Style Guide

 

Plant Perspectives and its publisher, The White Horse Press, aim to maintain high standards of writing and presentation. In particular, we aim to ensure that detailed styling is consistent within each article and across each issue.

We therefore ask all authors to make their best effort to adhere to the following detailed style guidance when preparing their article for submission.  

 

General

 

Headings

For identification purposes before layout:

First level: CAPS

Second level: italics (sentence case)

Third level: bold (sentence case)

 

Abbreviations/spellings

 

Numbers

44 per cent (44% in notes), fourteen degrees

£246, £1 10s, 5s 3d, A$256,300, US$10 million

1 December 1946 (in text), 1 Dec. 1946 (in notes)

1950s, the fifties

Number and date ranges should be given with an en dash (–) rather than a hyphen: 1900–1945; pp. 14–24.

Use commas, not points, to break up large whole numbers – 91,000 ; 1,500,237 – and points, not commas to indicate decimals – 4.37 ; 25.4

 

Quotations

Metadata For Searchability
Academic Search Engine Optimisation (ASEO) refers to optimising scholarly literature for academic search engines and databases like Google Scholar and PubMed. There are a few tips that you can use to boost your discoverability, especially in regard to setting your title, abstract and keywords. We encourage you to do this, where possible:

Title:
  Place important/key terms at the beginning of your title.
  Use a concise and descriptive title; consider how your titles appear on different screen sizes and what may get cut off.
  Avoid special characters and abbreviations.

Keywords:
  Consider a searcher's perspective; what keywords would they be looking for?
  Use synonyms of important words.

Abstract:
  Use short informational sentences.
  Place important/keywords at the beginning of your abstract.
  Use synonyms of important keywords and mention these a few times.

Learn more about ASEO here: Increasing visibility and discoverability of scholarly publications with academic search engine optimization

 

Cross-references

 

Illustrations and Tables

 

References

Short Title System

J. Martinez-Alier, G. Munda and J. O’Neill, ‘Weak comparability of values as a foundation for ecological economics’, Ecological Economics 26 (3) (1998): 277–286.

H. Rolston III, Philosophy Gone Wild, Second edition (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1989), pp. 189–201.

A. Holland, ‘Substitutability: Why strong sustainability is weak and absurdly strong sustainability is not absurd’, in J. Foster (ed.), Valuing Nature? Economics, Ethics and Environment(London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 119–134.

C.P. James, A study of subsistence agriculture in the lower Nile Delta, 1875–1930. (PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006).

C. Toulmin, ‘How Africa can solve its food crisis by growing more crops sustainably’, The Guardian, 18 April 2013. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/apr/18/africa-food-crisis-growing-crops-sustainably (accessed 22 April 2020)

EPA, Who Cares About the Environment? (Sydney: Environmental Protection Authority, 2000). http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/community/whocares (accessed 16 Oct. 2002).

M. De Jong, ‘Seasonality, itinerancy and domestic fluidity: The case of the nomadic sheep-shearers of the Karoo’,paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Anthropology in Southern Africa, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 1992.

Mahaffy to Sec. of State, 21 Dec. 1908, Western Pacific High Commission BSIP Secretariat Series, National Archives of Solomon Islands (hereafter WHPC) 281/1.

Notes

 

Author–Date System

Aldred, J. 2006. ‘Incommensurability and monetary valuation’. Land Economics 82 (3): 141–161.

Martinez-Alier, J., G. Munda and J. O’Neill. 1998. ‘Weak comparability of values as a foundation for ecological economics’. Ecological Economics 26: 277–286.

Rolston III, H. 1989. Philosophy Gone Wild. Second edition. Buffalo, New York: Prometheus Books.

Holland, A. 1997. ‘Substitutability: Why strong sustainability is weak and absurdly strong sustainability is not absurd’. In J. Foster (ed.), Valuing Nature? Economics, Ethics and Environment, pp. 119–134. London: Routledge.

James, C.P. 2006. ‘A study of subsistence agriculture in the lower Nile Delta, 1875–1930’. PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge.

Toulmin, C. 2013. ‘How Africa can solve its food crisis by growing more crops sustainably’.The Guardian, 18 April. https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2013/apr/18/africa-food-crisis-growing-crops-sustainably (accessed 22 April 2020)

EPA 2000. Who Cares About the Environment? Sydney: Environmental Protection Authority. http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/community/whocares (accessed 16 October 2002).

De Jong, M. 1992. ‘Seasonality, itinerancy and domestic fluidity: The case of the nomadic sheep-shearers of the Karoo’Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Association for Anthropology in Southern Africa. University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

Mahaffy, C. 1908. Letter to Sec. of State, 21 Dec. Western Pacific High Commission BSIP Secretariat Series, National Archives of Solomon Islands (hereafter WHPC) 281/1.

Notes

 

Abstract and Author Biography

A circa 100-150-word abstract should be given at the beginning, followed by around 5 keywords.

Following acceptance, short (100 words) author biographies should be included at the end of each article, together with the author’s email address.

 

Acknowledgements

Should be given as a separate paragraph at the end under the capitalised heading ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

 

Nomenclature

 

 

For further guidance, see the Chicago Manual of Style.