Style Guide

We use the JAIC Style Guide as the base style for postprints and AIC News. We based the guide on the Chicago Manual of Style with conservation-related additions. Download it with additional sample references below.

• Please note: We require abstracts to be 200 words maximum. See our Tips page for abstract help.

Publisher Guides

Taylor & Francis Chicago Manual Style References Guide

Taylor & Francis Author Guide

Authorities: Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th ed.; Webster’s New Third International Dictionary; Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed.

Abbreviations

• Physical quantities expressed in numerals are followed by an abbreviated form of the unit; a unit of measurement used without a numeral should always be spelled out in the text (e.g., "60%RH" or "Relative humidity was measured…").
• Metric measurement is preferred, but note that you must use periods after English measurements (e.g., in. [inches], ft. [feet], mi. [mile], lb. [pounds]); there are no periods after metric measurements (e.g., cm [centimeters], mL [milliliters], m [meters]).
• Spell out acronyms at first mention in text.
• Do not abbreviate months.
• Following Chicago Manual 10.28, spell out names of states and provinces in running text (except for DC); use two letter postal codes in references and in postal addresses.
• Abbreviate Co., Corp., Inc., in citations and source lists; spell out in running text; “&” is permitted in company names, but not in book titles.
• Spell out individual elements, but abbreviations for compounds are permitted (e.g., CO2) after first mention.
• Circa: ca. not c. For example, "Fig. 2. Isabel Nagel in Maine, photographed by Gaston Lachaise, ca. 1913."

Abstracts

• Do not use acronyms or abbreviations (e.g., of analytical methods or institutions).
• Do not include text citations or references.
• For an organization’s name in the translated abstract, include the original name in English or the original language followed by the translated name in parentheses.

Acknowledgments

• Place after the text, before any other back matter.

Acronyms

• There is no need to spell out AIC, ANSI, ASTM, DNA, HVAC, ICCROM, ICOM, IIC, ISO, n.d., PCB, pH, PVAC, RNA, TAPPI, UV.

Addresses

• Abbreviate street suffixes following Chicago Manual 10.34 and http://www.usps.com; use abbreviations NE, NW, SE, and SW, except where the compass point is the name or part of the name of a street, or the place-name (e.g., South Ave., Northwest Hwy., West Bend, East Orange).
• Use US Postal Service abbreviations (Chicago Manual 10.28) for states and provinces followed by a zip code (e.g., in addresses, sources of materials list, and author biographies).
• If more than one author has the same address, use the format: Address as for [name]
• For England, specify UK.

Appendix

• Place after Acknowledgments.
• Multiple appendices are identified by number and title (e.g., Appendix 1. ADHESIVE PREPARATION, Appendix 2. SEM-EDX ANALYSIS).

Article backmatter

• Arrange in this order: Acknowledgments, Appendix, Notes, References, Further Reading, Sources of Materials, Author Biographies.

Author Biographies

• Place last in back matter.
• Include degrees, current position, mailing address, and e-mail address.
• Do not capitalize position titles, except when it is a named position (e.g., the Paul M. and Harriet L. Weissman Senior Photograph Conservator).

Book Reviews

• Title of book, Author, City: Publisher, Year, XXX pages, hardcover, $xx, AIC Members $xx. Available from name of organization, website /address. ISBN xxxx.
• Use lower case “and” for more than one author; lower case ed. and eds.
• When citing page numbers, show in parentheses, as (p. 23).

Dates

• Use conventional form in running text (e.g., October 20, 1999) with a comma before and after the year.
• For date of access of websites, use conventional form.
• For life dates, use the en dash and do not abbreviate (e.g., 1600–1650).
• 18th century (no hyphen, no initial cap), however if it appears with a hyphen in the title of a reference, leave it alone.

Equations

• In a numbered sequence of equations, place number in parentheses.
• Set off equations with italics in running text.

Figures

• In running text, use lower case abbreviation in parentheses (fig. 4), but spell out in sentences (“as seen in figure 4”).
• In the figure caption, use initial capital and abbreviate: Fig. 4.
• Referring to more than one figure in running text: (figs. 1, 2) (figs. 1–6).
• Use letters to designate multiple parts: (figs. 4a, 4b, 4c).
• For works of art, caption includes artist, title, date, media or materials, dimensions (in metric), credit (including museum number).
• Credit lines for photographs: Courtesy of…not Photograph courtesy of...
• The word “magnification” is not needed; use x for times (e.g., 250x).

Names

• Use last name when referring to an author in the text; include year of publication. 
• Use full names for artists. Give life dates of artists at first mention.

Heads

• Number sections using Arabic numerals. Though a typeset article will not follow this style, capping the headers may make it easier for editors and reviewers to follow the structure of your article.
  1.        SECTION HEAD or Section Head; first paragraph flush left
  1.1        SUBHEAD or Subhead; first paragraph indented
  1.1.1    Following Subheads in Initial Caps; first paragraph indented

Lists

• May be set off vertically in outline style, or run into the text. Use numerals if they serve a purpose (e.g., to clearly separate items, to indicate order or importance).
• For numbered lists set off vertically, the number is followed by a period.
• For numbered lists in running text, such as figure captions, numbers are enclosed in parentheses:
• Fig. 1. Layers visible in cross section: (1) ground, (2) paint, (3) varnish, etc.

Measurements

• Provide metric measurements for all captions and scientific experiments. English units may be used in addition to the metric where appropriate (e.g., when the English unit dimensions are round numbers or common descriptors of an object, such as 3 x 5 in. card)

Notes

• Limit notes to three. Incorporate additional material into running text or create an appendix. 
• Place in back matter preceded only by Appendix.

Numbers

• Use numbers for measurements, for percentages, for 10 and above, for like categories in the same paragraph when at least one is 10 or above.
• For ratios, use numbers separated by a colon (e.g., 1:4).
• Use the en dash to indicate a range “up to and including” (e.g., samples 10–16).
• In technical contexts, omit the comma in four-digit numbers.
• Treat ordinals as you would cardinal numbers (e.g. first century, 18th century).
• Hyphenate simple fractions in running text (e.g., three-quarters).
• For negative numbers in ranges, use “to” instead of a dash (e.g., -2C to -5C).
• Use Arabic numerals for chapter and volume.

Page Numbers

• Include page numbers in text citations with direct quotations, or when paraphrasing from a long work in which the concept is not immediately accessible to the reader.
• Use the en dash to indicate a range of page numbers (e.g., 486–95).

Phone Numbers

• For US phone numbers, enclose area code in parentheses: (800) xxx-xxxx.
• International phone numbers should be preceded by the + symbol, followed by the country code, city code, and phone number: +44 171 555 5555.

Punctuation

• Use the serial comma style (e.g., red, white, and blue - not red, white and blue).
• Use commas after introductory phrases sparingly.
• Following a colon that introduces a series within a sentence, do not capitalize following the colon, except for a word that would always be capitalized (e.g., a proper name) or if the items in the series are complete sentences.

Quotations

• Set off five or more typed lines as a block quotation.
• In text citations following direct quotes, include the exact page number: “The question is how to achieve the desired state of controlled absorption” (Hendy and Lucas 1968, 271).

Sources of Materials

• Appear before Author Biographies.
• List materials headline style, with initial caps; include materials not commonly available.
• Group multiple products from a single source.
• Equipment names in text need not be included.
• Use abbreviations for Co., Corp., Inc.
• For formatting style, see Addresses (above)

Symbols

• Symbols are permitted in running text where quantities are expressed in numbers (e.g., 35%RH, “monitoring of relative humidity…”); the term “pH” is always permitted.
• Do not space between number and symbol: 50% not 50 %.
• Repeat symbol in ranges where it is closed up to the number (35%–50%) but not where the symbol is separated from the number (2 x 5 cm).
• Do space between number and operation sign: 42  3%.
• Slash (/) indicates alternatives (except in fractions).
• Colon (:) indicates ratios.
• Hyphen (-) joins compounds.
• Micron is expressed by m.
• Temperatures are written with °F and °C (e.g., 355°F, 32°C).
• Use ° (degree symbol) for angles.

Tables (see Table 1)

• Title is in headline style with initial caps.
• Initial caps are used for column heads and for the first word of stub heads.
• End punctuation is used only for a complete sentence.
• Place footnotes just below the table, designated by lowercase letters a, b, c, etc.
• Within the text, refer to table 1, table 2, etc. (using lowercase letters and numerals).
• Use horizontal rules sparingly; avoid vertical rules unless required for clarity.
• NCSU has an excellent resource on creating tables.

Websites

• In running text, the title of a website may be used rather than a URL. The default style is roman character, headline style, but websites that are analogous to books or other types of publications may be styled accordingly. The following are all acceptable usages:
• Google; Project Gutenberg; Apple.com; NYTimes.com
• The website of the New York Times; the New York Times online
• The Chicago Manual of Style Online; “Chicago Style Q&A”
• Conservators Converse Blog, “From the Bench: A 400-Year-Old Carpet is Restored to Show Original Persian Artistry,” blog entry by Joseph Godla, December 21, 2012.
• If it is necessary to use a URL in the text, use the full prefix including http:// or https://.
• Use the References to list more details of the website, when necessary (see the section on references below).
• Use end punctuation if the website address falls at the end of a sentence.

Updated August 2018

Documentation: Author-Date System 

The Author-Date System briefly cites sources in the text, usually in parentheses, by author’s last name and date of publication. These short citations are detailed in References at the end of the paper. What follows is a description of the citation style to be used in the JAIC. For more complete details, refer to the Chicago Manual of Style, 16^th edition, or download the Taylor and Francis guide.

In-Text Citation

• To a reference as a whole:

(Smith 1999)
(Smith 1999, 2002)
(Thomson 1987; Jones 1999; Smith 1999) -- list multiple sources chronologically
(Pratt 1992a, b)
(Singh and Butcher 1990)
(Tucci [1978] 1988)

• To a specific page in reference:

(Smith 1999, 49)
Include page numbers in text citations only when meaningful: with direct quotations, or when paraphrasing from a long work in which the concept is not immediately accessible to the reader. Do not use page numbers in references to a journal article or short manual except to support a direct quote.

• Place after author’s name, if possible: Learner (1996) used PyGC-MS to look at a number of synthetic organic pigments.
• If the author and date are in the text, only the page number is needed: In 1906, Forster (54) said, “A critic has no right to the narrowness which is the frequent prerogative of the creative artist.”
• For four or more authors, use first author’s last name and et al.:

  • incorrect = (Florian, Kronkright, Swift, and Norton 1992)

  • correct = (Florian et al. 1992)

• If References includes two works of the same year by one author with different coauthors, distinguish them by the second author’s name: (Smith, Jones et al. 2000; Smith, White et al. 2000).

References

• For authors’ names, provide full names.
• List all authors; do not use et al. in References.
• Italicize (do not underline) titles of books and names of journals.
• Use headline-style capitalization for article names and book titles. In headline style, the first and last words of title and subtitle and all other major words (nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) are capitalized. For non-English titles, use sentence-style capitalization.
• Convert Roman numerals to Arabic for volume numbers.
• Spell out the title of the journal and give both volume and page numbers; include issue number, month, or season only when pagination is not continuous through the volume.
• Arrange entries alphabetically by author’s last name; place Mc after Mb and before Md.
• For more than one entry by the same author(s), arrange by date, earliest to latest;
• For more than one entry by same author(s) in the same year, arrange in alphabetical order by title and label a, b, etc., after the year (e.g., 1992a, 1992b, etc.)
• Place author’s own volume before a book s/he edited.
• Place single-author entries before multiple-author entries.
• Arrange entries with the same first author and various multiple authors according to the last name of the second author, not by the number of authors.
• Alphabetize corporate authors (such as associations) according to the first significant word or acronym.
• For place of publication, list only the first city; for Canadian publications, provide province and Canada.
• If there are references not cited in the text, group them after References under Further Reading.

Websites

• All URLs in References should have the prefix http:// or https:// and include a final / wherever they appear.
• If it is necessary to use a URL in the text, use the full prefix and include any final /.
• When one is available, list a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) rather than a URL.
• Only include access dates if there is no date of publication or date of last update. Place the date last accessed in conventional form (e.g., August 4, 2014) before a URL or DOI.
  • Cyclododecane. 2014. CAMEO (Conservation and Art Materials Encyclopedia Online). Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Accessed September 7, 2014. http://cameo.mfa.org/wiki/Cyclododecane.

Citing Online Resources in Print Publications (e.g., print editions of JAIC, BPG Annual)

• It is only necessary to cite a URL or DOI when the publication only exists online or would be otherwise difficult to locate.
• When a URL must be broken over a line in printed works, it should be broken before rather than after a slash (/).

Citing Online Resources in Electronic Publications (e.g., the Specialty Group wikis)

• Whenever possible, cite a URL or DOI when the publication exists online, and include a hyperlink to the electronic resource.

Capitalization, Hyphenation, Spelling, Italics

A

academic degrees, no periods, as MA, PhD
ad
ad hoc
a.m.
absorbency, absorbent
ABC fire extinguishers
acc. no.
Acryloid: outdated term; use Paraloid
aesthetic
acknowledgment, acknowledgments
adviser
aging
airbrush (adj., n., v.)
air conditioner, air conditioning
air-dry (v.)
albumen: related to egg white, photographic prints
albumin: proteins in blood plasma or serum
alizarin, but Alizarin Blue, Alizarin Red
ambient
America (n.), American (adj.): avoid using as synonymous with United States; American permitted as a noun to describe citizens
analog
annual meeting, but AIC Annual Meeting
appendix, appendices: lower case in text citations; abbreviate as app. in references
archaeology
art-historical (adj.)
Art-Sorb
article: preferred to the term “paper” but use “essay” except for contributions to symposium proceedings
artist’s intentartist’s materials
artworks: title appears in italics; give date and current location in parentheses except when that information appears in a caption or when the standard catalog number is provided
audiovisual

B

BA
bandwidth
baroque period
bc
beamline
Benday
benzotriazole (BTA)
beta-radiograph
BEVA
Bio-Plastic
black-and-white (adj.)
block-print (v.)
Blue Wool Standards
bronze disease
brushstroke (n.)
brushwork
B.S.
Bunsen burner

C

ca.: permitted in text Cab-O-Sil
café
carbon-14
card stock
cast iron (n.); cast-iron (adj.)
catalog, but catalogue raisonné
catalog number
CD-ROM
Central Europe
cf.: permitted in parentheses
chair: not chairman
chap. in references; chapter in text
chemical formulas: periods can be on the line rather than above
CIE L*a*b*
cleanup (adj., n.)
climate control (adj.)
co-author
codex, codices
coefficient
cofound
cold extraction
cold-flow (v.)
cold-paint (v.)
collection: capitalize only when part of proper name (e.g., the Frick Collection)
color-match (v.)
colorplate
compendium, compendia
Conclusions: as head, not Conclusion
consortium, consortia
contractions: avoid
copolymer
co-solvent
cost-control
coworker
craftsperson, craftspeople
cross-link
cross-reference (adj., n.)
cross-reference in text
        (see table 1)
        (see fig. 3a)
        (see sec. 3)
cross section (adj., n.)
curriculum, curricula

D

Dacron
damar
data: takes plural verb
database
decision maker, decision making (n.)
decision-making (adj.)
deformable
deionize
desiccate
dialogue
disc
discernible
drier (when used as an additive)
dryer (when used as an apparatus supplying heat)
dry-clean (v.)
dry-surface-clean (v.)

E

earlywood
Earth
Eastern Europe
e.g.: permitted in text, confine to parentheses and follow with a comma
e-mail
eluant
energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDX)
ensure: means “to make sure of” (insure refers to insurance)
eq: abbreviation for equations
equilibrium, equilibria
equilibrium moisture content (EMC)
equilibrium relative humidity (ERH)
E-SEM: environmental scanning electron microscope, microscopy
et al.: permitted in text
etc.: permitted in text
Ethafoam
EVA: no need to spell out

F

Fellow: initial capital in author biographies
Festschrift
fiberglass
fine-tune (v.)
First Nations
flathead screw
folklife
Fome-Cor
footcandle
foreign terms: use italics, with roman “s” for Anglicized plurals
formula, formulas
freeze-dry (v.)
fresco, frescoes
FTIR: Fourier transform infrared reflectometry/spectrometry/spectroscopy/analysis
fume hood

G

gap-fill (v.)
gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC-MS)
Gator-Foam
gelatin
gesso, gessoes
glycine
Gore-Tex
-grade: hyphenate as adj.
grass roots (n.)
grassroots (adj.)
gray
gum arabic

H

half-: hyphenate compounds
halo, haloes
hardcover (adj., n.)
health care
heat-age
heat-set (adj., v.)
heterogeneous
high-efficiency particle air (HEPA) filter
high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)
high-tech
Hispanic
homogeneous
horsehair (adj., n.)
hot-air (adj.)
hot-melt (adj.)
HVAC: no need to spell out

I

i.e.: permitted in text
in situ
in vivo
imprimatura
Inc.: does not require preceding comma
index, indices
indispensable
infill (n., v.)
infrared
inpaint
Internet
ironII, ironIII

J

Jr.: does not require commas

K

K: degrees Kelvin (e.g., 5000 K); do not use to express thousands
kerosene
keV: kiloelectronvolt
kraft paper

L

laboratory: not lab
labor-intensive
latewood
leaf-cast (v.)
leaf-casting (n.)
lead white (n.), lead-white (adj.)
legal cases: in italics, as Whistler v. Ruskin
life-size (adj.)
lightfastness
light-age (v.)
light-bleach (v.)
liquefy
locus, locuses
low-temperature (adj.)
lumen, lumina
Lyons

M

M: molar
mA: milliamp
macro-environment
Masonite
mass-produce
mat board
Material Safety Data Sheet
matrix, matrices
matte
maximum, maxima
medium, media
memorandum, memorandums (not memo)
methyl cellulose
Micro-mesh
micron: µm
micro-organism
microscopic; preferred to microscopical
mid-: hyphenate compounds
middleground
mL: milliliter
Mlux
mM: millimolar
mold
molding
mold-making
ms: millisecond
MS
multi: close up compounds
Mylar

N

nA: nanoAmps
naïve
Native American (adj., n.), Native (adj.)
Neoclassical
nm: nanometer
no.: avoid the number symbol #
newton, newtons
nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)

O

occidental
ocher
off-gas (v.)
off-white
off-site
Old Masters
online
on-site
oven-age (v.)
oven-dry (v.)
oversize: not oversized

P

Pa: Pascal
panel painting
paper: permitted in reviews of conference proceedings; otherwise avoid and use the preferred term “article”
paperboard
paper-splitting (adj., n.)
papier-mâché
patents: U.S. patent [no.]
patina, patinas
pendant: not pendent
petri
PhD
photo-aging
photo-image
photo-inert
photo-oxidation
photo-stability
photograph: not photo as noun (photo as adjective is permitted)
photoactivity
photodegradation
photodocumentation
photomacrograph
photoreactivity
phototechnology
pipet
plain-weave (adj.)
plaster of paris
Plastic Wood
Plasticine
Plexiglas
p.m.
policy maker
poly (vinyl chloride), or polyvinyl chloride
polyvinyl acetate
portland cement
pre-aged
pressure-sensitive tape
-proof: hyphenate compounds in all positions
provenance
PVAC: no need to spell out
Pyrex

R

rabbit skin glue
Raman
recordkeeping
re-: as a prefix, rarely requires hyphenation, see Webster’s New Third
repaint (n., v.)
repellent
Rhodamine
roller-print (v.)

S

Salon, the
sand-cast (v.)
scanning electron microscope (SEM)
selvage
series: takes singular verb
setup
sherd
silk-screen (v.)
-size: in compounds, not –sized (except in references to sized paper)
Spanish Colonial
spectrum, spectra
spot-check (v.)
spot-test (v.)
squeeze-out (n.)
stele, stelae
stepwise
still life, still lifes (n.)
still-life (adj.)
Stoddard solvent
styles and schools of art: initial capital, as Impressionism, Impressionist
sulfur, sulfide
supp.: abbreviation for supplement
symposium, symposia

T

TAPPI
Teflon
terracotta
tetracetic
text block
the: lowercase in names for institutions in text; can be capitalized in photo credits
thin section (n.); thin-section (adj.)
tide line
timeline
titles of exhibitions: set off with italics
titles of published works and artworks in text, series of paintings: capitalize headline style following Chicago Manual
titles of symposia: initial capitals, quotation marks
trade names: initial capitals; do not use ® or ™
trompe l’oeil

U

UK
underpainting
US
Urushi
UV-Vis

V

Vandyke brown
Velcro
vermilion
via
vice-: hyphenate compounds
videotape
viz.
vs.: abbreviation of versus; except in legal cases (e.g., Whistler v. Ruskin)

W

wash-fastness
water-clear (adj.)
water-glass
wave-band
wavelength
wavenumber
water-saturated: hyphenate in all positions
water-soluble
Weather-o-meter
web
website
web page
wet-clean (v.)
white lead/lead white: be consistent within article; hyphenate as adj.
words as words: in quotation marks
World Wide Web, the Web
workstation
worshiped, worshipper
wt%: for weight percent (not w/w%)
w/v: weight/volume

X

xeroradiography
x-ray
x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF)
x-ray radiography (better than x-radiography)
x-ray powder diffraction (XRD)

Z

Ziploc

AIC Meeting Year, Number, and Location List

Table 1. Sample JAIC table