HANDBOOKOFSTYLE

ICRISAT

ICRISAT

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid TropicsPatancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India

ICRISAT staff produce hundreds of reports and otherdocuments every year. Consistent adherence to ICRISATpolicies on style and format will simplify our reportingprocess and accelerate our activities.

The Handbook focuses on guidelines applicable to mosttypes of reports.

This 2003 Handbook is the first update to be publishedsince 1985. Eighteen years is a long time to wait for sucha useful and important document. A number of changes tothe previous guidelines have been incorporated, and wehave adopted an alphabetical Table of Contents forconvenient use. I encourage all staff and editorialconsultants to become familiar with this edition. Staff ofthe Communications Unit of the Project Development andMarketing Office are available to answer specificquestions on style and usage as well as to offer generaladvice on good writing.

It is hoped that the Handbook will enhance thecommunication of our research results and expand thebreadth of the knowledge base, not only in the semi-aridtropics, but throughout the world.

The ICRISAT Handbook of Style is approved byManagement.

Welcome to the 2003 edition of theICRISAT Handbook of Style

William D DarDirector General

Abbreviations/acronyms 1

Abstracts 1

Appendixes 2

Authors 2

British vs American English 2

Bullets 3

Capitalization 4

Captions 4

Case 5

Columns 5

Contents 5

Crop names 5

Cross references 6

Currencies 7

Dates 7

Disease names 7

Figures 8

Footnotes 9

Foreign terms 9

Gender references 9

Glossary 10

Grammar 10

Contents

Headings 11

Hyphenation 11

Inside front cover (cover versos) 12

Justification 12

Latin in text 12

Numbers, ratios and fractions 12

Paragraphs 13

Photographs 13

Plant material names 13

Posters 13

Power Point presentations 13

Pullouts 14

Punctuation 14

Ranges 15

References 16

Spelling 17

Standard error 18

Style 18

Tables 18

Usage 19

Weights and measures 19

Years 20

1

Abbreviatio ns/acronymsWrite out each term to be abbreviated at first appearanceand give the term’s abbreviation in parentheses.Thereafter, use only the abbreviation.

Excessive use of abbreviations makes text cumbersometo read. Avoid starting sentences with an abbreviation.Do not use periods in abbreviations or at the end ofheadings.

An abbreviation should be introduced only if the termappears more than twice in the document, the term isvery long or the term is very common (eg, GDP).

Write all abbreviations, except weights and measures,in capital letters. But in their written-out form, onlyproper nouns are capitalized (this also applies to lists ofacronyms). As far as possible spell out the name of thecountry. Do not abbreviate the names of governments.

The plural of an abbreviation has a lower case ‘s’. Donot use an apostrophe. Apostraphes are used only forpossessives.

Do not use a period in abbreviations for names ofauthors, countries, organizations, institutions,government ministries or agencies.

Both ie and eg are followed by commas, but do notrequire periods. Omit the articles in lists of more thantwo countries, agencies, institutions or organizations.

Abbreviate all standard units of measure preceded bynumerals except where clarity requires use of completeword.

Abbreviations are also lowercase except for thosederived from proper names.

AbstractsAbstracts should be as short as possible. Use ofabbreviations is discouraged. Abstracts consist of asingle paragraph, are italicized and are indented bothleft and right.

GNPs and not GNP’s

US, not U.S.MCS Bantilan, not M.C.S.Bantilan

Exception: Abbreviationsmust also be spelled out ineach table, but the spelled-out forms may be eitherinside the table at the terms’first appearance, or directlybelow the table inalphabetical order.

ie, and not i.e.,

kg, km, lb, kphbut Hz (hertz) and Pa (pascal)

The People’s Republic ofChina at first reference.Thereafter, China, not PRC.

2

Appendixes‘Appendices’ is no longer the preferred spelling. Contentin appendixes must be related to the document andmust not reproduce the main text.

Spell out every term, and then give the abbreviation inparentheses at first appearance in each appendix and ineach table, even if the term is already spelled out in themain text.

All appendixes must be cited in the main text andnumbered consecutively in the order in which they arecited. If there is only one appendix, use ’Appendix’rather than ‘Appendix 1’.

Do not include attachments or annexes. If there issupplementary material, incorporate it in an existingappendix or create a new appendix.

AuthorsThe name and designation of the author should begiven below the title. The font size should be smallerthan the title.

Designations and addresses should be rendered asfootnotes. Superscript indicator numbers should beused for multiple authors.

British vs American EnglishICRISAT uses American English.

There is a substantial difference between English aswritten and spoken in America and English as used inBritain and other Commonwealth countries. Sometimesthe same word has taken on different meanings creatingan opportunity for misunderstanding.

This also applies to figures of speech.

The word homely meanssimple or informal in BritishEnglish, but plain orunattractive in AmericanEnglish.

It went like a bomb in BritishEnglish means it was a greatsuccess; it bombed inAmerican English means itwas a disaster.

3

Some words are spelled (spelt) differently; the spellingsare sufficiently similar to identify the word, but theunfamiliar form may still disturb the reader. It may bebetter to use a synonym than to take this risk, althoughsometimes it cannot be avoided.

The Grey to Green Revolution

In this case ICRISAT adoptsthe British style.

ICRISAT prefers the 24-hourclock, which obviates theterms. Thus, 8:30 PM iswritten 2030.

0830 not 0830 hoursor 0830 hror 0830 h

Words generally acceptable in both British and American English:

ambience not ambianceamong not amongstannex not annexebackward not backwardsburned not burntdispatch not despatchencyclopedia not encyclopaedialearned not learntunspoiled not unspoilt

Exception: ICRISAT uses the English word grey instead ofthe American gray.

All-figure writing of dates mean quite different things oneither side of the Atlantic. For instance, 5/10/82 to anAmerican stands for tenth day of May in the year 1982,but to an Englishman or an Indian it means the fifth dayof October. To avoid confusion, always use letters toindicate the month: 5 Oct 1982, 27 Feb 2003.

Note that the abbreviations AM and PM (ante and postmeridiem) are written with no space between them inAmerican style. British practice is to use lowercase –a.m. and p.m.

It is not necessary to write hours after time.

BulletsDo not punctuate the end of each bullet in a list unlessthe items are complete sentences.

Use standard bullets. Avoid using special or unusualbullets, as these may distract or annoy the reader. If‘sub-bullets’ are required, use a different style andindent them.

4

CapitalizationUniformity in text will be lost if there is unnecessarycapitalization. ICRISAT follows the principles ofcapitalization found in the Merriam Webster’s CollegiateDictionary, 10th edition, pp 1541–45.

Use lower case when the term is generic or when theterm refers to more than one distinct item at a time.

But capitalize names of specific places or geographicfeatures when the terms are part of the formal name.

Certain abbreviations, when expanded, should not becapitalized. If the term is not a proper noun, do not useupper case. This holds true for lists of acronyms.

Capitalize professional titles when followed by theindividual’s names. Use lower case for other titles.

Capitalize titles of heads of state.

Capitalize Government or State when they refer tocentral (federal) level. For lower government levels orunits use lowercase.

Projects when they are part of the formal name andwhen used as a noun should be capitalized. Butprojects when used as an adjective need not becapitalized. If the proper name is British spelling egSystem-wide Livestock Programme then in the text referto Programme.

Do not capitalize ‘the’ before the name of institutions.

CaptionsAll figures, tables, images and photographs in ICRISATpublications should have captions. Captions are printedin italics. Use end punctuation and left justification.

The mountains of Tibet, theCentral Asian republics

NARS means nationalagricultural research system,not National AgriculturalResearch System

The Ganges River, the Bay ofBengal, the Tropic of Cancer

The President of Indiaaddressed Parliament.

Director General Dar spokeat the meeting.The sorghum breeders metyesterday.

the Adarsha WatershedProjectproject consultants, projectimplementation

The Government of Nepal.The ICRISAT team visitedvarious district governmentoffices.

Exceptions: The RockefellerFoundationThe University of Reading

Exceptions: If the captionincludes words that shouldbe italicized (eg, Latinbinomials), these wordsshould appear in Roman(standard) font to set them offfrom the rest of the caption.

East Africa and SoutheastAsia, but eastern Africa andsoutheastern Asia

5

CaseLower case is easier to read THAN UPPER CASE.

ColumnsIn general, two columns are easier to read than a singlecolumn in 8x11 size paper.

ContentsThe table of contents is the first page of a document. Itshows preliminary matter, titles of chapters, mainsections and appendixes. The page should not includelist of tables, figures, graphs or charts.

When a main topic has several sub topics, list themunder the main topic with corresponding page numbers.

Crop namesAll Latin binomials must be italicized. ICRISAT follows therules governing biological nomenclature as laid down inthe International Code of Botanical Nomenclature, theInternational Code of Nomenclature of Bacteria and theInternational Code of Zoological Nomenclature.

Authorities – eg, (L.) Moench – must never be renderedin italics. Similarly, the punctuation of authorities mustnever be altered. Authorities should be used at the firstmention only.

Cerealsbarley Hordeum vulgare L.barnyard millet Echinochola crusgalli (L.) Beauv.browntop millet Brachiaria ramosa (L.) Stapffinger millet Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.fonio, hungry rice Digitaria exilis Stapf, D. iburua StapfJob’s tears Coix lacryma-jobi L.kodo millet Paspalum scrobiculatum L.little millet Panicum sumatrense Roth ex Roem. & Schult.maize Zea mays L.oats Avena sativa L.pearl millet Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R.Br.proso millet Panicum miliaceum L.rice Oryza sativa L.rye Secale cereale L.sorghum Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moenchteff Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter

6

After first use of a Latin binomial, you may abbreviate thegenus with a capital letter and a period, followed by thename of the species.

Biotica (crops, plants, insects, birds, mammals, etc)should generally be identified by their scientific nameswhen the English term is first used.

All biocides and other organic compounds must beidentified by their Geneva names when first used in thetext. Active ingredients of all formulations shouldlikewise be identified.

For chemical nomenclature, the conventions of theInternational Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry andthe official recommendations of the IUPAC-IUBCombined Commission on Biochemical Nomenclatureshould be followed.

Cross referencesAlways minimize the use of cross references. Crossreferences may either be written into the text or appearin parentheses.

Do not use footnotes to cross reference materialelsewhere in the report.

wheat, bread Triticum aestivum L.wheat, macaroni Triticum durum Desf.Pulsesbambara groundnut Vigna (earlier Voandzeia) subterranean (L.) Verdc.black gram, urd Vigna mungo (L.) Hepperchickpea, bengal gram Cicer arietinum L.cowpea Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.faba, broad, or horse bean Vicia faba L.common bean Phaseolus vulgaris L.grass pea Lathyrus sativus L.green gram, mung bean Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczeklentil Lens culinaris Medic.moth bean Vigna aconitifolia (Jacq.) Marechalpigeonpea, red gram Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.rice bean Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi & OhashiOil cropsgroundnut Arachis hypogaea L.soybean Glycine max (L.) Merr.

First use: PennisetumglaucumSecond use: P. glaucum

The proposed soilmanagement is illustrated inTable 3.Modus operandi of theproject is shown in Figure 2.Cost estimates for the finalphase (Table 5) take intoaccount…

7

CurrenciesWhen giving an amount in figures, always precede thenumber with the symbol of the currency.

Insert a space between the currency abbreviation andthe amount unless a symbol is used to denote currency.When discussing the currency in general, write it out inlower case.

Prefer $100 to US$100 in text that makes frequentreference to financial figures. If necessary for clarity,insert a note in the cover verso specifying that ’$’ refersto USD.

If a distinction has to be made between sums of moneyin two currencies employing the same symbol for themonetary unit, a prefix is used.

DatesWrite dates in day-month-year order, withoutpunctuation. When space is limited (as in tables) usethe form dd/mm/yy. Include a zero before single-digitdates only when necessary to improve appearance intables or columns.

Spell out the names of months. Where space is limited(as in tables or lists), abbreviate the months to threeletters each, with no period.

$7,000 (no space between$ and 7)

Rs 2,000 (space betweenRs and 2)

In Canada the currentquotation was C$2.23(US$1.67) a pound.

Correct:6 March 20034-10 March 20034 March to 3 April 20036/3/03 (for tables)

Incorrect:March 6, 2003March 4 to April 3, 2003Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun,Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec

Disease names

Name of disease Causal organism

ChickpeaAscochyta blight Ascochyta rabiei (Pass.) Labr.Botrytis gray mold Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex Fr.Fusarium wilt Fusarium oxysporum Schlect. emend Snyd. & Hans.

f sp ciceris (Padwick) Matuo & SatoCollar rot Sclerotium rolfsii Sacc.Dry root rot Rhizoctonia bataticola (Taub.) ButlerChickpea stunt Luteovirus

8

FiguresUse a figure only when it amplifies and illustrates thediscussion presented in the text. Place a figure near thetext in which it is cited.

Insert the source flush left below the figure. Images andphotographs require captions. Captions require fullstops, are flush left and italicized.

Watershed management model:Adarsha Watershed, Kothapally, India.

PigeonpeaPhytophthora blight Phytophthora drechsleri Tucker f sp cajani (Pal et al.)

Kannaiyan et al.Fusarium wilt Fusarium udum ButlerAnthracnose Colletotrichum cajani RangelRust Uredo cajani SydowBotrytis gray mold Botrytis cinerea Pers. ex Fr.GroundnutEarly leaf spot Cercospora arachidicola HoriLate leaf spot Phaeoisariopsis personata (Berk. & Curt.) v. ArxRust Puccinia arachidis Speg.Bacterial wilt Pseudomonas solanacearum (Smith) Smith

Pearl milletPearl millet downy mildew Sclerospora graminicola (Sacc.) Schroet.Ergot Claviceps fusiformis LovelessSmut Moesziomyces penicillariae (Bref.) K. Vanky

[Syn. Tolyposporium penicillariae (Bref.)]Rust Puccinia penniseti Zimm.

SorghumSorghum downy mildew Peronosclerospora sorghi (Weston & Uppal) C.G. ShawLeaf blight Exserohilum turcicum (Pass.) K.J. Leonard & E.G. SuggsRust Puccinia purpurea Cooke.Anthracnose and red rot Colletotrichum graminicola (Cesati) G.W. WilsonErgot Claviceps sorghi McRae

Claviceps africana Frederickson, Mantle & de MillianoGrain molds Several fungi (eg, Fusarium spp., Curvularia spp., and others)

VirusesName AbbreviationPeanut stripe virus PStVPeanut clump virus PCVPeanut bud necrosis virus PBNVPeanut mottle virus PMVPeanut rosette virus PRVPeanut stem necrosis virus PSNVPigeonpea sterility mosaic virus PSMVPigeonpea yellow mosaic virus PYMV

9

FootnotesMinimize the use of footnotes, as they tend to distract thereaders attention. Keep all footnotes brief.

Separate footnotes from the main text by leaving a smallgap and decrease the font size. Footnote numbers shouldbe flush left and superscript. Use numerals, not letters orasterisks, to indicate footnotes.

Footnotes in tables or figures should use superscriptnumerals, not asterisks or letters.

If a footnote number appears next to punctuation, placeafter the punctuation mark.

Foreign termsAs far as possible refrain from using non-English terms.If there is no appropriate English term, then give theterm in italics and in brackets give its English equivalentor definition.

Do not italicize the names of institutions or agencies.If the term appears in Webster do not italicize it.

Eliminate accent marks from non-English terms thathave become common in English usage.

When the dictionary allows more than one spelling forthe plural form of a word, use the first one given.

Gender referencesUse gender-neutral language unless it is impractical orinterferes with clear and concise communication.

Exception: Place it before adash.

During kharif (rainy season)the farmers spray weekly.Chickpea is sometimespreferred to boro (postrainy-season) rice.

appendixes not appendicesformulas not formulaeforums not fora

Avoid PreferChairman Chair, chairperson

male nurse, lady doctor, doctor (Mrs) nurse, doctor

to man to staff, to operate, to run, to manage

sister organization organization, partner organization, peer organization

manpower human resources, labor, personnel, staff, workers

fishermen fishers, fisherfolk

10

If the gender of an individual is known, the title may bespecified.

Sometimes rewriting a sentence is a best way to ensuregender-neutral language.

Instead of Try

Every farmer must tend his own field. All farmers must tend their own fields.Each officer presented his findings. Findings were presented by each officer.Everyone is responsible for his own health. One is responsible for one’s own health.Each manager contributed his suggestion. Each manager contributed a suggestion.The director will make his The director will make recommendationsrecommendations to the President. to the President

Chairman Mokwunye openedthe meeting.

GlossaryIn a technical manual, all technical terms andsignificant non-English terms should be included in aglossary. Place the glossary before the appendixes.

GrammarUse the active voice except where you have a goodreason to use the passive. The active is the naturalvoice, the one in which people usually speak and write,and its use is less likely to lead to wordiness andambiguity.

Avoid the ‘passive of modesty’, a device of writers whoshun the first-person singular. ‘I discovered’ is shorterand less likely to be ambiguous than ‘it was discovered’.

Passive voice has proper uses in scientific writing. It ispreferred when the agent of action is irrelevant in thecontext. The passive voice can be used to emphasizesomething or someone other than the agent.

Use that when a phrase is restrictive or essential to thesentence, and which when it is nonrestrictive or notessential.

Avoid using the terms firstly, secondly and respectivelyin the running text. They often are less clear and takemore space than simply repeating words.

I wrote the paper.NOTThe paper was written by me.

Note: personalization is to beavoided in journal articles.

Pencillin was discovered in1929.Darwin’s Origin of Specieswas published in 1859.

The varieties that she sowedlast yearNOTThe varieties which shesowed last year

11

HeadingsThe main headline should be the largest font size.

All the subheads should be flush left. If there is only onesubhead in the text, run the text without any subheads.

Do not use colons at the end of headings or of sub heads.

HyphenationICRISAT follows the principles of hyhenation found inMerriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 10th Edition,pp 1537-38.

The general rule in naming diseases and pests is thatplant parts, used adjectively, followed by insect ordisorder nouns, are typed as seperate words.

Common terms used in ICRISAT documents

With hyphen Without hyphen

agro-industrial agroclimaticagri-business chickpeacrude-fiber content cross section (n)cross-sectional (adj) dry farming (n)damping-off disease decision makerdecision-making (adj) earwormearly-formed pods fieldworkfield-grown full time (n)full-time occupation (adj) three quartersgrain-filling stage intraseasonalintra-annual kg equivalentkabuli-type landracelabor-saving nature long term (n)long-term solution nonfood cropnitrogen-fixing bacteria off farm (n)off-season part time (n)part-time role (adj) policy makerpolicy-making postrainyrain-guage station runoffa short-listed candidate shortlist, longlistyear-round, by year-end, by year’s end, by thea year-end report end of the year

Exceptions: ICRISAT doesnot hyphenate chickpea,pigeonpea, soybean,armyworm, genebank orgermplasm.

Stem borer, stem blight, leafroller, leaf spot, pod fly, rootrot

12

Inside front covers (cover versos)Inside front covers of formal publications should havecitations. A citation includes author names and thecomplete title of the book. After the citation an abstractof 150–200 words is included. Special notes may alsobe inserted (eg, ‘In this report $ refers to US dollars’).

JustificationLeft, rather than full, justification provides a superiorappearance to most documents and makes text easierto read.

Latin in textICRISAT does not italicize certain common terms andabbreviations in text. These are listed in the rightmargin.

Note: Never start a sentence with an abbreviation.

Numbers, ratios and fractionsDo not hyphenate fractions when used as nouns. Butwhen used as an adjective preceding a noun, fractionsshould be hyphenated.

Use a slash to indicate ratios in words. Use a colon toexpress ratios in figures.

In documents, the numbers must be accurate andconsistent. Spell out numbers from one to nine except intables, ranges, currencies and percentages and exceptwhen the numbers are presented in a series forpurposes of comparison or consistency. If numbersappear at the beginning of a sentence spell them out.

Very large numbers can be expressed in numeralsfollowed by million or billion. Insert a comma every threedigits. Do not use lakh/crore numerology.

Decimals are to be written with a period and not acomma. Round off numbers to one or two decimalplaces. In a table, be consistent.

et al. (note the full stop)ieegex-anteex-postibidetcper severbatim

a two-thirds majoritytwo thirds of the people

The teacher/student ratio70:30

The project involved 5agronomists, 2 irrigationexperts and 14 environmentalimpact specialists. Twelveproject members were locals.

2.55 becomes 2.62.54 becomes 2.5

13

ParagraphsNo indent should be given to the first paragraph in asection of text or following a heading.

Subsequent paragraphs can start with either an indentor two hard returns, but not both. In general,paragraphs should be left justified.

PhotographsPhotographs should be of good resolution, clear andpertain to the text. All photographs should havecaptions. Captions are italicized, terminate with aperiod and are left justified.

Plant material namesFor named plant materials, use hyphens only betweenconsecutive numbers or letters, not between a letterand a number or a letter. ICRISAT-approved plantmaterial names indicate the type of material to whichthey refer. For instance, in ICMV 1, IC is anabbreviation for ICRISAT, M for millet and V for variety.Identify varieties, hybrids and breeding lines correctly.ICSH is a hybrid, and should not be called a variety.

The ICRISAT Plant Materials Release Committee isresponsible for naming ICRISAT plant material. Followits guidance and refer to material only by approvednames. This avoids confusion and helps standardizenomenclature.

PostersPosters should not contain lengthy text. Use shortsentences and bullet points. Images will enhance thevisual effect of the poster.

Power Point presentations (PPPs)For a lasting impression, make use of attractivevisuals.

Avoid overkill with too many colors. Use the officialICRISAT templates available on the Intranet.

WC-C75 ICSV-RRobut 33-1 E 35-1J 11 ICPL 267

14

To make your PPPs lively, highlight important points.Avoid details. Good pictures and diagrams are betterthan filling your image with words.

Avoid using pictures downloaded from the internet.Picture resolution should be excellent and cropped toimprove clarity.

Templates for PPPs can be accessed from the Intranet.For accessing the templates, double click on thebottom right icon Downloads on the home page. Againdouble click on the first icon Power Point Templates.Save the desired background to the PC by right clickingon the color template and clicking Save target as.

Avoid excessive use of bullets and sub-bullets. Maintainuniformity in bullets. If you need more bullets than thespace allows, continue on succeeding slides. If you usemore than eight bullets, use numerals for clarity.Numerals are also used to indicate priority orchronology.

When presenting your PPP, do not insult youraudience by simply reading it to them verbatim. Useeye contact with your audience. Avoid overusing laserpointers, as this can be annoying to the viewer.

PulloutsPullouts – salient phrases taken from the text andinserted in the margins – can enhance reports andlengthy presentations. Graphs and tables will alsohighlight important points in a flyer.

Punctuation

Use commas to separate items in a series. If one itemin the series already contains a comma use asemicolon to separate the items. Do not be afraid touse plenty of periods. Keep sentences short.

Approved templates(various colors are available)

Title slide

Running slide

Ending slide

15

Use brackets within parentheses. If the whole sentenceis within brackets, put the period inside.

Quotation marks should be placed after endpunctuation or commas, but before every other kind ofpunctuation.

Exception: If quotation marks are used to set off a wordor term, the end punctuation comes after the quotationmarks.

Logic governs placement of other punctuation marks.Footnote references go outside punctuation.

A colon can be used before a list if the sentence comesto a stop. If the items listed form part of the sentence,then omit the colon.

In general, ICRISAT follows the guidelines appearing inMerriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictonary, 10th Edition.

Exception: Use en dash ( – ) instead of em dash (—) ordouble hyphen (--). Use a space before and after eachen dash.

Avoid using a comma before ‘and’ in a series, except toavoid confusion when the items in the series consist ofseveral words.

Use ellipses (...) to indicate that words have beendeleted in a quotation. Ellipses consist of three full stops.Only use a fourth full stop if the sentence ends. In such acase, the fourth dot is a full stop, not part of the ellipse.

She insisted on using theterm ‘inter-regional’.

The postrainy season – rabi –lasts from June to September.

Our mandate crops aresorghum, pearl millet,chickpea, pigeonpea andgroundnut.

Ranges

Incorrect Correct

from $8 to $9 million (This means from 8 dollars to from $8 million to $9 million or9 million dollars.) $8–9 millionfrom 27-29 June 27–29 June

from 27 to 29 Junefrom 1 August – 4 September from 1 August to 4 September20% to 30% 20–30%

from 20 to 30%between 12-16 scientists between 12 and 16 scientists

[the economic internal rate ofreturn (EIRR)]

Use single quotation marksexcept for directly reportedspeech.

16

ReferencesIn-text references to entries in the reference list shouldfollow the author-date system with no comma.

The reference list should be alphabetized and notnumbered.

General rules for citationInitials follow the surname. Initials are not separatedby periods or spaces.

The title of the document should be transcribedexactly as it appears in the original publication.Punctuation may be added to distinguish a title froma subtitle or extended title.

The place of publication is important for orderingpurposes. A complete postal address shouldtherefore be included.

The abbreviation ‘et al.’ is correctly used for citingmultiple authors in the text, but it should not be usedin the list of references, where all authors or editorsshould be listed.

Examples

Articles and booksMallikarjuna N. 2001. Prospects of using Cicercanariense for chickpea improvement. InternationalChickpea and Pigeonpea Newsletter 8:22–24.

Rosolem CA, Nakagwa J and Machado JR, Jr.1980. [Effect of top dressing fertilizing for grainsorghum on two oxisols.] Adubacao em coberturapara sorgogranifero em dois latossolos (In Pt,Summary in En.) Revista Brasileira de Ciencia doSolo 4(1):44–49. 12 refs.

Freeman HA. 2001. Comparison of farmer-participatory research methodologies: Case studiesin Malawi and Zimbabwe. Working paper series no10. Nairobi, PO Box 39063, Kenya: InternationalCrops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.28 pp.

Ananda Vadivelu G, Wani SP, Bhole LM, Pathak P

Note that authors’ names arein boldface, but the word ‘and’is not.

Brown (1985) reported that…The study (Brown et al. 1983)found that ….

17

and Pande AB. 2001. An empirical analysis of therelationship between land size, ownership andsoyabean productivity – new evidence from the semi-arid tropical region in Madhya Pradesh, India. NaturalResource Management Program Report no. 4.Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India:International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-AridTropics; and Manila, Philippines: Asian DevelopmentBank. 50 pp.

Book chaptersBantilan MCS, Deb UK and Nigam SN. 2003. Impactsof genetic improvement in groundnut. Pages 293–313 inCrop variety improvement and its effect on productivity;the impact of international agricultural research(Evenson R and Gollin D, eds.). Wallingford, UK: CABInternational.

Conference papersJagdish Kumar and Dua RP. 2001. Breeding forresistance to abiotic stresses in chickpea. [Abstract]Pages 15–16 in Proceedings of National Symposium onPulses for Sustainable Agriculture and NutritionalSecurity, 17–19 April 2001, Indian Council of AgriculturalResearch, New Delhi, India. Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh,India: Indian Society of Pulses Research andDevelopment.

NewslettersICRISAT. 2001. International Arachis Newsletter no. 21.Patancheru 502 324, Andhra Pradesh, India: ICRISAT.68 pp.

SpellingIn ICRISAT documents, American spellings are used.Reference for spelling is Merriam Webster’s CollegiateDictionary, 10th Edition. When Webster gives more thanone acceptable meaning for a given word, use the firstone listed.

When citing documents, or books or referring toestablished titles, use whichever spelling occurs in theoriginal.Before finalizing any document or sending it for editing run

18

the American English version of the computer’s spell-check.

If a report is submitted to a donor or partner who prefersBritish spelling (FAO, UNDP, UNEP, DFID, ICAR),employ British spelling and usage as a courtesy.

Standard errorStandard errors (SEs) not least significant differences(LSDs) should in general be reported when presentingestimates of the magnitudes of effects or differences,whether or not they reach significance. If authors followthis rule, they will have given all that most readers needfor judging the precision of results and the reality ofapparent effects. They will also have ensured that eventheir statistically nonsignificant results can be properlyevaluated.

Always attach the sign ± to a standard error. If theestimate of the standard error is based on fewer than10 degrees of freedom for error, give the number ofdegrees in a footnote. The rule is always to give thestandard error of the values being presented.

StyleWhen submitting papers to journals, it is imperative tofollow the exact style given by the journal, book orconference proceedings. This is particularly importantfor reference citations that vary widely between journalsand publishers. Failure to conform to the required styleis a valid reason to reject a paper.

TablesPlace a table near the text inwhich it is cited.

Confine a table to a single page.If a table is too large for one page,consider editing it down or splittingit into more than one table.

Use a consistent format for alltables throughout a report,including those in appendixes.

Use numerals, not letters orasterisks, for footnotes.

Farmers’ income with improved crop production practices inAdarsha Watershed, Kothapally, 1999–2000.

Total Cost of Total Benefit-productivity cultivation income Profit cost

Cropping systems (kg ha-1) (Rs ha-1) (Rs ha-1) (Rs ha-1) ratio

ImprovedMaize/pigeonpea 3300 5900 20500 14600 2.47Sorghum/pigeonpea 1570 6000 15100 9100 1.51TraditionalCotton 900 13250 200001 6750 0.50Sorghum/pigeonpea 900 4900 10700 5800 1.18Mung bean 600 47002 9000 4300 0.911. Figure taken from 1998.2. Estimated.

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Note: ICRISAT’s tons arealways metric tons. Thus,there is no need to use thespelling tonnes.

Usagepostrainy is one word.Seed are sown, not planted. (Unless the crop is alreadygerminated, in which case planted is correct, althoughtransplanted is preferred).

Prefer smallholder or small-scale farmers to smallfarmers.

Trade names if used should be followed by ®superscript.

Describe experiments in logical sequence.

Do NOT use underlining.

Weights and measuresIt is not necessary to define commonly known weightsand measures on the inside front cover, eg, hectare,ton.

More specialized units (eg, decibels, gigawatt hours,deadweight tons) must be defined on the inside frontcover.

If there are only three or fewer units to be defined, it isnot necessary to create a special weights and measuressection. These can be included in the Abbreviationssection.

If a unit of weight or measure ís used frequently in areport, spell it out at first use and give the abbreviationin parentheses. Thereafter, use only the abbreviatedform.

Use only the singular form when abbreviating a unit. Donot use a period with the abbreviated form.

600 kilowatts (kW)

22 kg, not 22 kgs5.4 mm, not 5.4 mm.

The material was washed,dried, and weighed.NOTThe material was weighedafter it had been washed anddried.

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Note: never use an apostrophe with years (the 1980s, not the 1980’s). Also, never refer to the 80swithout the 19.

Example Meaning1995–1996 Two full calendar years1993 period from 1 January to 31 December 19931995/96 an undefined period usually lasting 12 months that does not

coincide with the calendar yearFY1998 A 12-month fiscal year endng at some point in 1998CY1998 A 12-month crop year ending at some point in 1998SY1998 A 12-month school year ending at some point in 19881990–1999 a decade1990–2000 an 11-year period1980s the decade 1980-1989

YearsThe expression of years should be consistent throughout areport and consistent with the intended meaning of theyears given.