NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS
China Information is a refereed journal devoted to research and fieldwork on all aspects of contemporary China. Papers and book reviews are only considered for publication on the condition that they have not already been published, and that they are not being considered for publication elsewhere. Submission is taken to imply the author's guarantee that the submitted work meets that condition. Articles should not normally exceed 10,000 words, including endnotes, references, and appendices. They should be submitted via e-mail, preferably as a Word (.doc) attachment. Research papers are sent to external specialists for review, comment, and advice. Layout, punctuation, annotation, etc., should be in accordance with journal style. We generally follow the Chicago Manual of Style but also incorporate some SAGE style preferences. Further details are provided below.
1. When submitting an article, the author's name, professional title or position, as well as institutional affiliation should be provided in a separate file. The author's name should not appear on any page of the manuscript, since the editorial policy of China Information is to have submitted research papers read by independent referees on the basis of anonymity of both author and referee. The title of the article should appear at the top of the first page.
2. Pages should be numbered consecutively. Please avoid the following:
* Different fonts.
* Other formatting styles affecting letter size and appearance, including bold and underline.
* Comment, highlighting, tracking features, etc.
* Headers and footers, especially those containing the author's name (see point no. 1).
* The use of charts and tables should be kept to a minimum. Please submit all illustrations in a separate file.
3. Articles approved for publication should be accompanied by an abstract of not more than 200 words, five to six keywords or phrases, followed by the author's affiliation. Other personal notes and acknowledgements should be placed at the end of the article before the endnotes. Avoid using more than three levels of headings: use capital letters for A-heads, headline-style capitalization for B-heads, and sentence-style capitalization for C-heads.
4. Use American spelling ("favor," not "favour"; "center," not "centre," etc.). Run spell check after finishing the manuscript. Follow American-style punctuation as recommended in the Chicago Manual of Style, e.g., a final comma or period precedes quotation marks, irrespective of whether it is part of the quoted matter: Here Marx refers to the economic structure of society as "the real foundation," changes in which lead "sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure."; colons and semicolons follow quotation marks. Use a comma to separate a series of three or more words, phrases, or clauses (like this), and before a conjunction separating the last two.
5. Quotations should be continuous within the text unless they exceed 40 words or if there is a special reason for separating them from the text; any quotation of more than 40 words should be indented in its entirety, with no quotation marks at the beginning or end. The text following a block quotation should not, however, be indented. When quoting verbatim, use double quotation marks to enclose quoted matter. Quotes within quotes should be placed between single quotation marks. Question marks and exclamation marks should be placed outside quotation marks unless the question or exclamation occurs within the quotation itself. Omission within a fragment is noted by three ellipsis points. Omission following a sentence is indicated by four dots. The first, placed immediately after the last word, is the period.
6. One space only after full stops (periods). This paragraph is an illustration. Do not use a double space after a full stop. No space after decimal point.
7. Between brackets, do not add space (this is OK), ( this is not OK ).
8. Chinese characters, not pinyin, are used in the main text of the article, usually after the English translation of a phrase or term. However if a term in pinyin is mentioned several times in the text, then the pinyin term is retained. It is italicized and accompanied by Chinese characters between brackets on first mention: This article supplements the body of research about the Chinese Party discipline system through an examination of shuanggui (??), a form of detention used on Party members.
However pinyin, not Chinese characters, is used in the title, abstract, notes, and references, followed by English translation. Capital letters are used for the geographical names of countries, cities, and names of people in pinyin.
Notes:
He Fengyu, "Guanzhu, chengxian, huangxing: Liang Shuo nongmingong diaosude shenmei wenhua yiyun" (Attuning, emerging, awakening: Liang Shuo's migrant worker sculptures' aesthetics and cultural meanings), Yishu tansuo (Art exploration) 19, no. 3 (2005): 50-3.
References:
He, Fengyu. "Guanzhu, chengxian, huangxing: Liang Shuo nongmingong diaosude shenmei wenhua yiyun" (Attuning, emerging, awakening: Liang Shuo's migrant worker sculptures' aesthetics and cultural meanings). Yishu tansuo (Art exploration) 19, no. 3 (2005): 50-3.
9. Place names: Beijing Municipality, not Peking municipality. Anhui Province, not Anhui province. Note also Taipei (not Taibei or Taipeh). Capital letters: Communist(s) (as member of the Communist Party); otherwise communist (in reference to ideology). "Party" with capital letter P if the Communist Party is meant.
10. Numbers: Spell out numbers one to nine; use figures for numerals 10 and above. Use the least number of numerals possible in pagination and dates, e.g. 42-5, 2003-4, 1989-92. But use 10-14, 10-11 as these represent single words.
11. For currency, use the common symbol or abbreviation-US$, £, €, etc. For Chinese currency, use RMB.
12. Anglicized words should be roman with no accents, e.g., ad hoc, vis-a-vis, naive.
13. Minimize use of abbreviations; retain only the most common ones e.g., CCP, WTO, UN, PLA, US, UK, NGO. Use the full or shortened name rather than abbreviations for those that are less common or nonstandard, e.g., the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission can be referred to as State-owned Assets Commission, not SASAC. Contractions do not take full points, e.g., Dr, Mr, St. However the following abbreviations take full points: no., Co., p., pp., vol., ch. (but use vols and chs), ed. (but use eds).
14. Use the standard abbreviated form for American states (and territories), e.g., AL (for Alabama), TX (for Texas), MA (for Massachusetts).
15. Write dates as follows: 30 September 2009. Use figures for centuries, e.g., a 21st-century dilemma.
16. We use endnotes. Endnotes appear at the end of the document. Proper and full citations of works referred to in a particular place in the main text should be made in the endnotes. The name of the author and the title of the work ought to be included in the first note citation to it, even if one or both have been mentioned in the text. In order to reduce the bulk of documentation, subsequent citations to sources already given in full on first mention should be shortened wherever possible. Substantive or discursive notes consist of explanations or amplifications of the discussion in the text. These should be used sparingly and kept as short as possible. When a full reference is presented in parentheses, brackets are used to enclose the publication details.
Endnotes should be numbered consecutively. In the main text, the note callout number should be placed immediately after a full stop (period) or comma.
A separate list of references is also required. Please ensure that all sources cited in the endnotes are included in the references. Please note that the style of citation for endnotes and references differs. A general guideline is the respective use of commas in the notes and periods in the references to separate the items. Page references may be mentioned in the notes. The following are examples of how sources are cited in endnotes and references:
16.1 One author/editor as "author":
Notes:
Minxin Pei, China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), 20.
Chen Xingliang, ed., Zhongguo xingshi sifa jieshi jiantao (Examining Chinese judicial interpretation of criminal legislation) (Beijing: Zhongguo jiancha chubanshe, 2003).
References:
Pei, Minxin. China's Trapped Transition: The Limits of Developmental Autocracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006.
Chen, Xingliang, ed. Zhongguo xingshi sifa jieshi jiantao (Examining Chinese judicial interpretation of criminal legislation). Beijing: Zhongguo jiancha chubanshe, 2003.
16.2 Two authors/editors as "authors" etc.:
Notes:
Elizabeth Economy and Michel Oksenberg, China Joins the World: Progress and Prospects. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1999.
Kenneth Lieberthal and David M. Lampton, eds, Bureaucracy, Politics and Decision-Making in Post-Mao China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).
References:
Economy, Elizabeth, and Michel Oksenberg. China Joins the World: Progress and Prospects. New York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1999.
Lieberthal, Kenneth, and David M. Lampton, eds. Bureaucracy, Politics and Decision-Making in Post-Mao China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
16.3 Chapter in book:
Page references may be provided in the note entries, while the full page range of the specific chapter should be given in the references. (Note: "ed." used here means "edited by," and it remains unchanged in the event of multiple editors).
Notes:
Dali L. Yang, "Rationalizing the Chinese State: The Political Economy of Government Reform," in Remaking the Chinese State, ed. Bruce J. Dickson and Chien-Min Chao (London: Routledge, 2000), 22.
References:
Yang, Dali L. "Rationalizing the Chinese State: The Political Economy of Government Reform." In Remaking the Chinese State, ed. Bruce J. Dickson and Chien-Min Chao, 19-45. London: Routledge, 2000.
16.4 Article in journal:
The title of the article is given in double quotation marks, the name of the journal in italics. Quotes within article titles should be between single quotation marks. Chinese article titles are not italicized. Translations of book and article titles are given within brackets, not in quotation marks nor italicized; use sentence-style capitalization in the translation:
Notes:
"Xiandai Zhongguo ren de xing wenti" (Sexual problems of today's Chinese), Minzhu yu fazhi (Democracy and law), no. 10 (1990): 100-4.
Scott Kennedy, "China's Porous Protectionism: The Changing Political Economy of Trade Policy," Political Science Quarterly 120, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 407-32.
References:
"Xiandai Zhongguo ren de xing wenti" (Sexual problems of today's Chinese). Minzhu yu fazhi (Democracy and law), no. 10 (1990): 100-4.
Kennedy, Scott. "China's Porous Protectionism: The Changing Political Economy of Trade Policy." Political Science Quarterly 120, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 407-32.
16.5 Author's work translated or edited by another:
Notes:
Su Xiaokang and Wang Luxiang, Deathsong of the River: A Reader's Guide to the Chinese TV Series He Shang, trans. Richard W. Bodman and Pin P. Wan (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991).
References:
Su, Xiaokang, and Wang Luxiang. Deathsong of the River: A Reader's Guide to the Chinese TV Series He Shang. Trans. Richard W. Bodman and Pin P. Wan. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1991.
16.6 PhD dissertation:
Notes:
Alessandra Aresu, "Healthy in Body and Mind: Sex Education in Contemporary Urban China" (PhD diss., University of Westminster, 2006).
References:
Aresu, Alessandra. "Healthy in Body and Mind: Sex Education in Contemporary Urban China." PhD diss., University of Westminster, 2006.
16.7 Paper presented at a conference:
Notes:
Edward Friedman, "The Peasantry, Village Elections, and Stable Modernization" (paper presented at International Symposium on Villager Self-government, Beijing, September 2001).
References:
Friedman, Edward. "The Peasantry, Village Elections, and Stable Modernization." Paper presented at International Symposium on Villager Self-government, Beijing, September 2001.
16.8 Article in newspaper:
Notes:
"2004 nian Zhongguo fanfu huodong tongji" (Statistics of China's anticorruption activities in 2004), Dahe bao (Yellow River daily), 10 March 2005, 15.
References:
"2004 nian Zhongguo fanfu huodong tongji" (Statistics of China's anticorruption activities in 2004). Dahe bao (Yellow River daily), 10 March 2005, 15.
16.9 Online publication:
Notes:
Cai Hongbin and Daniel Treisman, "State Corroding Federalism," , accessed 31 May 2004.
References:
Cai, Hongbin, and Daniel Treisman. "State Corroding Federalism." , accessed 31 May 2004.
16.10 References to previously cited work:
e.g., Redding, shortened title, 47 (note: book title is italicized, title of chapter or article is within quotation marks).
The use of abbreviations op. cit. and loc. cit. should be avoided.
Ibid. in roman type: "in the same work"
This refers to a single work by the same author cited in the note immediately preceding. Ibid. should not be used if more than one work is cited in the preceding note. When moving sentences or sections from one place in the text to another, check whether or not the use of Ibid. in the accompanying notes is still appropriate.
16.11 When quoting BBC, Summary of World Broadcasts (SWB), and similar translation series, be sure to add the precise date of the issue in question. The serial code in itself is insufficient as a bibliographical reference. Example of correct citation:
SWB-FE 0809/A3/1-3, 6 July 1990.
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