Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies

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Guidelines

Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies requests that authors use the Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS), current edition, in formatting their submission.

These excerpted guidelines (below) draw heavily from the House Style of Berghahn Books (New York and London; https://www.berghahnbooks.com/uploads/authors/housestyleUS.pdf), which is based on the CMOS, 16th edition. Authors are encouraged to refer to the CMOS directly if guidance is not found here (https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html).

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary is our reference for spelling. We will accept British, American, or French variations for English and French manuscripts, respectively, provided the manuscript is consistent in its use. Please make sure to spell check your manuscript before submitting it. If the Editorial Collective must conduct extensive corrections during copy-editing, we will conform to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary.

These guidelines are organized alphabetically.

If anything in your manuscript purposefully deviates from these guidelines, make a note of it on the checklist you submit with the revised manuscript (see Submissions, Author Guidelines / Submissions, point 5). Otherwise, it will be made to conform at copy-editing.

ABBREVIATIONS AND CONTRACTIONS

1. Explain unusual abbreviations on their first occurrence in the manuscript (for example, REM (rapid eye movement). If numerous abbreviations are used, please provide a list of them with the Bibliography.

   There should be a full point after abbreviations that use the first part of a word, such as 'ed.', 'vol.', etc.

2. Use a full point after contractions, such as Mr., Mrs., Dr., St., Ltd., eds., etc.

3. Do not use full points in the abbreviations of names of countries or other acronyms, such as USA, UK, UN, EU, NATO, AFL, etc.

4. The plural form of an abbreviation does not use an apostrophe (for example, NCOs, PhDs).

CAPITALIZATION

5. Use initial capitals for North, South, East, West when designating political usage (for example, South West Africa, Western capitalism, West Berlin). Use lowercase letters when a simple geographical distinction is intended (for example, the south of Scotland, southern Ontario, western winds).

6. Use lower case for the generic noun (for example, the state, the church), but upper case for specific instances (for example, Washington State, the Roman Catholic Church). Upper case (the State, the Church) should be used when referring back to the first mention of specified entities.

7. The seat of government uses upper case (for example, Parliament, the Diet), but lower case elsewhere (for example, congressional behaviour, parliamentarians)

8. Use upper case for geographical or historical periods (for example, Stone Age, Dark Ages, Carboniferous Era). Use upper case for wars (for example, the Crimean War).

9. Use upper case for political parties and philosophies (for example, Communist Party, Conservative Party). Economic or political systems, however, use lower case (for example, socialism, social democracy).

10. Use upper case for the word Indigenous when referring to a defined individual or group, or an aspect of a specified culture. Use lowercase when used with reference to non-human entities (for example, indigenous flora and fauna).

CAPTIONS

11. For image captions, information about provenance and copyright status must be included.

12. Please note that for many artworks from museums, galleries, archives, or similar organizations, credit information is required both for the original artwork and for the digital image if the latter is licensed by the organization in question.

CITATION STYLE FOR ORAL TEACHINGS

Oral teachings may be given in informal settings, which makes citation challenging. If the Elder or Knowledge Keeper gives permission for their words to be cited, the following format is suggested:

Last name, First name. Nation / Community. Treaty Territory, if applicable. City / Community where they live, if applicable. Topic / Subject of communication, if applicable. Date Month Year.

* this template was provided by Lorisia MacLeod in 'More Than Personal Communication: Templates for Citing Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers, KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies 5(1), https://doi.org/10.18357/kula.135

CROSS-REFERENCES

13. Cross-references within a text should consist only of a subheading title.

14. If cross-referencing footnotes or endnotes within the notes section, please ensure that note numbers have not been changed and are still accurate.

DATES

15. The sequence for a date should be day-month-year, whether with a named month or numerals (for example, 12 September 1961 or 12.09.1961). Simply day-month is accepted, if the year is not necessary (for example, 1 August or 01.08).

16. Spell century numbers in full (for example, thirteenth century), and hyphenate the adjectival form (for example, thirteenth-century plague). The word 'mid' always takes a hyphen when preceding a date, whether used adjectivally or not (for example, the mid-1990s, the mid-twentieth century, or mid-twentieth-century medicine). However, 'early' and 'late' are not hyphenated (for example, late third century).

17. Before the Common Era (BCE) and Common Era (CE) are preferred over Before Christ (BC) and Anno Domini (AD).

18. Pairs of dates from the Common Era (CE) should be elided (for example, 1914-18, 1945-91, but not 1803-1903). Dates from Before the Common Era (BCE) should not be elided.

    The exception is a pair of dates in the title of a book or chapter title, which should never be elided.

19. Decades should be referred to as follows: 1920s (no apostrophe). Avoid 1920's, 1920ies, or twenties. However, 'the twenties' may be used when referring to the aura of the time and not just the era.

20. In text, use 'from 1914 to 1918' (not 'from 1914-18') and 'between 1914 and 1918' (not 'between 1914-18'). '31 October to 2 February' is better than '31 October - 2 February'.

HEADINGS

21. Differentiate levels of headings by using bold and italic treatments.

22. Do not capitalize articles (a, an, the, etc), coordinate conjunctions (and, but, or, for, nor, etc.), and prepositions (through, against, between, without, since, etc), EXCEPT in the initial word of a heading. However, pronouns (she, it, etc) and short verb forms (be, is, was) should be capitalized.

23. Do not use numbers or letters to distinguish headings.

24. Do not use superscript reference numbers in a heading; find a place for it within the paragraph.

25. Compound adjectives used in a heading should both be capitalized if they can stand alone (for example, Twentieth-Century Philosophy, Basket-Maker). Otherwise, the second word should be lower case (for example, Socio-cultural Policies).

HYPHENIZATION

26. Compound words are best closed up. Words with prefixes are preferably spelled as follows: coauthors, interrelated, midcentury, nonviolent, postmodern.

27. Nevertheless, the hyphen should be retained if:

    1. the second word begins with a capital letter or number (for example, mid-July, non-Caucasian, post-1960). An exception to this rule is antisemitism, which should always be closed up and all lowercase (this is on the recommendation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance).

    2. there is a double letter (for example, re-edit).

    3. there is a compound adjective before a noun (for example, nineteenth-century music, a well-known sculptor). A compound adjective with an '-ly' adverb is not hyphenated (for example, deeply involved groups, passionately interested lovers).

28. Hyphenate spelled-out numbers (for example, thirty-nine, three-quarters), but use numerals to avoid too many hyphens (for example, a 58-year-old-woman).

29. Spell century numbers in full (for example, thirteenth century), and hyphenate the adjectival form (for example, thirteenth-century plague). The word 'mid' always takes a hyphen when preceding a date, whether used adjectivally or not (for example, the mid-1990s, the mid-twentieth century, or mid-twentieth-century medicine). However, 'early' and 'late' are not hyphenated (for example, late third century).

ITALICS

30. Use italics sparingly.

31. Use italics for titles of books, movies, journals, or other complete entities. Use single quotation marks for parts of those entities, such as a chapter head or a journal article.

32. Do not use italics for:

    1. the possessive or plural s following an italicized word (for example, the Lord Nelson's home port)

    2. proper nouns in a foreign language. That is, the names of foreign persons, places, institutions, buildings, and so forth should not be italicized in the main text.

LANGUAGES THAT ARE FOREIGN TO THE BODY OF THE TEXT

33. Please ensure that all accents are used in the manuscript as appropriate (copy-editing may not correct this). Use cedillas in garçon, retain all umlauts and ß, especially those in proper names.

34. Foreign words or short phrases that are not commonly used in English or French should be italicized throughout. A translation should be provided in parentheses following the first reference to the foreign language term.

    Spell out Saint or Sainte in the first use.

    In German, all nouns are capitalized.

35. Words frequently used in scholarly discourse should not be translated. Words that have become familiar in English should not be italicized (for example, catharsis, croissant). If the word appears in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, the Oxford Dictionary, or Merriam-Webster dictionary, it should not be translated.

LETTERS OF PERMISSION

36. Matrix requires the formal written permission from the copyright holder to publish images (including screen captures and film stills), videos, excerpts from poetry or songs, and epigraphs. Authors are responsible for any costs associated with those permissions. Permissions must be forwarded to the Issue Editor or the Editorial Collective no later than the copy-editing stage in the publishing of an article.

    Authors should seek and provide a Letter of Permission to use copyrighted material. A forwarded email will be sufficient. Please note that failure to include Letters of Permission to use copyrighted material will, at the very least, delay publication of the manuscript until Letters of Permission have been received by the Issue Editor or the Editorial Collective.

37. Authors must pay any costs associated with purchasing image licenses from copyright holders, such as those purchased from online image databases.

38. Please note that Matrix: A Journal for Matricultural Studies publishes under Canadian copyright law, not US copyright law. 'Fair Use' does not apply under Canadian copyright law. The Canadian equivalent is called 'fair dealing'.

NUMBERS AND MEASUREMENTS

39. In general, use words for whole numbers from one to ninety-nine and for any number followed by the words hundred, thousand, _million', and so forth (except for a series of quantities). Use numerals for other numbers.

40. In a series, all numbers should either be in numerals or spelled out. In a context with many numbers, especially large ones, it is better to use numerals.

41. Round numbers are usually spelled out (for example, two thousand years of history). However, very large numbers followed by the words million or billion should be expressed in numerals (for example, 2.5 billion years).

    Where there is a series of round millions, 2m may be used. With a £ or $ sign, 2 million is accepted.

42. If two series of quantities are being juxtaposed, it may be clearer to use words for one and numerals for the other (for example, "Ten departments had 7 offices each, while fifteen others had as many as 20.").

43. If the first word in a sentence is a number, it should be spelled out or the sentence be rewritten (for example, "The year 1961 was..." rather than "1961 was a year of...").

44. Hyphenate spelled-out numbers (for example, thirty-nine, three-quarters), but use numerals to avoid too many hyphens (for example, a 58-year-old-woman).

45. For number ranges:

    1. If the first number is less than 100, for the second number, use all the digits (for example, 2-7, 26-54, 82-83).

    2. If the first number is from 100 to 109, or any higher number where the last two digits are below 10, for the second number, use the changed part only and omit any unneeded zeros (for example, 103-8, 208-9, 1,002-5).

    3. For all other numbers, use two or more digits as needed (for example, 130-35, 315-656, 1,435-42, 13,892-929)

PARAGRAPHING

46. Leave a line space between paragraphs.

47. Do not indent paragraphs.

PROPER NAMES (personal and place names)

48. The names of foreign persons, places, institutions, buildings, and so forth should not be italicized in the main text.

49. Use 'United States' where possible, rather than 'America' - unless it is the entire continent in question. In which case, use 'North America'.

    Use '(Great) Britain' only when you mean England, Scotland, and Wales. Use 'United Kingdom' when you mean Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and use 'British Isles' when referring to the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

    Strictly speaking, Holland is only two provinces of the Netherlands.

50. Use contemporary names in current use, instead of older names for a place (for example, use Leningrad instead of St. Petersburg for a book about the Cold War).

51. If you choose to anglicize place names with an English variation, such as Munich, Vienna, or Marseilles, indicate the original language name in parentheses following first use.

52. Be consistent when referring to personal names where variation is possible (for example, Franz Joseph / Franz Josef, etc).

PUNCTUATION

53. Punctuation following an italic or bold word or title should not also be italic or bold; set it in roman (plain) type instead

    For example, “He likes to pretend he’s read Middlemarch!”; “The letters x, y, and z are frequently used to represent abstract entities.”; “The last recorded sighting of the dodo (Raphus cucullatus) was in 1662.”

    The exception is punctuation that belongs to a title.

    COLONS

    1. A dash should never follow a colon that introduces a list or other displayed material.

    2. Colons should not be followed by capital letters.

    3. Colons and semi-colons follow closing quotation marks - unlike periods and commas.

    COMMAS

    4. The serial comma (Oxford comma) is used.

    5. The abbreviation et al is not normally preceded by a comma, thus: Robert Johnson et al. (eds). However, when the name is inverted in bibliographical style, then a comma follows the first name, thus: Johnson, Robert, et al. (eds).

QUOTATIONS

54. Use double quotation marks for full-sentence quotations and single quotation marks for partial-sentence quotations (for example, Dr. Xanthi said, "I don't want to go!", According to Jones, Smith's comments included '... I want to keep up'.

    For in-text quotations, use single quotation marks within double quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation (for example, He remarked, "This charge of 'fraudulent conversion' will never stick.")

55. Quotations of five lines or longer (about one hundred words or more) should be identified as extracts, indented, and separated from the main text by a line space above and below. Within the quotation, further paragraph indentations should be made as needed to indicate the paragraphing of the original source. Such text extracts should not be set within quotation marks.

56. Use square brackets to indicate any additions made that are not included in the original quotation.

57. Use three periods enclosed with parentheses to indicate material is missing within the quotation (for example, Casca said: “There was more (...) foolery yet”. Omit ellipses at the beginning and end of quotations unless they are needed for sense.

SPELLING

58. Avoid the use of contractions.

59. Watch for words with alternative spellings and use the same version through the text.

60. Alternative spellings in cited material and titles should not be changed. Please ensure they are correct.

61. Spell out words such as figure, table, percent, November, Canadian dollars, and so on on their initial use within the text. Following abbreviations should be consistent throughout the text.

TRANSLATIONS

62. If it is important to provide the text of a quotation in a foreign language, a translation into French or English (depending upon the language of publication) should also be supplied. Preferably, the translation should appear in the body of the text, with the original passage and source cited in a note.