Journal of Buddhist Ethics

Style Guide

This guide covers the following issues:

1. General Considerations
2. Articles and Book Reviews
3. Foreign Language Considerations
4. Transliteration of Sanskrit, Pali, and Other Languages
5. Spelling, Hypthenation, and Capitalization

General Considerations

copyediting done according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th edition
American (i.e., not British) English
use serial commas
1500s, not 1500's
"1960s," not "sixties"
periods and commas go inside quotation marks
semicolons and colons go outside quotation marks
commas after "e.g." and "i.e."
no "smart" (curly) quotation marks
"em" dashes should be denoted by XXX with a space on either side (because of translation problems between machines)
space between initials in a name (e.g., J. P. Smith)
titles like "assistant book editor" are not capitalized (unless used in a heading)
numbers one to ninety-nine are written out; numbers 100 and over are in numerals (but "36 percent")
approximations in place of numbers are written out (e.g., "around eight hundred")
"chapter one," "chapter two," etc., not "chap. 1" or "Chapter One" or "Chapter 1"
"seventh century," not "Seventh Century" or "7th Century"
650 B.C., A.D. 1998, 621 B.C.E.
March 5, not March 5th
numbered lists and footnotes in text: (1)...(2)..., etc. (no superscripts)
change fractions to decimals where possible
pages 232-238, not 232-38; 1980-1984, not 1980-84
conference titles such as "Buddhism and Human Rights" are in quotation marks, not italics
book titles are italicized; article titles are enclosed in quotation marks
JBE does not use tabs and does not indent new paragraphs; new paragraphs flush left with a line space between paragraphs
page number references within the text are formatted: (p. 1), with a space between the "p." and the number

Articles and Book Reviews

For examples of articles in "house" style and examples of header style and information, see the Web page.

Please consult www.amazon.com for missing publication information on reviews.

Foreign Language Considerations

All technical terms in Buddhist languages, excepting proper names, will be italicized. Decisions regarding the technical terms in Buddhist languages will be made by the Book Review Editor in the case of book reviews and the General Editors in the case of articles. Authors should direct queries about technical terms to the above individuals and not the JBE Copyeditor.

Transliteration of Sanskrit, Pali, and other Languages

With regard to Sanskrit and Pali terms, transliterations will follow the forms in the Sanskrit-English Dictionary by Monier-Williams, the Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Dictionary by Edgerton, and the Pali-English Dictionary by Rhys Davids and Stede. The form of transliteration used is as follows:

long vowels are doubled
consonantal diacritics precede the consonants marked by them; thus retroflex consonants are written as .r .t .th .d .dh .n .m .s
visarga is written as .h
the palatals that take diacritics are ~n and "s
the gutteral nasal is written "n
da.n.da is written |

The Wylie system of Tibetan transliteration requires no diacritical marks.

Chinese can be romanized by either the pinyin or Wade-Giles system.

Japanese requires only doubled vowels for romanization, which can be treated as indicated above for Sanskrit.

Spelling, Hyphenation, and Capitalization

Please note that queries concerning the transliteration of terms in Buddhist
languages should be sent here and not addressed to the JBE Copyeditor.

a priori (no italics)
acknowledgment
adviser
aesthetic
afterward
all right
Americanize
analogue
ancien régime, the (no italics)
anglicize
anti-Semitic
arabic numerals
Asian American (family)
AUM

B.A.
bachelor's degree
behavior
benefited
best-known
Bhagavad Gita (no italics)
Bible, the
biblical
big bang theory
bioethics
Bronze Age
Buddha, the
Buddhahood
Buddhist
Buddhist ethics
Buddhist Studies

call for papers
canceled
catalog
chapter one
Christian
Christlike
civilization
classical
coauthor
coeditor
color
consensus
coorigination
copyeditor
criticize

Dark Ages, the
de facto (no italics)
descendant
doctor's degree
download
dukkha

e.g. -- change to "for example" where possible
the East, Eastern
ecosystem
ego-self
Eightfold Path, the
e-mail
embarrass
endeavor
Enlightenment, the
etc. -- change to "and so forth" where possible
fall (the season)
ff.
fin de siècle (no italics)
First Noble Truth
Five Precepts, the
fluorescent
foresee
Four Noble Truths, the
fulfillment

Gelugpa order
generalize
glamorous
glamour
Golden Rule, the
green revolution

harass
hell-being
Hinduism
homepage
homeric
HTML

i.e. -- change to "that is" where possible
ibid. (no italics)
idiosyncrasy
inasmuch
indispensable
Indo-European
inoculate
Internet
Iron Age

JBE
Jew
Journal of Buddhist Ethics
judgment
karma
karuna
labeled
laissez-faire (no italics)
lay people
layman
liaison
lightning
Listserv
litre

M.A.
macroeconomics
matter-of-fact
metre
midcentury
Middle Ages, the
middle-class voters; the middle class
mid-June
millennium
Muslim
mustache

neo-Darwinian
Neolithic
neoorthodox
nonattachment
nondualistic
nonessential
nonexistence
nonhuman
nonperson
nonsentient
nonviolent
non-Western

ongoing
online
Pali canon
percent
Ph.D.
postdoctoral
pp.
preconference
preempt
president (of the United States); President Clinton
privilege
pro-life
protolanguage
prototypical
pseudoheroic

quasi scholar (no hyphen, no italics)

rabbi, the; Rabbi Salzman
reaffirm
reedit
reestablish
reexamine
Renaissance, the
resistance
reunify
Rig-Veda (no italics)
roman numerals
romantic period
roshi, the; Roshi Zimmer (no italics)

savior
self-consciousness
self-reliant
Shingon
Shintoism
Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa
sixth-century poet
socioeconomic
Southeast Asia
space age
spring (the season)
Stone Age
sturm und drang (no italics)
supersede
supraliminal

Tantra
Tantric
Taoism
theater
Three Jewels, the
Three Treasures, the
three-quarters (of a mile)
totaled
toward
toward (not towards)
transsocietal
Tripi.taka (italics)
tropic of Cancer

underused
unselfconscious
unshakable
Upani.sads (italics)
upload
up-to-date

Vedaanta
Vedas (italics)
Vedic
Vinaya (italics)
viz. -- change to "namely" where possible

web page
website
well-known
the West, Western
World Wide Web
worldwide