A to Z
This page lists everything we have digital writing guidelines about.
If it is a word or phrase, it will be explained on this page.
For anything more detailed, there will be a link to its own page.
If you’ve got a question, idea or suggestion about how to improve these guidelines, post in the Ask UX Content Teams channel.
A
Abbreviations and acronyms
Go to the guidelines on abbreviations and acronyms.
Alternative text
Go to the guidelines on alternative text.
Ampersand (&)
Do not use.
Go to the guidelines on ampersands.
article
Use ‘article’ to refer to the final accepted manuscript in article format, ready for publication.
Do not use ‘paper’ or ‘publication’.
article processing charge
Lower case, no hyphen.
author
Lower case.
Go to the guidelines on job titles and roles.
autorenewal
No hyphen or dash.
B
basket
E-commerce. Try to localise where possible.
Example:
'Cart' is American English
'Basket' is British English.
See: cart
Bold
Go to the guidelines on using bold.
book processing charge
Lower case. No hyphen.
British and American English
Go to the guidelines on British and American English.
Bullet points
Go to the guidelines on bullet points.
C
Capital letters
Go to the guidelines on capital letters.
cart
E-commerce. Try to localise where possible.
Example:
Cart is American English.
Basket is British English.
See: basket
CC BY
Type of Creative Commons licence. All capitals, no hyphen.
Only use a hyphen if there’s a clause relating to the licence.
Example:
A non-commercial open licence would be ‘CC BY-NC’.
Creative Commons attribution licence (CC BY)
Upper case on Creative Commons. Lower on attribution licence.
Licence is the British English noun.
License is the British English verb.
Examples:
The CC BY licence is the default licence for all Palgrave Macmillan and SpringerOpen books and chapters.
For more information on OA licensing options in Springer Nature books and chapters, see our book policies page.
chapter processing charge (CPC)
Lower case. No hyphen.
check out, checkout
Use ‘checkout’ as a noun or adjective.
Use ‘check out’ as a verb. Do not hyphenate.
Examples:
Creating an account will make it faster to check out next time.
Use your saved details for a faster checkout experience.
Go to checkout.
click
Do not use 'click' to instruct users to follow a link.
Instead use 'select'.
Example:
Select your journal.
See: select
click here
Do not use.
collection (article collection)
Lower case.
Colons and semicolons
Go to the guidelines on colons and semicolons.
Company name
See: Springer Nature
conflict of interest
Do not use.
Instead use 'competing interest'.
Example:
This journal has a competing interests policy in place.
Contractions
Go to the guidelines on contractions.
corresponding author
Lower case.
country
Do not use ‘country’ alone as a label for a list of locations.
Some countries are not internationally recognised. Some teams may also be using this list to identify sanctioned countries or territories.
Use ‘Country / region’ instead.
currency
Go to the guidelines on currency.
D
Dates
Go to the guidelines on dates.
Directional language
Go to the guidelines on positional and directional language.
DOI
Acronym for digital object identifier.
Use ‘DOI’ in interface text.
Example:
DOI: 10.3103/S0967091211120151
double-anonymous
In reference to the peer review process. Lower case, hyphenated.
See: single-anonymous
double-blind, double blind
We no longer use ‘double-blind’ or ‘double blind’ in our systems or in messages to our customers when referring to the review process.
Use ‘double-anonymous’ instead.
See: double-anonymous
DPI
Acronym for dots per inch, a measure of resolution. Capitalised.
Dr
Abbreviation for 'Doctor'. No full stop.
E
eBook
Do not use ‘Ebook’, ‘EBook’, ‘ebook’ or ‘EBOOK’.
All one word. No hyphen.
Go to the guidelines on writing emails.
EPUB
File format for eBooks. Capitalised.
Example:
Download EPUB
Exclamation marks
Go to the guidelines on exclamation marks.
F
FAQ
Not ‘FAQs‘.
File names
Go to the guidelines on file names.
Formatting
Go to the guidelines on punctuation and formatting.
G
gold open access, green open access
Lower case.
H
hardback
Use ‘hardcover‘.
hardcover
All one word. Use instead of ‘hardback’.
Headings
Go to the guidelines on page titles and headings.
Help
Go to the guidelines on writing about help and support.
home
In navigation and breadcrumbs, refer to the home page as ‘Home‘.
Do not use 'Home page' or ‘Homepage‘.
Hyphens
Go to the guidelines on hyphens.
I
Idioms
Go to the guidelines on idioms.
impact factor
Lower case.
Italics
Go to the guidelines on italics.
J
Jargon
Go to the guidelines on specialist language.
Job titles and roles
Go to the guidelines on job titles and roles.
K
L
LaTeX
Note capitalisation. File format commonly used in scientific disciplines including maths, physics and astronomy.
Latin, e.g., etc., i.e.
Go the guidelines on Latin terms.
Legal text
Go to the guidelines on legal text.
licence, license
In British English, licence is the noun and license is the verb.
Examples:
A Springer Nature licence is available to academic institutions.
How to license our journal articles.
Links
Go to the guidelines on links.
Log in
Go to the guidelines on log in text.
M
manuscript
Use ‘manuscript’ to refer to the completed research document that an author submits to us through Snapp or another editorial system. Do not use ‘paper’.
See: submission
manuscript / submission / article title
Within emails, titles should be displayed within single quotes.
Example:
Your article has been accepted for publication:
'The effects of exercise training on hypertensive older adults'.
MyCopy
Capital M, capital C.
N
Names
Go to the guidelines on names.
Notifications
Go to the guidelines on notifications.
Numbers
Go to the guidelines on numbers.
O
open access, open data, open science
Lower case. Unless it’s part of a proper name.
Example:
The Open Access Support Centre was set up to help people understand their options for publishing open access.
Go to the guidelines on writing about open access.
OA
Abbreviation for open access.
P
Page titles
Go to the guidelines on page titles and headings.
All capitals. Not ‘.PDF’
Example:
Upload a PDF file.
Go to the guidelines on file names.
peer review
Lower case. No hyphen.
Positional language
Go the guidelines on positional and directional language.
preprint, preprinting
Lower case. One word, no hyphen.
Example:
Research Square provides a free preprinting service to all authors.
Pronouns
Go to the guidelines on pronouns.
Punctuation
Go to the guidelines on punctuation and formatting.
Q
Quote marks
Go to the guidelines on quote marks.
R
S
select
Use instead of 'click' when instructing a user to follow a link.
We do not know what device someone is using or how they are using it. 'Select' is more relevant to all situations.
single-anonymous
In reference to the peer review process. Lower case. Hyphen.
Use instead of ‘single-blind’.
single-blind, single blind
In reference to the peer review process. Do not use, instead use ‘single-anonymous’.
Snapp
Initial capital only. Not ‘SNAPP’, or ‘snapp’.
Short for Springer Nature’s article processing platform.
softcover
One word. Use instead of ‘paperback’.
Specialist language
Go to the guidelines on specialist language.
Springer Nature
Do not remove spaces or abbreviate.
Examples:
Springer Nature
Springer Nature Link
Not ‘SN’, ‘SNL’, 'SpringerNature' or 'SNLink'.
submission
This refers to all the documents and data an author submits through Snapp. This includes the manuscript, related data files and declarations made in the system.
See: manuscript
Support
Go to the guidelines on writing about help and support.
T
terms and conditions
Lower case. Use ‘and’ not ‘&’.
third party, 3rd party
Do not use in payment interfaces. Research shows that users find this term confusing.
Instead ask for personal or institutional billing details.
Time
transformative journals
Lower case.
U
V
Voice and tone
Go to the guidelines on voice and tone.
W
X
Y
Z
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