IS STYLE SHEET
The journal’s style conventions, set forth below, should be observed if a manuscript is accepted. Notes must also follow the format set forth on the following pages.
The author is responsible for providing camera-ready art and appropriate permissions for figures and graphs; the editors can arrange for drafting, generally at the author’s expense. Tables need only be legible; they will be typeset.
Style Conventions
- Summary Introductions: The journal’s goal is to publish cumulative scholarship and to foster debate about the substance of its contents, not about the authors’ intentions. In service of these goals, authors are encouraged to begin articles with a summary introduction that lays out for readers the question being addressed, what the argument is, how it builds on or takes issue with preceding scholarship, what is new about the research or argument, and why it matters. This may be the most important part of your article and the hardest to write. Readers want to know: What questions do you address? Why and how have these questions arisen? What answers will you offer? Do you consult new sources? Do you settle outstanding questions? Mandate rethinking basic issues? Suggest certain policy choices or areas for further research? For examples, see Lautenschlager in the winter 1986/87 issue (11:3), pp. 94-95; and Mearsheimer in the fall 1986 issue (11:2), pp. 3-5.
- Notes: Early in the piece, direct the reader to important previous work. Place your article in context by providing a note or notes that comprise a bibliography of the relevant literature. For examples, see Blackwill in the spring 1988 issue (12:4), n. 33; Kohn and Harahan in the same issue (12:4), n. 6; Posen and Van Evera in the summer 1883 issue (8:1), nn. 7, 13; Lautenschlager in the winter 1986.87 issue (11:3), n. 37; Mearsheimer in the fall 1986 issue (11:2), nn. 4,7. Feel free to include argument as well as sources in your notes.
- Ours and Theirs: The journal is an international publication, so references to “us” and “them” should be avoided in favor of specific reference to “U.S. allies,” “the Japanese economy,” “NATO budgets,” and the like.
- American spelling: However international in content, the journal uses only American spellings (defense, mobilization, armor). British spellings should be retained only in quoted material, titles, and names; otherwise all British spellings (defence, mobilisation, armour) should be converted by the author. For preferred spellings, see Webster’s Eleventh Collegiate Dictionary. Consult the Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition, on usage, format, punctuation, and other questions not covered herein.
- Headings: The use of headings and subheadings (to the third level) is encouraged, particularly in longer articles, to help the reader follow your argument.
- Explanation of Terms: The best IS articles, even those that focus on current issues, will be read for many years. Acronyms, colloquialisms, and terms of art may not be as well known in a decade; please provide explanations accordingly. Spell out acronyms where they first appear.
- The last word: Once a manuscript has been accepted by the journal, the process of editing and publishing is characterized by intense cooperative effort to make each piece the best it can possibly be, despite difficult deadlines. The editors’ suggestions, however energetically argued, are just that (except on matters of basic style and format as noted in this style sheet). An article remains the author’s work, not the journal’s; accordingly, the author has final responsibility for content and presentation.
General Information on Notes
See the Chicago Manual of Style for less-common citation forms.
- For citations after the first full citation, do not use op. cit.; instead, use the author’s name and just the main title. See examples below.
- State or country name should follow the place of publication if it is ambiguous (Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger) or not widely known (Englewood Cliffs, N.J., but New York: Alfred A. Knopf).
- Use standard abbreviation (Calif., Mass., Washington, D.C.), rather than USPS style (CA, MA).
- Anglicize foreign place names, but retain the standard English version of publisher’s name (Moscow: Gospoltizdat, 1949).
- Avoid quotations, extracts, tables, and paragraphing in notes.
Notes Format
These examples demonstrate the basic International Security note format; when in doubt, check the Chicago Manual of Style and provide all bibliographic information in a format that most closely resembles the following.
Short Citations
Albertini, War of 1914, pp. 180, 183.
Kaplan, “LeMay.”
Posen, “Measuring the European Conventional Balance,” p. 70 n. 30.
Ibid., p. 72 [do not use if the immediately preceding note contains more than the one reference].
Periodicals and Dailies
Barry R. Posen, “Measuring the European Conventional Balance: Coping with Complexity in Threat Assessment,”International Security, Vol. 10, No. 3 (Winter 1984/85), p. 74.
Selig S. Harrison, “A Breakthrough in Afghanistan?”Foreign Policy, No. 51 (Summer 1983), p. 23.
Gerard C. Smith, “Time is Running Out,” Newsweek, January 31, 1983, p. 8.
- Observe order and punctuation of elements.
- Include full author name and title.
- Give volume number, issue number and date, per publication’s numbering and dating system.
- Note omission of usual comma after article title ending in question mark or exclamation point.
- Note inclusion of middle initials.
- For popular periodicals and dailies carrying no volume or issue numbers, note that parentheses are not needed around the date.
- Authors and page numbers should be included where available.
Books, Manuscripts
Books
John J. Mearsheimer, Conventional Deterrence (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983), pp. 163-164.
- Note order of items.
- Note placement of punctuation.
- Use the author’s full name.
- Provide full page number, that is, pp. 163–167, not pp. 163–7:
Article or chapter in edited volume
Edward N. Luttwak, “The Operational Level of War,” in Steven E. Miller, ed., Conventional Forces and American Defense Policy: An International Security Reader(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1986), pp. 211–229.
- Note use of book’s full title and subtitle
Volume in a series
Stephen E. Ambrose, Eisenhower, Vol. 2: The President (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1985), chap. 7.
- Use chapter where appropriate.
- User arabic numerals for volumes even if roman in original.
Annual
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), The Military Balance, 1987–88 (London: IISS, 1987).
- Note the introduction and use of acronym.
Translated and edited version; multivolume work
Luigi Albertini, The Origins of the War of 1914, 3 vols., trans. and ed., Isabella M. Massey (London: Oxford University Press, 1952), p. 171.
“Zhongguo bu shi yi nu jiu shitai de xiangbalao” [China isn’t a bumpkin who in a fit of anger loses control], Huanqiu shibao [Global times], September 16, 2010.
Reprint/Revised/Enlarged edition
Bernard Brodie and Fawn M. Brodie, From Crossbow to H-Bomb (New York: Dell, 1962; rev. and enl. Ed., Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1973).
- Note “Dell” stands alone without “Books,” but full name of a university press is given.
Paper in a series
Desmond Ball, Targeting for Strategic Deterrence, Adelphi Paper No. 185 (London: IISS, Summer 1983), p. 1.
- Note the use of IISS acronym introduced in an earlier note; “Summer 1983” per publisher’s dating system.
Unpublished paper or dissertation
Alexander L. George, “Case Studies and Theory Development,” paper presented at the Second Annual Symposium on Information Processing in Organizations, Carnegie-Mellon University, October 15–16, 1982, p. 2.
Stephen W. Van Evera, “Causes of War,” Ph.D. dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1984, p. 1.
Government report
Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, Annual Report to the Congress, Fiscal Year 1984 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office [U.S. GPO], p. 127.
- Subsequent citations may use U.S. GPO abbreviation.
Congressional reports
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, The Mutual Security Act of 1956, 84th Cong., 2d sess., 1956, S. Rept. 2273, p. 20.
- For testimony, list individual first.
Archival Material
Leven C. Allen to Joint Chiefs of Staff, May 26, 1950, and memorandum for the Secretary of Defense, n.d., CCS 383.21 Korea (3-19-45), sec. 21, Records of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Record Group 218, National Archives.
John F. Kennedy, “Appeasement at Munich,” honors thesis, 1940, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library (JFKL), Personal Papers (PP), box 2.
- Give the title of the cited item first and supply all the bibliographical dates necessary to permit identification and location of the source.
- Use consistent format throughout.
- Where there are repeated references to particular archives, introduce a short form for similar references in subsequent notes.
Authors are responsible for accuracy of facts and citations. The editors will raise questions and supply information to the best of our ability. The journal does not, however, have the staff to check the accuracy of quotations, citations, numbers, and facts; this must remain the responsibility of the author.
ADDRESS QUESTIONS TO:
Editorial Assistant
International Security
Harvard Kennedy School
Harvard University
79 JFK Street, box 53
Cambridge, MA 02138
telephone: 617-495-1914
email: IS@harvard.edu
