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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Nutrition Bytes

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Final Manuscript Preparation

This document provides details on copyediting, typesetting, and layout requirements and recommendations pertaining to final manuscript submission to this eScholarship Repository journal or peer-reviewed series.

COPYEDITING

We do not copyedit manuscripts; and with the exception of adding the title page, pagination, and headers/footers, we do not make any formatting changes to the submissions. Therefore, authors are their own copyeditors and typesetters. This means that authors need to pay greater attention to the editing and look of their manuscripts than is typically required by print journals.

FORMATTING REQUIREMENTS

  • Do not include a title page or abstract. (Begin the document with the introduction; a title page, including the abstract, will be added to your paper by the system.)
  • Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. (The system will add the appropriate header with page numbers.)
  • Write your article in English.
  • Submit your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as a single file (Word or RTF files are accepted).
  • Page size should be 8.5 x 11 inches.
  • All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be at least 1 inch (2.5 cm).
  • Single space your text.
  • Use a single column layout with both left and right margins justified.
  • Font size for the body of the text should be 12 point Times New Roman
  • Include a proper bibliography.
  • If figures are included, use high-resolution figures, preferably encoded as encapsulated PostScript (eps).
  • Copyedit your manuscript.
  • Use the following document structure (remember there is no title page):
    1. Introduction (titling this section is optional)
    2. Subsequent sections, including all tables, figures, and footnotes referenced in the text
    3. Appendices (if any)
    4. References

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

Indenting, Line Spacing, and Justification
Indent all paragraphs except those following a section heading. An indent should be at least 2 cm-spaces.

Do not insert extra space between paragraphs of text with the exception of long quotations, theorems, propositions, special remarks, etc. These should be set off from the surrounding text by additional space above and below.

Don't “widow” or “orphan” text (i.e., ending a page with the first line of a paragraph or beginning a page with the last line of a paragraph).

All text should be left-justified and right-justified (i.e., flush with the left margin and flush with the right margin).

Article Length
The article should be 2000 words or less not including the abstract or references.

Colored text: Set the font color to black for the majority of the text. We encourage authors to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures, maps, etc.; however, you need to appreciate that this will cause some of your readers problems when they print the document on a black-and-white printer. For this reason, you are advised to avoid the use of colors in situations where their translation to black and white would render the material illegible or incomprehensible.

Emphasized text: Whenever possible use italics to indicate text you wish to emphasize rather than underlining it. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.

Font faces: Except, possibly, where special symbols are needed, use a single serif font (e.g., Times New Roman). If you desire a second font, for instance for headings, use a sans serif font (e.g., Arial).

Font size: The main body of text should be set in a 12 pt font.

Foreign terms: Whenever possible, foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Headings: Headings (e.g., start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their fonts or by using small caps. Use the same font face for all headings and indicate the hierarchy by reducing the font size.

Main text: The font for the main body of text must be black and in Times New Roman.

Titles: Whenever possible, titles of books, journals, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Footnotes: Do not use footnotes.

Tables and Figures
To the extent possible, tables and figures should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text. Large tables or figures should be put on pages by themselves. Avoid the use of overly small type in tables. In no case should tables or figures be in a separate document or file.

Mathematics
Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables should be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Whenever possible, subscripts and superscripts should be a smaller font size than the main text.

Short mathematical expressions should be typed inline. Longer expressions should appear as display math. Also expressions using many different levels (e.g., such as the fractions) should be set as display math. Important definitions or concepts can also be set off as display math.

Equations should be numbered sequentially. Whether equation numbers are on the right or left is the choice of the author(s). However, you are expected to be consistent in this.

Symbols and notation in unusual fonts should be avoided. This will not only enhance the clarity of the manuscript, but it will also help insure that it displays correctly on the reader's screen and prints correctly on her printer. When proofing your PDF, pay particular attention to the rendering of the mathematics, especially symbols and notation drawn from other than standard fonts.

References
It is the author's obligation to provide complete references with the necessary information. What follows is a suggested reference notation system. References should appear at the end of the document. Each reference should give the last names of all the authors, their first names or first initials, and, optionally, their middle initials. The usual hierarchy for ordering the references is:

  1. Last name of first author
  2. First name of first author
  3. Last name of second author (if any). Co-authored work is listed after solo-authored work by the same first author (e.g., Edlin A S would precede Edlin A S and Reichelstein S).
  4. First name of second author
  5. Publication date
  6. Order cited in text

The information to be given with each citation in the references is as follows:

Articles in traditional journals: Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of article, name of journal, year of publication (or “n.d.” if no date), volume number, page numbers. Optional (but desirable): issue number and month/season of publication. For forthcoming (in press) articles, put expected year of publication and substitute “forthcoming” for the volume and page numbers.

Article in an electronic publication: Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of article, name of journal, series name (if journal has different series), year of publication, volume number, issue number, article number, hyperlink to the article.

Books: Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of book, year of publication (or “n.d.” if no date), publisher, publisher's address, edition (if not first). For forthcoming (in press) books, put expected year of publication and add “forthcoming.”

Chapters in collections or anthologies: Required: Name(s) of author(s) of chapter, name(s) of editor(s) of book, title of chapter, title of book, year of publication (or “n.d.” if no date), publisher, publisher's address, and edition (if not first). For forthcoming (in press) books, put expected year of publication and add "forthcoming."

Working papers: Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of working paper, year (or "n.d." if no date), location (e.g., "Department of Economics Working Paper, University of California, Berkeley" or "Author's web site: http://www.someurl.edu/author." If the working paper is part of series, then the series name and the number of the working paper within the series must also be given.

Other works: Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of work, year (or "n.d." if no date), and information about how the reader could obtain a copy.

Within the references section, the citations should be formatted as below:

Articles:
Abc EF, Gehi JK, Lomn PQ et al, Nutrition in underserved communities. JAMA. 2003;15:17-25.

Chapters:
Abc EF, Gehi JK, Lomn PQ. Nutrition in infants. In: Stuv WX, ed. Fundamental Nutrition. 5th ed. Los Angeles, CA: UC Press; 2003:1285-1291.

Books:
Smith A, The Wealth of Nations, Los Angeles: UC Press; 1776.

Internet Resources:
Key and critical objectives of JAMA. Available at: http://www.jama.org/objectives.htm. Accessed January 2, 2004.

Use hanging indents for citations (i.e., the first line of the citation should be flush with the left margin and all other lines should be indented from the left margin by a set amount). Citations should be single-spaced with extra space between citations.

When works by the same author are listed in a row, use —— instead of writing the name again. Hence, one might have

Smith A: The Wealth of Nations, . . .
——: The Theory of Moral Sentiments, . . .

Similarly, instead of repeating two names use "—— and ——." For instance,

Abc A and Tuvw S (1995) . . .
—— and —— (1996) . . .

Within the text of your manuscript, use the "author-date" method of citation. For instance, "As noted by Smith (1776)." When there are two authors, use both last names. For instance,

"Abc and Tuvw (1996) claim . . . "

If there are three or more authors give the last name of the first author and append "et al." For instance, a 1987 work by Abel, Baker, and Charley, would be cited as "Abel et al. (1987)." If two or more cited works share the same authors and dates, use "a," "b," and so on to distinguish among them. For instance,

"Jones (1994b) provides a more general analysis of the model introduced in Example 3 of Jones (1994a)."

After the first cite in the text using the author-date method, subsequent cites can use just the last names if that would be unambiguous. For example, Edlin and Reichelstein (1996) can be followed by just Edlin and Reichelstein provided no other Edlin and Reichelstein article is referenced; if one is, then the date must always be attached.

When citations appear within parentheses, use commas—rather than parentheses or brackets—to separate the date from the surrounding text. For instance,

" . . . (see Smith, 1776, for an early discussion of this)."

Submit article

Before you begin, please be sure you have the following items:

  • Article Title
  • An abstract of 250 words or less (separate from the article body)
  • Keywords for your article
  • Article in native document format, such as Microsoft Word or RTF
    ( Articles must be submitted without a title page, abstract, or page numbers. These will be provided by the system.)

Please make sure that your contact information is complete and correct, as the editors of the journal may need to contact you regarding your submission. We will never share any of this information without your permission. Be sure to enter your name and affiliation exactly as they should appear on a published article (including appropriate capitalization and punctuation). If you do not wish to enter any institutional affiliation, please enter "none."