1. PUBLICATION
2. DOCUMENT PROPERTIES
3. DOCUMENT STYLES
4. LANGUAGE
5. RESEARCH, QUOTES, ELLIPSES
6. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES
7. BIBLICAL REFERENCES
8. EXTENDED STYLE GUIDE

 

By submitting to RTR, you acknowledge and agree that:

 

1. PUBLICATION

1.1 Exclusivity

The submission has not been previously published and has not been submitted for publication elsewhere (except when the previous submission has been unsuccessful), or an explanation has been provided to the Editor. The submission will not be submitted elsewhere for publication, or in any way be reproduced or distributed other than by RTR, unless the submission to RTR is unsuccessful, or in accordance with the following:

  1. An author may publicly distribute in electronic format only the first page of their article, and only with full citation and a link to at least one of the following sites where the full article may be purchased or accessed: rtr.org.au; Informit; or EBSCO after two years of the publication date (RTR articles are available on EBSCO two years after publication).
  2. Hardcopy distribution must be approved by the Editor, and only with full citation, after five years of the publication date, and providing that the hardcopy is not made available online.

1.2 Copyright

The submission does not infringe the copyright or property right of another, is in no other way unlawful, and does not contain matter that is defamatory. Bibliographic details for all references cited or otherwise drawn upon in articles are included in the footnotes.

1.3 Editorial work

RTR editors will edit the article or review in accordance with the Extended RTR Style Guide.

 

2. DOCUMENT PROPERTIES

2.1 File format

The submission file is in Microsoft Word format (.docx). For documents with special fonts, illustrations or other complex formatting, a PDF is also provided as a supplementary upload.

[An MS Word Article Template is available if you wish to you it and the MS Word Book Review Template should be used for reviews.]

2.2 De-identified

If submitting to a double-blind peer-reviewed section of the journal (i.e. an article; not a book review), the article should not have identifying information. Author identification in the Word document properties needs to be removed.

2.3 Length

If an article: it is 7,000-10,000 words including footnotes and footnoted bibliographical data. If a review: it is 300-700 words.

DOCUMENT PROPERTIES IN THE EXTENDED STYLE GUIDE >>

 

3. DOCUMENT STYLES

3.1 Paragraph

The article or review is single-spaced, justified, the first line of each paragraph is indented 0.5cm, and one space (not two) is used between sentences within a paragraph.

3.2 Fonts

For an article, a 12-point Times font is used for the main text and 11-point for footnotes and book reviews.

Unicode fonts are used for Greek and Hebrew.

(We recommend that you use the free fonts provided by the Society of Biblical Literature. RTR actually uses Linguist Software Unicode fonts, and the administrator will make the conversion.)

No Hebrew pointing is used unless significant to the discussion.

3.3 Headings

Main subheadings are 11pt Arial. Subheadings are numbered and sub-numbered as appropriate (1. ... 1.1 ... 1.1.1).

3.4 Dashes

Em dashes rather than ordinary dashes are used when setting apart words in a sentence—like this em dash here, with no spaces around the dash.

En dashes are used when ‘through to’ is meant, such as when giving verse ranges. E.g. Gen 1:1–5; 1914–1918; pp. 2–10.

An en dash has spaces around it for a verse range across chapters. E.g. Gen 1:1 – 2:3.

3.5 BC/AD

bc/ad are in small caps, and after and before the year respectively (586 bc; ad 70).

DOCUMENT STYLES IN THE EXTENDED STYLE GUIDE >>

 

4. LANGUAGE

4.1 Proof-reading

The article is substantially free from typographical errors, and the spell and grammar check function of the word processor has been used. The grammar checker is set to Australian English (if installed) in both the body and footnotes.

4.2 Translation

Translation is provided for any non-English language used (including Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and all modern languages).

Hebrew and Greek transliteration is not used, except for well-known words (e.g. koinonia). Transliteration is italicised.

4.3 Spellings

Preferably, -ise/-yse/-isation are used, not -ize/-yze/-ization. E.g. minimise, recognise, evangelise, realise, baptise, sympathise, emphasise, memorise, polarise, criticise, modernise, realisation, summarisation.

4.4 First-person language

Authors generally should avoid referring to themselves as 'I' and 'We'.

4.5 Capitalisation

Capitalisation is minimised: ‘the crucifixion’, ‘the church’; but still ‘Passover’ and ‘Exodus’.

4.6 Conjunctions

Sentences do not start with ‘And’ or ‘But’.

LANGUAGE IN THE EXTENDED STYLE GUIDE >>

 

5. RESEARCH, QUOTES, ELLIPSES

5.1 Research

If an article, the essay is framed as a response to current academic literature and adds to academic understanding, and current academic literature is significantly evident in the footnotes.

5.2 Quotes

  • Single quotation marks are used but double marks for a quote within a quote.
  • Punctuation within quote marks is present in the source. I.e. no punctuation has been added to quotes (other than ellipses).
  • Long quotations (30+ words) are in separate paragraphs, indented 0.5cm left and right, without quotation marks, 11pt font for articles, 10pt font for reviews.

5.3 Ellipses

Ellipses are used without spaces and are not used unnecessarily at the start and end of quotes.

RESEARCH, QUOTES, ELLIPSES IN THE EXTENDED STYLE GUIDE >>

 

6. BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

6.1 General

A footnote-bibliography system is used (articles with other systems will be returned to the author, e.g. the author-date system).

Articles have footnoted bibliographical data only, with no bibliography (but a bibliography is required in the submission process and will be published on the RTR website).

RTR uses the following style (which is similar to the Chicago style) or accepts the Chicago style but only ever with single quotation marks.

  • Monograph: Tuomo Mannermaa, Christ Present in Faith: Luther’s View of Justification (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2005), 20.
  • Article: Kurt E. Marquart, ‘Luther and Theosis’, CTQ 64, no. 3 (2000), 182–205.
  • Book section: Risto Saarinen, ‘Justification by Faith: The View of the Mannermaa School’, The Oxford Handbook of Martin Luther's Theology, eds Robert Kolb, Irene Dingel and L’ubomír Batka (Oxford: OUP, 2014), 254–263.
  • Web reference: Graeme Bucknall, ‘Flynn, John (1880–1951)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography (Australian National University), https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/flynn-john-6200/text10655, published first in hardcopy 1981, accessed 9 Nov 2015.
  • Book published electronically: Margaret H. B. Sanderson, ‘Beaton, David (1494?–1546)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: OUP, 2004); https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1823, accessed 6 Nov 2014.

6.2 Subsequent citations

Subsequent citations are shortened:

  • Mannermaa, Christ Present in Faith, 21.
  • Marquart, ‘Luther and Theosis’, 202.

‘Ibid’ and related terms are not used.

6.3 Author style

For in-text references to author’s names (i.e. not as part of footnoted bibliographical data), first names may be given in full or as initials on the first use. Thereafter, just initials should be used or just the last name.

  • First use: Adam B. Smith; A. B. Smith
  • Further use: A. B. Smith; Smith

6.4 Other

Journal abbreviations for well-known journals are used, as per The SBL Handbook of Style.

Short publisher names are used: P&R, Eerdmans, OUP, Baker, Brill, IVP.

If you use Endnote software, RTR has its own RTR Endnote style. This is provided ‘as is’, and RTR offers no assistance in its use. It will create a bibliography at the end of the article, which will need to be deleted before submission.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES IN THE EXTENDED STYLE GUIDE >>

 

7. BIBLICAL REFERENCES

Biblical book abbreviations conform to the SBL Handbook of Style. No full stop is used after the abbreviations. Book names are not abbreviated at the start of a sentence, abbreviated when followed by both chapter and verse, and otherwise not abbreviated. E.g.

  • Always, at the start of a sentence: 1 Chronicles 1:1
  • Otherwise: 1 Chron 1:1
  • Always: 1 Chronicles 1

For references to chapters and verses only: ch. and chs, and v. and vv.

BIBLICAL REFERENCES IN THE EXTENDED STYLE GUIDE >>

 

8. EXTENDED STYLE GUIDE

The fuller Extended RTR Style Guide has been accessed if needed to resolve any complex style issues that have arisen.