General grammar and style guidelines

In scientific texts the visual form of the symbols implies their semantic meaning. Therefore typographic conventions must be obeyed if you want to correctly communicate with the reader community. The Web page Typographical rules for scientific texts provides a quick overview.

CERN's Scientific Text Processing (STP) Service has prepared a series of guides to various aspects of grammar and style that authors, editors, and copy-editors at CERN frequently come across. These guides, listed below, are available for download as PDF files. They should be of general use, although some are more specifically aimed at those of you writing for CERN publications.

• CERN recommended abbreviations (PDF) – common abbreviations in their preferred format for CERN publications.
• CERN word list (PDF) – preferred spellings for CERN publications.
• Symbols and units (PDF) – typesetting units and scientific symbols correctly.
• Journal abbreviations (PDF) – to help authors cite references correctly.
• Citation of references (PDF) – guide to presenting references for CERN publications and the main high-energy physics journals.
• Avoiding franglais (PDF)
• Commonly misused terms (PDF) – a guide to avoiding common mistakes and misunderstandings in English.
• Verbiage (PDF) – keep it simple!
• Bibliography (PDF) – useful references for answers to your style and grammar questions.

The Reviews of Modern Physics Web site has a style guide that covers much of the material presented on this page. Moreover, its Appendix A Writing a Better Scientific Article has a very useful section on elements of style for non-native writers of English.

Note: If you are preparing a contribution for an outside publisher, do not forget to visit their website. Different publishers, and even different publications within the same publishing house, have their own style and preferences.

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