Instructions for authors

The articles must be between 10,000 and 30,000 characters and include the following:

  • Title (45 characters maximum)
  • Author(s), following the example shown here: First name Surname, degree and discipline, job title, laboratory
  • Abstract of between 1,500 and 2,000 characters

I. HOW THE ARTICLE SOULD BE PRESENTED

The text should be body text, without formatting, apart from paragraph breaks and the titles: the titles can be formatted according to the example below (in bold). Italics should only be used for the titles of publications and for Latin and foreign phrases. DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING IN CAPITALS. Do not underline anything.

Example:

Chapter 1. Title of chapter 1

  1. First-order heading
  2. Second-order heading
  3. Second-order heading

Etc.

The articles must have page numbers.

  1. STYLE STANDARDS

Numbers in isolation should be spelled out in words up to one hundred and in figures after one hundred (for example: “twenty-six graduates” but “270 participants”); however, they can be written in figures if they are below 100 in an enumerated or quantified situation (for example: “The graduates increased from 30,000 to 36,000 between 2000 and 2009.”)

With regard to dates, days and years should be written in Arabic numerals (for example: 20 May 1981) and centuries in Roman numerals (for example: XIXth century).

Ordinal numbers should be written out in words, not figures (for example: “the eighth finalist” and not “the 8th finalist”.

When referring to a period, write “the 1950s” rather than “the 50s”.

  1. CITATIONS

Citations should not exceed 8 lines (in the original version) and should be between quotation marks, and quotation marks only, and be indented. They should be written in the Roman alphabet and not in italics.

Any breaks in a citation must be shown using three full stops surrounded by square brackets: […].

Round brackets (“and”) should only be used around a citation within a citation.

II. DOCUMENTS

  1. ILLUSTRATIONS, TABLES AND GRAPHS

The author can use diagrams, tables and graphs. Illustrations should be provided as a separate file, in high resolution JPG or TIFF format (>300 DPI)

All tables and figures must be accompanied by a precise legend (title, place, date, and author) and a reference. Any sources used which are not your own must be cited with the reference year.

The following is not allowed:

  • Low resolution
  • Small sizes
  • Graphs without a scale or units
  • A frame around the image
  • Sources which are not cited in the legend

Documents’ sources must be clearly specified and authors must ensure that they have the reproduction rights.

III. REFERENCES within the body of the text

References should be cited in the text (surname and date) and not in the footnotes.

  • A recent study (Surname, date) demonstrated that…

Where the name of an author or authors is part of the text, only the date of publication should be provided between brackets.

  • Surname (date) observed that…

If there are multiple references within the same set of brackets, they should be in alphabetical order, separated by a semi-colon:

  • Many observations (Surname, date; Surname & Surname, date; Surname, date) have shown that…

If the reference contains more than two authors, all of the surnames must be cited in the first reference. For the following references, include the surname of the first author followed by “et al.” and the date.

  • Surname, Surname, Surname & Surname (date) observed that…
  • These recent observations (Surname et al., date) showed that…

IV. SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

The bibliography must contain ALL of the documents explicitly cited in the text. It must be organised in strict alphabetic order of authors, then chronologically. Any collaborators should then come after with the year of publication.

The references should be written as follows in order to identify the publications, the chapters of publications and the journal articles within the bibliography.

  1. Paper journal article:
  • Surname, Initial. (date). Article title. Journal title, volume (page numbers of the section), pages. doi: alphanumeric character sequence

Where there are several authors, each author should be separated by a comma; the symbol & should be added between the penultimate and the last author.

If a document has not yet been published, but has been accepted by peer-review, indicate in press.

The DOI should only be indicated if there is one. It should be preceded by ‘doi’ followed by a colon and then the DOI alphanumeric character sequence. This sequence should not be followed be a full stop.

  1. Electronic journal article:

To reference an article in an electronic journal use the same reference information as for a paper journal article. However, if this article does not have a DOI, this must be replaced by a reference to the website address:

Website address: this information should be introduced by the term “Online” followed by the article’s URL.

  1. Monograph:
  • Surname, Initial. (date). Publication title. Place of publication: Publisher’s name.

Where there are several authors, each author should be separated by a comma; the symbol & should be added between the penultimate and the last author.

  • Surname, Initial., Surname, Initial., & Surname, Initial. (date). Publication title. Place of publication: Publisher’s name

Please be aware that for publications with no author(s) in the strict sense of the term, but with scientific publishers, put “Ed.” or “Eds.” between brackets after the last publisher.

If the document is not dated, put “n.d.” in brackets.

4. Electronic monograph

To reference an electronic monograph use the same information as for a paper monograph. Following the example of electronic journal articles, a fifth piece of information must be added: either the DOI if it has one, or the website address.

  1. Chapter of a collective work:
  • Surname, Initial., & Surname, Initial. (date). Chapter title. In Initial. Surname, Initial. Surname & Initial. Surname (Eds.), Collective work title (pp.). Place of publication: Publisher’s name.
  1. Conference or symposium proceedings
  • Proceedings which have been published as a book with (or without) a scientific publisher

In this case, the rules for a chapter of a collective work should be followed (see 5)

  • Proceedings which have been published as a numbered annual volume

In this case, the rules for a journal article should be followed (see 1 and 2)

  • Unpublished proceedings
  • Surname, Initial. (year, month). Title of the report. Report presented to X, town. Online http://www
  1. Unpublished Doctoral dissertation or thesis
  • Surname, Initial. (date). Title. Unpublished Doctoral thesis in X, Name of the University, Town.
  1. Website

There are two possible situations:

  • The author is identified on the website:

Surname, Initial. (date). Title. Available online at the website of X. http://www.labexitem.fr/

  • There is no author: the organisation responsible for the website should be indicated in full :

Organisation responsible. (date) Title. Online http://www.labexitem.fr/, consulted on X.

Website address: this information should be introduced by the term “Online” followed by the URL. If the website is likely to be updated, the URL should be followed by a comma and the phrase “consulted on” followed by the date the website was consulted in the format day/month/year.

NB: if the author has been clearly identified the URL is followed by “Online on the website of” followed by the name of the organisation responsible for the website.

NB: if the website indicates a DOI in the copyright section, this should be indicated instead of the website address.