A. General conventions

1. An author’s name should be cited as it is found in the work or works referred to, unless that practice produces inconsistency. In such cases, an executive decision will have to be made as to the mode of citation to be given priority. (If in doubt, consult your Coordinating Editor). For example, the works of Edward Oswald Gabriel Turville-Petre sometimes appear under the rubric E. O. G. Turville-Petre, sometimes G. Turville-Petre and sometimes Gabriel Turville-Petre. In this volume the forename ‘Gabriel’ only will appear. Where a work has been published posthumously the symbol † should appear immediately before the author’s name.

2. The names of Icelandic authors should be given and alphabetised according to the following formula: <first name>_<patronymic> (e.g. Vésteinn Ólason will be alphabetised under V, Sigurður Nordal under S). An explanation of this practice will appear at the head of the published bibliography.

3. The title of a book or article must be given in full, exactly as in the publication, unless it belongs among the abbreviated references mentioned above. The title of a series or journal should also be given in full, unless it appears among the designated abbreviated references.

4. The way in which titles are capitalised is sensitive to the language in which they are expressed. Every significant word in a title in English should begin with a capital letter; lower case is retained for small words such as articles, pronouns, prepositions and conjunctions, unless the word happens to be the first in the title. On the other hand, words in titles in Scandinavian languages should not be capitalised except for the first word and proper names (e.g. Arkiv för nordisk filologi). Exactly the same procedure should be observed for Latin titles: capitalise the first word, but begin subsequent words with lower case letters. In the case of other languages, you should follow contemporary usage in the language concerned. If the principle enunciated here conflicts with that of §3, however, §3’s principle should take precedence.

5. Places of publication of books should be given in the form familiar in English, where separate English forms exist, eg. Gothenburg, not Göteborg, Copenhagen, not København etc. Obsolete place-names should have their modern equivalents supplied in round brackets, e.g. Kristiania (Oslo).

6. Normally the most recent edition of a work should be cited, unless there is a special reason for preferring an earlier one, as will often be the case in this edition. If a work has been reprinted without change (or with minor changes), publication information on the reprint should be given after the main entry.

7. Titles of books and journals (including abbreviated titles) should be italicised. Titles of articles and book chapters should be in roman within single quotation marks. The titles of series should be in roman, eg. Islandica or Grundriss der germanischen Philologie. The titles of dissertations (theses) should also be in roman within single quotation marks. For further information on the form of specific types of bibliographical entry, see below.

8. If an author has more than one bibliographical entry in your listing, the entries should be ordered chronologically (from the earliest to the most recent). Once the author’s name has been cited, subsequent works by him/her should be introduced by a long dash followed by a stop —. rather than repeating the name. If you cite more than one work published by the same author in a single year, these should be marked <year><lower case letter of the alphabet>, as in the examples of Gade 1995a and b cited in the sample bibliography below.

References