Preface
GENERAL SCOPE
This manual is the seventh edition of the style manual that was first issued by the Council of Biology Editors (now the Council of Science Editors) in 1960. The first 5 editions1-5 included content on writing and submitting papers for journal publication, along with guidance on publication style and format. Recommendations on scientific style were limited mainly to the microbial, plant, zoological, and medical sciences. With the sixth edition of the style manual 6, published in 1994, the scope was broadened to generally encompass all scientific disciplines. In January 2000, about 5 years after publication of the sixth edition, the organization officially extended its scope of membership along similar lines, taking the name Council of Science Editors (CSE). The current edition of the manual maintains this broadened scope, covering a wide variety of disciplines in experimental and observational science, with emphasis on the physical and life sciences.
The material in earlier editions on how to write and submit papers and other types of reports for publication in journals and books was omitted from the sixth edition to make room for content related to sciences other than biology and medicine. The CSE style manual now focuses on how scientific papers, journals, and books should be styled and formatted for publication, with a short section providing guidance on good editorial practices. Guidance on scientific writing is available from many other sources, and such publications are listed in the Bibliography of this manual. See in particular the sections of the bibliography entitled "Style Manuals and Other Writing Guides" and "Guides to Usage and Prose Style".
In most parts of this manual, style means publication style: the conventions related to punctuation, abbreviation, capitalization, symbolization, and referencing. Where style is meant in its literary sense, the term "prose style" is used.
SCIENTIFIC SCOPE
Because the traditional boundaries between scientific disciplines are dissolving, Part 3 of this manual, which covers special scientific conventions, is organized not by the various sciences but rather by their subjects. Genetics and biochemistry, for example, were for many years quite separate in the subjects they covered. Now, the molecular structure of genes and how they chemically produce their effects are integrated with the more traditional subjects of genetic inquiry. A report on an inherited characteristic of a particular organism might thus make use of recommendations in the chapters on genetic nomenclature (Chapter 21), chemical formulas and structures (Chapter 17), organism structure and function (Chapter 23), and even taxonomy (Chapter 22). This manual's content on special scientific conventions is generally organized according to a rising scale of dimensions, starting with the fundamental units of matter and proceeding up through chemical and cellular components, microorganisms and more complex organisms, to the planet Earth and the rest of the universe.
This manual's recommendations on scientific style focus primarily on nomenclature and symbolization. The principles governing these topics are presented in sufficient detail to make clear the basis and rationale for appropriate style, but the manual does not include comprehensive lists of scientific terms, symbols, and abbreviations for all disciplines. Authoritative documents are available in many disciplines to guide authors who are responsible for coining new terms and symbols and those who need to use them. References for these documents, many of them now available on the Internet, are given at the end of the relevant chapters.
REFERENCES
CITED REFERENCES
1. Conference of Biological Editors, Committee on Form and Style. Style manual for biological journals. Washington (DC): American Institute of Biological Sciences; 1960.
2. Conference of Biological Editors, Committee on Form and Style. Style manual for biological journals. 2nd ed. Washington (DC): American Institute of Biological Sciences; 1964.
3. Council of Biology Editors, Committee on Form and Style. CBE style manual. 3rd ed. Washington (DC): American Institute of Biological Sciences; 1972.
4. Council of Biology Editors, CBE Style Manual Committee. Council of Biology Editors style manual: a guide for authors, editors, and publishers in the biological sciences. 4th ed. Bethesda (MD): Council of Biology Editors; 1978.
5. Council of Biology Editors, CBE Style Manual Committee. CBE style manual: a guide for authors, editors, and publishers in the biological sciences. 5th ed., revised and expanded. Bethesda (MD): Council of Biology Editors; 1983.
6. Council of Biology Editors, Style Manual Committee. Scientific style and format: the CBE manual for authors, editors, and publishers. 6th ed. New York (NY): Cambridge University Press; 1994
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