Journal Style Guide

Documents should be produced in Microsoft Word XP or higher and submitted as a file attachment to an email (i.e. NOT in the body of an e-mail message).

Font

• Times New Roman font, 12 point

Spacing

• single spacing
• no indentation of paragraphs
• one blank line space between paragraphs
• one space between sentences
• no space before ellipses

Margins and text alignment

• justified left hand margin, ragged right-hand margin
• internal sub-headings: justified left, in bold, sentence case

Quotations

• quotations to be set within single quotation marks within paragraph
• closing quotation mark to be inside sentence’s final punctuation mark
• no quotation marks required for indented quotes
• quotes to be properly referenced (See ‘Notes & Citations’ )
• non-verbal elements within interview quotations can be included in square brackets, such as [laughter]
• square brackets used when what is inside the brackets is the author’s interpretation of a quote which is difficult to decipher

Spelling and terms

• spell-check dictionary set to Australian English
• use World War One not First World War or World War I

Numbers and punctuation

• numbers smaller than 10 to be spelt in words
• an en dash (not a hyphen) to separate years (1879‒1901) and page numbers (1‒19)
• dates to be date month year (19 October 2019)
• foreign words should be italicised
• don’t capitalise generic titles and organisations e.g. Museums Victoria is capitalised but ‘the museum’s staff’ is not

Footnotes

• footnote to be outside sentence’s final punctuation mark
• no ibid or op cit – use author, abbreviated title and page number

Take care to avoid plagiarism and acknowledge all sources.

Notes

• notes are to be formatted as footnotes
• numbering of notes: ordinal, not Roman (i.e. 1, 2, 3 etc., not i, ii, iii etc.)
• use an en dash and not a hyphen for page numbers (1‒3, not 1-3)

Book cited in footnote

Author’s first name(s), surname, title (in italics), bracket, place, publisher and date of publication, bracket, page numbers (without p. or pp.). 

Thus: David Lowenthal, The Past is a Foreign Country (Cambridge University Press: London, 1985), 54.

For repeat references, surname, abbreviated title, page number, thus: Lowenthal, Past is a Foreign Country, 88.

Article cited in footnote

Author’s first name(s), surname, title of article (in single quotes, title case), name of journal (in italics) volume, issue, year (in brackets), colon, page numbers. NB no comma between journal title and volume no.

Thus: Alison Turtle, ‘The Short-Lived Appointment of the First New South Wales Government Psychologist, Dr Lorna Hodgkinson’, Australian Historical Studies 25, no. 101 (October 1993): 569.

Repeat references: Turtle, ‘Short-Lived Appointment’, 567.

NB If no issue number or month, no comma between journal title and issue number or year.

Thus: Stan Grant, ‘My Grandfather’s Equality: Confronting the Cosmopolitan Frontier’, Griffith Review 60 (2018): 135.

Chapter cited in collection

Author’s first name (or, if unknown, initial), surname, title of chapter (in single quotes), editor(s) name(s), ed. or eds in brackets, then as for books above. Note that ‘ed.’ is an abbreviation but ‘eds’ is a contraction and is therefore not followed by a stop.

Thus: Tim Rowse, ‘A Short and Simple Provisional Code: The Pastoralist as Protector’, in Samuel Furphy and Amanda Nettelbeck (eds), Aboriginal Protection and Its Intermediaries in Britain’s Antipodean Colonies (New York and London: Routledge, 2019), 175‒93.

For repeat references: Rowse, ‘A Short and Simple Provisional Code’, 176.

Newspaper articles

Author (if known), title, name of newspaper in italics, day month year, page number.

Thus: ‘Quarterly Report: Aborigines Department’, Adelaide Observer, 5 May 1849, 2.

Interviews

Oral sources should be cited as follows: interviewee’s name, interviewer’s name, place (i.e. where interview was conducted) date, month and year of interview, location of tape and/or transcript (with a reference number if held in a library).

Thus: Jill Smith, interviewed by author, Port Adelaide, 14 July 2019, tape and transcript held by author.

For repeat references: Jill Smith, 14 July 2019.

For references to interviews held between the same interviewer and interviewee, albeit on different dates, ‘All interviews referred to in this article held with [interviewee’s name] were conducted by the author. All tapes and transcripts of interviews held with [interviewee’s name] referred to in this article are held by the author.

For oral sources accessed and stored by a collecting institution:

Rhonda King, interviewed by Mary Hutchison in Canberra on 11 and 19 May 2013, Australian Generations Oral History Project (AGOHP), National Library of Australia (NLA), TRC 6300/182, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-220035263/listen/2-3612

For repeat references: Rhonda King interview, 11 May 2013.

Websites and online articles

Name of organisation, name of ‘article’ or item, http address, date of access.

Thus: Artie Konrad, Facebook Memories: The Research Behind the Products that Connect you with your Past (September 6, 2017). Available at https://research.fb.com/blog/2017/09/facebook-memories-the-researchbehind-the-products-that-connect-you-with-your-past/. Accessed 15 January 2020.

Multimedia files including photographs, illustrations and audio should be submitted with the Word document as separate files.

Photographs and illustrations

Images, photos, drawings etc. are particularly welcome. If required, you may indicate where you would like them to be placed within the text, however selection and actual placement will depend on editorial requirements.

Please follow the following guidelines for such attachments:

• scan black/white or colour prints to the highest resolution possible and forward with your submission in one of the accepted formats – JPEG, PNG or TIFF (not PDF)
• photographs must be in focus
• captions to be listed separately and follow this format: description of contents, name of creator, acknowledgment of source, reference of source
• must be accompanied by a declaration signed by you that you have obtained permission to reproduce all the image/s
• full citation of the source of each image is required.

Audio

Audio will be considered for inclusion if the editors believe it adds value to the contributed article.

To be considered audio files must be:

• recorded in high quality uncompressed WAV format
• be no longer than three minutes for an interview excerpt
• not require any further editing or enhancement.

Any audio longer than three minutes must be canvassed with the editors before submission.

Audio accepted for inclusion with the journal will generally be hosted on OHA’s SoundCloud account (https://soundcloud.com/oralhistoryaustralia).

Required contributor details

In a separate file, please provided details of the following:

• full name, address and contact details
• an abstract of the article’s content (up to 100-200 words)
• biographical details/notes on contributor/s (no more than 50 words) required for all contributions
• if sending images etc., include all details as required (see above).

Copyright

Copyright in all papers or articles contained in the Oral History Australia Journal remains with the author/s. If authors do not have copyright in photographs or images that are submitted for publication with a contribution, the author must provide a signed declaration that permission to reproduce all the image/s has been obtained from copyright holder/s.

How to submit

Non-peer-reviewed submissions

Articles and reports in category B may contain identifying information of the authors.

Send reports to: Imogen Smith, Reports Editor, Studies in Oral History, email: reports.journal@oralhistoryaustralia.org.au

Peer-reviewed submissions

Material for peer-review must be de-identified for anonymous review and submitted to the Editorial Board, which will first assess its suitability. Authors will be advised of the outcome.

Send material for peer-review to: Dr Alexandra Dellios, Chair of the Editorial Board, Studies in Oral History, email: editorialboard.journal@oralhistoryaustralia.org.au

Material for peer-review may be submitted to the OHA Editorial Board at any time, but contributors should take note of deadlines published in the Call for Papers.  Also note that, while the Editorial Board will make every effort to ensure papers are peer-reviewed in sufficient time for publication, regardless of when offers are forwarded to the Editorial Board, the review process may not necessarily be completed in time for publication in the next available journal.