PREPARATION OF REVISED MANUSCRIPTS
In general, the EHR conforms to the principles laid out in the Oxford Style Manual, and the
spelling conventions of the Concise Oxford Dictionary. If you are unsure about a particular
point of style, please contact the editorial office at ehr@history.ox.ac.uk. We also have a long
list of examples of references which you may wish to consult.
Word limits
Articles should not normally exceed 15,000 words, including footnotes; Notes and
Documents not more than 7,500 words. An abstract of 200-250 words should also be
provided: these appear on the EHR website but not in the printed article.
Layout
Manuscripts should be typed double-spaced and pages numbered consecutively throughout,
preferably in the upper right-hand corner. Tables, maps and photographs should be provided
separately but with their position within the text indicated appropriately (for example, a cue in
capitals and square brackets: [INSERT TABLE 1 HERE]. Special care should be taken with
the formatting of tables and edited texts. Any unusual features, such as variable line-spacing,
reduced font-size, underlining, partial indenting, symbols or abbreviations, should be drawn
to the attention of the typesetters with appropriate instructions: if tables and editions are to be
typeset exactly as submitted, that should be indicated.
Author details
At the end of the article, but before any appendix, the name of the author(s) should be given
in small capitals on the right and the affiliation(s) of the author(s) on the left: either the
university or college (but not department) or city/town/village of residence, with the country,
if not UK, in italics. If there is more than one author, each name should be on a new line; the
name of the lead author (e.g. the principal grant holder) should come first, in order to
facilitate electronic searching.
Acknowledgements and relevant citation of previous work by the author(s) can be
incorporated in the revised version of the paper.
Running heads and line-spacing
When sending final versions of articles, authors should suggest running heads, especially
when the title is long or not easily divided: recto and verso running heads should not exceed
50 characters each. The EHR does not use sub-headings in the text of articles, and prefers not
to use section numbers. A single line-space may, however, be used between sections: it
would be helpful to mark this up appropriately for the attention of the typesetters.
Footnotes
Articles and Notes submitted for consideration should give references presented as footnotes
at the bottom of each page, using arabic footnote markers. More detailed guidelines for
footnotes are given below.
Spelling
UK spelling should be used.
Quotations
Quotations within the text should be in single quotation marks (double quotation marks are
used for quotations within quotations). Quotations of more than fifty words should be
indented, without quotation marks: these will be typeset in a smaller font.
EHR house-style does not apply within quotations: they should reproduce what is in the
original being quoted. Abbreviations and contractions may be silently extended. Obvious
errors may also be corrected without comment.
Italics
Words to appear in italic should be given in italic or underlined. Single words and short
phrases in foreign languages should be in italic but quotations in foreign languages should
not. Foreign institutions should be in roman.
The abbreviation ‘c.’ for circa should be italicised, and set without spaces:
c.1660–c.1720
Omission
Omissions (e.g. if a quotation gives the beginning and the end of a sentence but not all of it)
are shown by three dots separated by fixed spaces ( … ). Letters or words inserted into a
damaged manuscript should be included within [square brackets]. There is no need to indicate
by the use of italics or square brackets that abbreviations in documents being quoted or edited
have been extended unless this is material to the discussion.
Dates
Dates in the main text should be given in the form 7 October 2007; in the notes, 7 Oct. 2007.
Year ranges should be truncated, except for the teens and years ending in 0 (e.g. 1861–2, but
1860–69, 1816–17) and dates in the title. Old-style dating requires the oblique slash, as does
a single event that stretched over two or more years.
Commas, points, acronyms
Commas are used as separators in numbers (e.g. 1,000).
Dots are used in Ph.D., D.Phil., e.g., rev., i.e. but not in Dr, Mr, Mrs, nor in abbreviations or
acronyms of places, journals, societies, institutions or offices – USA, JP, MP, EHR, TNA,
BL, RHS.
The full names of any institutions or organisations should be spelled out at the first mention in
the text, with any acronym that is to be used in the article given in brackets.
Capitals
Initial capitals should be used for British institutions and organisations, and foreign
institutions rendered in English. Offices and office-holders are usually given initial capitals,
as are the names of political parties (but not the word party itself, unless it stands alone).
Royal and noble titles should generally be given in lower case except when preceding a name:
King Henry VIII, but Henry VIII, king of England; Earl George, but George Talbot, fourth
earl of Shrewsbury. Lord is usually given an initial capital: William, Lord Hastings.
Capitalisation of other nouns should, generally, be as minimal as possible; authors who wish
to employ capitals to make distinctions (e.g. between State and state) should advise the
editors that this is their intention
Numbers
Numbers below 100 should be spelled out. Numbered centuries should be spelled out
(twentieth century). Arabic numerals should be used for numbers above 100, ages, dates, and
for statistics if there are more than two numbers in the sequence. In percentages, Arabic
numerals are used, followed by ‘per cent’.
Old money is given thus: £146 5s 6d without points.
FOOTNOTES AND REFERENCES
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements, both to anyone who has helped in the writing and preparation of the
article, and to holders of copyright who have permitted citation, should be made in the first
footnote, which is not numbered but indicated by an asterisk after the last word of the title of
the article. Grant-awarding bodies such as the Arts and Humanities Research Council should
be given their full title.
Cross-references
Please avoid cross references to page ranges within the article. Cross references may be made
to particular numbered notes, or to general sections of the article.
See n. 16 above.
See discussion below.
Authors/editors
In references to authors and editors no spaces are left between initials. Academic or honorific
titles are not given. The abbrevations id. or ead. (in roman) can be used when appropriate.
The abbreviations ed. and eds. should not be put in parentheses. Trans. should be used for
translated.
Authors and editors of modern historical works are referred to by initials and surnames only
(respecting convention in the case of foreign names), with the name coming before the title of
the work.
G.W. Bernard, The King’s Reformation: Henry VIII and the Making of the English Church
(New Haven, CT, 2005).
Medieval and early modern writers, and authors of modern non-historical works such as
novelists, philosophers or poets, are given their full names (according to convention). If what
is being cited is an edition of their work, then the editor’s initial(s) and name should follow
the title.
Henry of Huntingdon, Historia Anglorum, ed. D. Greenway (Oxford, 1996).
For collections of essays assembled by modern scholars, the name(s) of the editor(s) come
before the title of the book .
G.W. Bernard, ed., The Tudor Nobility (Manchester, 1992).
For editions of texts, if the text is simply a reproduction in print of what is in a discrete
archive, complete and in the same order, or materials issued by the same authority, then the
title should come first, followed by the initial(s) and name(s) of the modern editor(s).
Pipe Roll 11 John, ed. D.M. Stenton, Pipe Roll Society, new ser., xxiii (1947).
For editions of texts in which the edition has required compilation and selection, the initial(s)
and name(s) of the modern editor(s) should come first, followed by the title of the work.
C.R. Cheney and W.H. Semple, eds., Selected Letters of Pope Innocent III Concerning
England, 1198–1216 (1953).
If a very large number of editors have been involved over a long period of time (as with the
Calendar of State Papers Domestic), then editors should not be named: it is sufficient to give
the title of the publication.
et al.
If a book or an edition is the work of more than two authors or editors, give all their names,
unless convention is just to cite the main author or editor, followed by et al. in roman. In
subsequent abbreviated references to such works, give the name of the first author or editor
followed by et al, unless it is conventional to cite both or all the names of the authors or
editors, or (especially in the case of editions of documents) simply to cite the title of the work.
Titles
Titles of books are italicised, as are the titles of journals. The initial letters of significant
words in the titles of books and journals in English are capitalised. Authors should follow
convention for the capitalisation and punctuation of foreign-language titles.
Volume numbers of journals are given in lower-case roman numerals: these are followed by
the year of publication. Individual issue numbers and month of publication are given only
when it is not possible to follow the standard convention of citation by volume number.
References to past volumes of the English Historical Review should be given in the form
ante, followed by the volume and year, or supra and infra for references within the current
volume.
Repeated citations and short titles
If books and articles are referred to more than once in the notes, subsequent references should
be given in abbreviated form: surnames of author(s)/editor(s) and a shortened title of the book
or article.
Bernard, King’s Reformation.
‘Ibid.’ may be used if the same book or article has been cited in the immediately preceding
note.
Titles of journals are always given in full.
Square brackets to indicate future abbreviations are used for series and for the names of
archives:
M[onumenta] G[ermaniae] H[istorica]
[The] P[arliamentary] R[oll]s o[f] M[edieval] E[ngland 1275-1504], VIII: Henry IV 1399–
1413, ed. C. Given-Wilson (Woodbridge, 2005), p. 14.
PROME, VIII: Henry IV 1399–1413, p. 14
If repeated citations are being made of the same contemporary source then it may be easier to
put abbreviated references in brackets in the main text after each citation: e.g. after giving full
references in a footnote, John Foxe, Acts and Monuments, ed. J. Pratt, (8 vols., 1877), the
form (A & M, v. 45) or (v. 45) may be used in the text. References to line numbers of poems
(l, ll.) may be given in the same way.
Series
Series names appear in roman type unless they form part of the actual title of the work
being cited.
It is not necessary to include series information for monographs or edited collections,
but if it is conventional in a particular instance to do so it may be included in the
following format:
D.J.B. Trim, ed., The Huguenots: History and Memory in Transnational Context.
Essays in Honour and Memory of Walter C. Utt (Studies in the History of Christian
Traditions, 156; Leiden and Boston, 2012).
If each volume in a series has a separate title, use the form:
M. Rubin and W. Simons, eds., The Cambridge History of Christianity, IV: Christianity in
Western Europe, c.1100–c.1500 (Cambridge, 2009).
Volume numbers should be given in upper case roman: if volumes are divided into parts, then
the number of the part can then be given in lower case roman:
D. Luscombe and J. Riley-Smith, eds., The New Cambridge Medieval History, IV, pt. ii:
c.1024–1198 (Cambridge, 2004).
D.M. Palliser, ed., The Cambridge Urban History of Britain, I: 600–1540 (Cambridge, 2000)
H. Rothwell, ed., English Historical Documents, III: 1189–1327 (1975), pp. 67–72.
If a book is an instalment of a long-running series produced by a learned society or similar
body, such as local record society series, Camden Society or Early English Text Society
series, the series information should be cited in the form:
Camden Society, 5th ser., xxxii (2008)
F. Furnivall, ed., The Gild of St Mary Lichfield, Early English Text Society, extra ser., civ
(1920), pp. 18-24
The Pinners’ and Wiresellers’ Book, 1462–1511, ed. B. Megson, London Record Society,
xliv (2009).
Date and location
The place of publication should be given between brackets, after the author, title and editors.
If the place of publication is in the United States, include the conventional abbreviation of the
state.
The name of the publisher is not included. The place of publication should be preceded by
details of the edition cited if this is not the first edition and by the total number of volumes if
this is a multi-volume work. The date of publication should follow (3rd edn., 2 vols., Oxford,
1986). A comma should follow the bracket, followed by the page(s) referred to.
Page ranges
Page ranges should be truncated as far as is possible, with the following exceptions: where the
first number ends in a zero (pp. 40–43, but pp. 41–3); and where the numbers are in the teens
(pp. 15–18, rather than 15–8).
When a page and footnote are cited, use the forms p. 186 n. 23, or pp. 186–7 nn. 23–7.
The abbreviations fo. fos. pt. pts., p. pp., ed. eds., edn., vol. vols., n. nn., no. nos., ch. chs., col.
cols. are used (for folio, folios, part, parts, editor, editors, edition, volume, volumes, note,
notes, number, numbers, chapter, chapters, column, columns), all followed by a point and a
space. The abbreviations no. and nos. should be used for references to a numbered list (e.g.
of documents; follow the original in determining whether roman or arabic numerals are used).
Early, unpaginated printed books should be cited by signatures and folios according to
convention (in form sigs. A4v–r). It may be helpful to give the English Short Title Catalogue
number of such works, particularly if several editions of the same work are being discussed.
When citing a volume from a multi-volume work, give the volume number followed by a
point, a space, and then the page number or numbers (no p. or pp.):
The Medieval Account Books of the Mercers of London: An Edition and Translation, ed. and
trans. L. Jefferson (2 vols., Farnham, 2009), ii. 239.
Archival sources
References to archives should be given in full on the first citation and then in abbreviated
form—unless that risks confusion or the archive is not well-known, in which case it is
preferable to give the full reference.
The general principle is that the location of the archive is followed by the name of the
institution and then the collection. It is not necessary to give a location if the information is
included in the name (as with Cambridge University Library, or Archivio Segreto Vaticano).
Well-known British archives in London should be cited by their names alone, not by their
location (e.g. The National Archives, Public Record Office; the British Library), as should the
National Libraries of Wales and Scotland; convention should be respected elsewhere (e.g.
Bodleian Library, Oxford).
References should be given by the numbers/letters required to order the manuscripts to which
they refer at the archive. Extra information about the particular item can also be added after
the call reference.
Vincennes, S[ervice] H[istorique de la] D[éfense, Fonds de l’Armée de] T[erre], A1 250 fo. 2,
Choisy to Louvois, 28 Aug. 1670.
SHDT, A1 252 fo. 114, Louvois to Créqui, 29 Oct. 1670.
Online and microfilm citations
Where these are used merely as surrogates for printed works and archival sources (as
with PDF copies of microfilms), there is no need to cite them. When they contain
elements of editorial work, they may be cited, and when they provide material that is
otherwise inaccessible, they should be cited. There is no need, when citing online
material, to give the date on which it was accessed.
Online journal articles
As for print journals, as far as is possible:
A. Gajda, ‘Political Culture in the 1590s: The “Second Reign of Elizabeth”’, History
Compass, 8 (2009), pp. 88–100.
Other online material
Cite as it makes best sense, taking care to use stable URLs.
Newspapers
The Times, 16 Apr. 1837.
Page reference, author details and article titles may be included if desired (in that
order).
Dumfries and Galloway Courier, 1 Sept. 1812, letter from ‘Horticultor’.
Theses
M. Conway, ‘The Rexist Movement in Belgium, 1940–1944’ (Univ. of Oxford
D.Phil. thesis, 1989), p. 78.