Style guide

This section provides basic style guidelines for date/time formats and units. Authors should follow these guidelines to the best of their ability. Our copy-editing team are volunteers, and appreciate the authors’ assistance in ensuring their articles are prepared according to the style guide.

Please use and follow our article format template.

Dates and times

Long form dates: Write long forms dates as dd M yyyy: for example, 29 May 2023

Short form dates: Write short form dates as dd/mm/yyyy: for example, 29/05/2023. Preferably use long form dates to avoid confusion

Times: Use 24-hour time. UTC is the default time zone unless otherwise specified. If you are using a different time zone, be sure to clarify, and do not assume the reader will know. Example times: 14:35, 14:35:22, 14:35:22.187, 14:35.22 EDT

 

General rules

Define Your Acronyms (DYA): The first use of all acronyms and initializations must be defined within the text, with the abbreviation in parentheses. Any further use should use the acronym. Authors may decide to spell out acronyms an additional time at the first use in each section for longer papers.

Semi vs bi: Use semi-annual, semi-monthly, semi-weekly to describe events occurring twice per year, month, week. Use biannual, bimonthly, biweekly to describe events occurring once every two years, months, weeks.

Statistical tests: For terms like p-value or t-test, italicize p, t. Hyphenate the term, and do not capitalize.

Standard abbreviations

Items on this list do not need to be defined. This is not exclusive and all standard SI unit abbreviations are acceptable.

km = kilometer

m = meter

sec (or s) = seconds

Hz = Hertz

°, deg = degrees (temperature or arc)

Pa = Pascals

kPa = kiloPascals

bar = bar

psi = pounds per square inch

Nm = Newton-meter

dyn-cm = dyne-centimeter

azm = azimuth

baz = backazimuth

ft = feet

mi = miles

nm = nanometer, nautical miles (context)