Style guide for Australiana

Australiana is one of the few places where you can publish articles on Australian art, decorative arts and manufactures. We aim to publish material that is engaging, well-written, well-illustrated, authoritative, reliable, accurate, comprehensive and puts objects into context.

Australiana is published quarterly in February, May, August and November. Please contact the editor to discuss your proposed submission or send a brief outline or draft. You can submit articles at any time, but if you want it in a specific issue then contact the editor to check space availability and deadline.

Submissions should be topical, original and well-illustrated. We prefer articles from 500 to 3,000 words, although inevitably we consider longer articles. If you are writing about items in your own or other collections, put them into a broader context. Puff pieces are not acceptable. Material taken from another source must be referenced. Direct quotes should be accurate and in quotation marks.

Expect to have your article edited. You may be asked to include other material or to reduce the length of parts of your article. We may suggest other images. The editor refers articles to other authorities for anonymous peer review by acknowledged experts in the field.

Typically, you need to submit three things, preferably all in digital format:

1. Text, with a short author biography, acknowledgements and notes.
2. Imagesof good quality, hi-res and copyright-cleared for publication. Number the digital image files consecutively (1,2,3…) so we can match them with the text references and captions. Include a portrait of the author(s).
3. Captions numbered consecutively to match the images.

The editor will help you improve your contribution, as we cannot change it once it is in print. We can be flexible in interpreting the ‘rules’ below, but we try to be consistent.

TEXT

1. Submit text and images in digital format. Email text and captions in Microsoft Word plus images, or mail on disc or memory stick. Images can be sent by disc or memory stick or through a file sharing service such as WeTransfer.com.
2. Formatting: keep formatting simple. The editor will edit and re-format your article. Our designer will lay out your article, so do try to design it yourself. You may send a document with embedded images for use as a guide to image placement if you wish, but embedded images are rarely suitable for reproduction.
3. Writing style: use active voice rather than passive, simple rather than complex words, descriptive rather than vague adjectives, and avoid meaningless expressions and circumlocutions: eg avoid ‘general public’, ‘it is generally believed’ and ‘it is interesting to note that’. Don’t use words that make us run to the dictionary every few lines, but if they are technical terms, explain them. Use modern English, never archaic words and constructions (except in quotes). Above all, engage the reader.
4. Printouts: are unnecessary. Number the pages and keep a copy.
5. Spaces: use single not double spaces between words or sentences. MS Word compensates for sentence breaks.
6. Italics: italicise titles of works of art, ship’s names, book titles, periodical titles and technical terms in a foreign language. You may use italics for emphasis. Never use small caps or other idiosyncratic fonts.
7. Quotations: use single quotation marks for direct quotes, and for quotations within them, use double quotation marks. Quotations should be referenced in the notes.
8. Dates: use the form “day month year” e.g. 4 July 1776. In notes, shorten months (Jan, Feb, etc). Spell the name of the century in full at the start of a sentence, e.g. Nineteenth century, elsewhere use a numeral, e.g. 19th century. In an adjectival context insert a hyphen, eg ‘19th-century potters’.
9. Ellipses: show an ellipsis by three dots e.g. ‘Verge’s … splendid architraves’.
10. Notes: use ‘endnotes’ in Word to give sources or to add peripheral but relevant information. Number endnotes consecutively 1,2,3 ... and place at the end of the text; please use automatic endnote numbering so numbers adjust when we add or delete notes. Superscript note numbers in the text should follow punctuation. Avoid too many and long footnotes, and don’t use them just to look academic. We check references for accuracy so copy quotes precisely giving the full reference, with page number.
11. References: use these formats:
    • Books: John Hawkins, Nineteenth-century Australian Silver, Antique Collectors’ Club, Woodbridge, Suffolk 1990 vol 1 p 234.
    • Articles: Dorothy Erickson ‘Mattie Furphy – dainty but determined’, Australiana vol 38 no 1 Feb 2016 pp 9–13.
    • Manuscripts: Give the title of the manuscript, name of the institution and reference number, e. g. Philip Gidley King, ‘Letter Book 1797–1806’, Mitchell Library A2015.
    • Subsequent references: use appropriate Latin abbreviations op cit, ibid, etc.
12. Numbers: write numbers up to ten in full, and for higher numbers use Arabic numerals, e.g. ‘from seven to 16 books’, except when starting a sentence. Use a comma to separate 1,000s.
13. Names: give first names and surnames at first mention. Omit full stops and insert a space between initials in names, thus Rev J D Lang not Rev. J. D. Lang, unless it’s a direct quote.
14. Abbreviations: generally omit full stops e.g. nos, vols, Dr, St (saint or street). We are not as dogmatic nor extreme as the Australian Government’s Style Manual.
15. Measurements: SI measurement units are expressed as symbols not abbreviations. They are always singular and lower case with no full stops eg 15 km, cm, kg, never kms, cms, kgs. Imperial equivalent symbols may follow in brackets eg 4 kg (8.8 lb), also singular; lbs is nonsense – the Latin libra with an s suffix is not a plural.
16. Spelling: Set your spellcheck to ‘English (Australian)’, not the US default.

	-ise not -ize	among, while not amongst, whilst
	-yse not -yze	program not programme

17. Symbols: symbols such as £ and accented letters are under ‘Insert/Symbol’ in Word.
    
    
18. General: if in doubt, check the Australian Government’s www.stylemanual.gov.au, which we usually follow.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Acknowledge those who have helped you, for example with typing, research or providing photographs. Fulsome praise or thanking your family is generally unnecessary.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Provide a concise biography that is relevant to Australiana readers, a contact email address so readers can get in touch (they do) and a portrait photograph. Your biography may be edited.

IMAGES

1. Good images are critical. They should complement the text and usually be referenced in the text. We print in colour; if the story relies on black and white images, try to add colour images to make it more interesting visually.
2. We prefer digital images taken directly of the original, shot in good light with a clean background. Images that are too small, out of focus, of poor quality or with strong contrasts are generally unsuitable. Camera photographs are generally preferable to phone snaps. Our designer can enhance images by digital manipulation or deep-etching to remove distracting backgrounds.
3. Digital images should be supplied by email, on disc or memory stick, or through a file sharing service – WeTransfer.com is free and reliable. Jpegs are easier to send than tiffs, as they are smaller files. We print images at 300 dpi.
4. Number images consecutively 1, 2, 3 .... This is essential so we can match up text, images and captions. Avoid number suffixes unless you are showing two sides of a coin or medal, in which case you can use suffixes a and b.
5. Show the correct orientation of the image if ‘top’ is not clear.
6. Contributors are responsible for obtaining photographs, for permission to reproduce them and for reproduction fees. The editor can often help to get images, or extra images. Most private collectors, dealers, auctioneers and institutions are helpful and generous in supporting scholarship and supplying images free to Australiana. Some institutions are not, even when authors are adding information about items in their collections, so check with the editor.

CAPTIONS

Captions are essential and should include these details, where applicable, in this order:

• Number (1, 2, 3...) of the image – corresponding to the image file name (just rename them by adding 1, 2, 3 … etc before the existing file name). Number captions manually, never use automatic numbering. Do not use suffixes, unless for example it is a coin in which case use a and b for obverse and reverese.
• Names of the maker and his/her dates in brackets if known eg John Glover (1767–1849)
• Title (in italics), place of manufacture, date, medium (eg oil on canvas), size in cm or mm (h x w x d)
• Collection, location and registration number, eg Collection: National Library of Australia, Canberra 1322499
• Photo credit, eg ‘photograph Geoff Friend’. Special wording generally applies only to the monarch, eg ‘by Gracious Permission of Her Majesty the Queen.’

PROOFS

We send authors successive proofs for checking, by email as pdf files. Ideally, make corrections on the pdf file as post-it notes by using the ‘Edit PDF’ function in Acrobat Reader (a free download). Otherwise, print a hard copy and make your suggestions on that and mail or scan it, or if there are only a few, send an email with the changes. After each revision, you will get a new version to check. You will always get the final version.

REPRODUCTION ELSEWHERE

You retain the copyright to your text so you are free to publish it elsewhere. It is customary to acknowledge Australiana as the original publication.

AUTHORS

1. Australiana does not pay author fees. We give authors several free copies of the magazine, and authors may purchase bulk copies at a cost determined by the Board.
2. Include your name, email, phone number and contact address.
3. After publication, photographs and discs will be returned only if requested.

Revised 10 October 2021