A nation must think before it acts.
A publisher’s reputation depends in large part on the care with which its publications are edited for consistency in spelling, punctuation, capitalization, forms of citation, and so forth. FPRI rigorously edits its publications for the maximum reasonable consistency in editorial style.
Orbis uses the University of Chicago Press’s Chicago Manual of Style, 14th ed., as its principal guide. The authoritative source for spelling and hyphenation is the unabridged Webster’s Third New International Dictionary of the English Language. Authors are encouraged to use these references as they prepare their manuscripts. The following is intended only as a supplement, to address the particular matters encountered by foreign policy journals.
Quotations
Direct quotations should cite the original source from which they were taken (see forms of citations below); if the quotation was taken from printed text, indicate the page number(s). Direct quotations should reproduce exactly the original source-in wording, capitalization, and punctuation, with the following exceptions:
Thomas Jefferson declared that “the sum of good government” consists of “a wise and frugal Government …”
Thomas Jefferson declared, “The sum of good government” consists of a “wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned.”
Author interpolations should be enclosed in brackets [ ].
Quotations of four unindented lines or less should be run into the text; longer quotations should be indented left and right. Block quotations are not enclosed in quotation marks.
Ellipses (three dots, each separated by one space:“ … ”) should be used to indicate omissions in a quoted passage. When the omitted section includes the end of a sentence that closes with a period, indicate the ellipses by four dots with no space before the first (standard typographical practice treats the first dot as a period). Other final punctuation should precede or follow the ellipses points according to where the omission occurs.
Identification of Persons, Organizations, and Publications
The first and last name should be given for each individual on first introduction in the text and footnotes. Titles and/or affiliations should be used on the first reference. First references to U.S. senators and congressman should include abbreviated names of the legislator’s party and state: Senator Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.).
A foreign political organization or party should be referred to in English with its foreign language name and the acronym (if it is widely known by its acronym) following in parentheses: Confederation for Independent Poland (Konsederacja Polski Niepobleglej-KPN).
Titles of books, journals, and periodicals are italicized. When referring to periodicals, do not include an opening definite article within the italicized name: the New York Times.
Capitalization
See chapter 7 (pp. 233-92) of the Manual of Style for detailed rules on capitalization. The following rules are particularly relevant:
Political groupings other than parties are usually lowercased: independents; right wing; leftist. But: the Right, the Left.
Foreign Languages
Only unfamiliar foreign words and expressions are italicized and accented as in their original language; familiar ones remain in roman type and are unaccented (e.g., quid pro quo, a priori, weltanschauung, perestroika, intifada, coup d’etat, cliché, jihad, vis-à-vis) according to English-language usage. Latin words and abbreviations such as ibid. and et al. also remain in roman type.
The hamza and ayn are not used in Arabic transliterations (e.g., Shiite, not Shi’ite).
Japanese names are given first-name first: Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Hyphenation
Prefixes are generally set solid (one word without a hyphen) and compound words are open (two separate words). For detailed rules for hyphenation and compound words, see the Manual of Style, pp. 219–31.
Some common prefixes set solid are: postwar; socioeconomic; preempt; progovernment; anticlerical; counterterrorism. Prefixes are followed by hyphens or en dashes, however, when the second word is capitalized or a figure, or to distinguish homonyms: pre-Enlightenment; post-September 11; re-cover. But: transatlantic. The prefixes “self” and “half” are usually hyphenated.
Temporary adjectives are usually hyphenated before a noun. They are not hyphenated when used as permanent open compounds or when the first word is an adverb ending in “-ly”: eighteenth-century printers; printers of the eighteenth century; a well-known plan; the plan was well known; policy-making body; problems in policy making; a highly acclaimed book.
Numbers
Please consult chapter 8 (pp. 293-315) of the Manual of Style for detailed rules on the presentation of numbers in text. Generally, whole numbers from one to ninety-nine are spelled out (as are their multiples with “hundred,” “thousand,” “million,” etc.), while other numbers are expressed in figures. There are exceptions, such as some decimal numbers, some terms of currency, and mixed cases: 2.3 million years old; $25 billion; from 200 to 250 pages; 2 percent. Some other common rules:
The duty was four pounds.
The committee raised $325.
The military establishment was to receive $7.3 billion over the previous year’s appropriation.
Inclusive numbers (continued numbers) are separated by an en dash (–). Please see the Manual of Style, p. 311, for specific principles. Some examples are: 3–10; 100–104; 107–8; 321–25; 2787–2816.
Special Usage Matters
Acronyms should be kept to a minimum and should be spelled out in full on first usage, with the acronym following in parentheses.
“U.S.” and “UN” are used only as adjectives; the nouns are spelled out: “the United States” and “the United Nations.”
A government should not be identified with the country: not “Russia responded” but “Moscow responded” or “the Kremlin responded.”
’Fundamentalist Christians” and “fundamentalist Islam,” not “Christian fundamentalists” or “Islam fundamentalist.”
Citations
Footnote citations serve two vital functions: to give proper credit for ideas, facts, arguments, and words presented elsewhere; and to enable an interested reader to examine the same sources. The editors’ principal concerns are to ensure accuracy and completeness, but without needlessly cluttering the footnotes with unessential data.
Orbis strives to keep both the number and length of footnotes to a minimum. Most articles require fewer than thirty notes.
Footnotes are for citing sources-of quotations, little-known facts, and controversial data and should not involve substantive discussions or the author’s debates with other scholars. References to one’s own writings should be minimal.
Where possible, provide the names or some identifying context for cited authors in the text itself; i.e., not “As one author has noted …” but “As Jane T. Jones has noted …” or “As Middle East analyst Jane Jones has noted.”
To minimize the number of footnotes, please combine short citations into one composite note. Whenever possible, place footnote numbers at the end of sentences, or at least at the end of clauses.
All months except May – July should be abbreviated: Jan., Feb., Mar., Apr., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.
Orbis generally follows the Manual of Style but with some modification. In particular, we do not give a page range for a chapter or article, since this is less relevant in the electronic age and in any event is not essential to the reader’s locating the article or chapter. Pages only need to be given to direct attention to specific quotations or passages.:
William B. Quandt, Saudia Arabia in the 1980s: Foreign Policy, Security and Oil (Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution, 1981), pp. 43-45.
James Kurth, “Humanitarian Intervention After Iraq,” Orbis, Fall 2005.
L. Klepatskii, “Russia’s Foreign Policy Landmarks,” International Affairs (Moscow), vol. 45, no. 2 (1999).
(Note that an author’s first name is only abbreviated if it appears that way in the original.)
Crocker, “Ethnic Conflict,” p. 617.
Katherine Shrader, “CIA Panel: 9/11 Failure Warrants Action,” Washington Post, Aug. 26, 2005.
MacGregor Knox, “Continuity and Revolution in Strategy,” in Williamson Murray and MacGregor Knox, eds., The Making of Strategy, Rulers, States, and War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994).
Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project, Henry L. Stimson Center, 1998 (https://www.stimson.org/cwc/bwagent.htm).
Col. Larry M. Wortzel, “OpEd: The Danger of No Theater Missile Defenses,” Strategic Studies Institute Newsletter, Feb. 1999 (https://carlisle-www.army.mil/usassi/ssioutp/newsletter.htm).