbreviations omit the end of a word or words. In general, include a full point at the end (note that in some disciplines no full points are used; check with your OUP Editor if you are unsure). | Lieut. cent. assoc. |
| Contractions omit the middle of a word or words. Do not include any full points in British style. | British style Dr US style Dr. |
| Acronyms are formed from the initial letters of words. Do not include any full points. | AWOL NATO |
Abbreviations – usage
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| At the start of each chapter, place abbreviation in parentheses after the first occurrence of the full term. Thereafter, within each chapter, an abbreviation may be used without explanation. | The research was carried out by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) in July 2007. |
| For work titles (books, plays, journals, and so on), the opposite applies; abbreviation should be followed by text in parentheses. | Arist. Metaph. (Aristotle’s Metaphysics) DNB (Dictionary of National Biography) |
| If appropriate, include a ‘List of Abbreviations’ in the prelims. Construct this as you write and layout alphabetically by abbreviation in two columns as shown | OED Oxford English Dictionary OGC Office of Government Commerce ONS Office for National Statistics |
| Do not use terms such as ‘op.cit.’, ‘id.’ and ‘c.f.’. As with ‘see above’ and ‘see opposite’, such terminology is irrelevant in digital form, where the page may be formatted differently and artwork, tables, and references are linked rather than placed in the text. This is to ensure the manuscript is properly formatted for any future digital publication (seeNotes, References, and Bibliographical Lists). |
Acceptable language
While writing and before finally submitting your manuscript, ensure you have observed the following advice about language:
- Text is clear and concise.
- Unnecessary repetition has been avoided.
- Arguments unfold clearly and logically.
- Parochial references such as ‘this country’ or ‘our legal system’, have been avoided. Be specific in identifying people, places, institutions, and other entities in full so it is clear for international readers.
- No form of language or expression has been used that could be interpreted by a reader as racist, sexist, derogatory of a particular religion or creed, or otherwise offensive.
- Gender-specific pronouns (‘he’, ‘his’, ‘him’, and so on) have been avoided in any reference relevant to males and females. To achieve this, pluralize the references, repeat the noun, use the passive voice, or use both pronoun forms (although this last solution should be used only occasionally).
Numbers, dates, and units of measure
The following table provides specific guidance on OUP’s house style for numbers, dates, and units of measure:
Numbers
Words or figures?
Normally there is a threshold below which numbers are expressed in words and above which figures are used. The threshold varies depending on the context and discipline, but in general:
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| Humanities, Social Science, and Law titles spell out numbers up to and including ninety-nine and use figures from 100. (Note that compound numbers are hyphenated.) | four twenty-five eighty 117 |
| Science titles spell out up to and including ten and use figures from 11. | ten 87 |
| Exceptions are as follows: units of measurement (figures) dates (figures) people’s ages (figures) approximate numbers (words) at the beginning of a sentence (words) round numbers of a million or more (figures and words) | 30 kilometres 9 September 2001 She was 58 years old. At least a thousand people came. Two hundred and fifty gold bars were stolen. £8.5 million |
Note that a billion is now understood to mean a thousand million (1,000,000,000 or 109) and not (as formerly in British practice) a million million (1012).
Formatting figures
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| In non-technical texts, separate using commas, not space, in numbers of four digits or more. | 1,000 250,000 |
Note that in texts where numbers are frequently used:
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| Remove the comma for numbers of four digits or more. | 1000 |
| Insert a thin space for numbers of five digits or more. | 250 000 |
| For decimal quantities of less than one, insert a zero before the point. Use a full point on the line for the decimal point (not at midline). | 0.5 0.768 |
Omit as many digits as possible in number ranges. | 25–6 100–2 1,001–22 |
| Donotomit digits between 10 and 19 in any hundred | 10–11, 118–19 |
Use an en rule (–) between the numbers in a range (pp. 23–36, 1939–45, or 9.30–5.30)
Dates
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| British style formulates as: day, month, year. | 11 November 1918 |
| US style formulates as: month, day, year, and includes a comma before and after the year. | On November 11, 1918, the entire world |
| Omit as many digits as possible in date ranges, except where dates cross centuries. | 1866–1901,not 1866–901 |
Units of measure
Follow normal practice in your discipline or subject. Generally, abbreviations are less acceptable in the main text and more acceptable in tables and artwork.
| Description | Examples |
|---|---|
| Use metric measures, except where the historical context makes this unsuitable. | Louis Pasteur recommended heating milk to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. |
| Scientific disciplines follow the relevant practices by the Royal Society and the Système International (SI), particularly for styling symbols and units. | |
| When an abbreviated unit is used with a number, the number should be followed by a space. | 10 g 1.423 km |
