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These notes are intended to make the publication process as simple, error free and painless as possible, for everyone involved.
They should be read in conjunction with the PCCS Style Guide and tips on grammar.
You can download a pdf of the guide here.
These notes are intended for all authors whose work we have agreed to publish. Editors of books with several contributors should give a copy to all the authors, as well as any specific instructions for the volume to which they are contributing.
Your well-presented typescript will make a significant contribution to the speedy production of your book.
Please supply your typescript in a Word document. Use basic Word formatting. Please don’t apply any fancy layout design or formatting (including automatic referencing or footnotes and endnotes); we will only have to undo it in the copyediting process, which can increase the chance of errors creeping in.
Use 12pt Times New Roman text, unjustified (ranged left), single spaced with a line space between paragraphs. Do NOT indent the first line of paragraphs. Start new chapters on a new page. Use a double space above and single space below subheads.
Please ensure the presentation of the text is consistent throughout. Use the same fonts, spacings and heading and paragraph styles.
Subheadings should be used sparingly within chapters. They should be ranged left, with two line spaces above and one below.
We discourage use of sub-subheadings (level 2) or sub-sub-subheadings (level 3). Please use only if absolutely essential to the clarity of the text.
To distinguish, use bold for the main subheadings, bold italic for sub-subheadings, and italic for sub-sub-subheadings, thus:
Bold for subheadings level 1
Bold italics for subheadings level 2
Italics for subheadings level 3
Do not number the subheadings unless it is essential to the clarity of the text.
Follow the Style and Grammar guides for spellings and punctuation.
Be consistent. We prefer spellings to conform to the new edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, but will accept alternatives provided they are consistent. American spelling and punctuation should be used by American authors, and American spellings retained in any quotes from American authors.
Use a single (not double) space after a full stop.
Always spell-check your text.
Short quotes are normally within the text and use single quotation marks (see Style Guide). Quotes longer than 35–40 words do not have quote marks and should take a new paragraph, indented from the left margin with a line space above and below. Please ensure you have copied faithfully the original spelling and punctuation.
If you add your own comments within a quote, put them inside square brackets ([…])
This includes title page, dedication (if any), foreword, preface, acknowledgements, lists of abbreviations, figures, tables etc, contents and introduction.
The title page should carry the exact final wording of the title (and subtitle, if any) and your name, as author or editor, in the form you wish it to appear.
The Foreword should be written by someone other than the author or editor, who has relevant expertise in relation to the content, to introduce the text and highlight why it is significant.
The Preface is written by the author to explain how the book came to be written.
The Introduction is a longer, detailed discussion of the subjects covered in the book, with a chapter by chapter brief synopsis of the contents and main arguments.
Acknowledgements may include thanks to professional bodies, colleagues, and personal friends and helpers. Keep them to a minimum; if you try to thank too many, any omissions *(deliberate or otherwise) will only be accentuated. Credits for any photographs or illustrations should be included here. Permissions for the use of any copyrighted material from other works should also be included here. Please ensure all relevant permissions have been requested and obtained, for text and artwork, in writing (email confirmation is fine).
The contents page lists the chapter headings, which should be identical to how they appear in the text.
Plates, figures and tables can be listed in the preliminary pages if you think this will be useful to the reader, but this is not essential.
Photographs/illustrations should be sent as separate attachments, in j-peg format at 300dpi, and must always be permissioned and credited. Photographs downloaded from the internet will not be good enough quality for print reproduction.
This includes any appendices, the references, bibliography and index (in this order).
Appendices usually comprise material that is too detailed to be included in the main text without unbalancing the book but that adds important information that readers would find useful (eg samples of survey questionnaires).
The reference section lists all the sources cited in the text (see Style Guide for details on how to present them).
The bibliography comprises suggested further reading (again, follow the Style Guide).
We ask authors to complete the index when the text is at final proof stage and the page numbers are confirmed. You may find it helpful to have prepared a list of subjects you think should be included before this stage.
We use Harvard referencing. Please ensure your references are correct and complete. The Style Guide gives full details.
Please keep use of footnotes/endnotes to a minimum. They are intended for essential information that adds to but would unbalance the flow of the content if included in the body text. But they should be no more than two or three lines in length at most. They should be numbered sequentially, using superscript, in the body of the text, and supplied at the end of each relevant chapter, sequentially, with the numbers starting again from 1 with each new chapter. The Style Guide gives full details of how to present them.