Notes for authors

The Society welcomes contributions of papers for presentation at one of its meetings (which are normally held at or near the Science Museum in London) and subsequent publication in Transactions or for publication only.

Papers should not have been previously published or on offer to another journal. Intending authors should first send a 300-word summary of the proposed paper, preferably as an email attachment in Microsoft Word, to editor.trans@newcomen.com, or otherwise to the Editor of Transactions, Newcomen Society, Science Museum, London SW7 2DD, UK.

After the Board has accepted the proposal, the author should send the full paper + a 300-word abstract (which will be used to publicise the lecture on the Society’s website) by an agreed date or eight weeks before the date of the meeting at which it is to be presented. Papers are normally refereed by an expert in the appropriate field.

The copyright in papers read to and/or published by the Society is owned by the Society and the author will be asked to sign a copyright assignment which warrants the originality of the work. Copyright in papers read but not subsequently published is returned to the author.

Authors receive 10 offprints of their paper free of charge and may purchase additional copies if required.

Papers should not normally exceed 8,000 words in length, exclusive of notes, appendices and tables. The number of illustrations should not normally exceed what can be accommodated on 6 printed pages.

Papers should preferably be sent as an e-mail attachment to editor.trans@newcomen.com; otherwise by disk in Microsoft Word format (with the filename and software indicated on the disk) or be typed double-spaced on A4 paper, one side only.

Style Guide

Quotations:
Quotations should follow the style and spelling of the original and be presented as a separate indented paragraph without quotation marks. Short quotations may be included in the text within single quotation marks. Acknowledgements should be gathered in a separate, headed paragraph at the end of the main text.

Tables:
Tables should be submitted on separate pages, headed and numbered, eg TABLE 4. The source of the data can be indicated at the end of the table or by a reference to 'Notes and references' at the end of the paper.

Illustrations:
Illustrations should be glossy black and white photographs except that good quality photocopies may suffice for diagrams and line drawings. They should be consecutively numbered and the 'fig.' number pencilled on the reverse of the illustration and in the left-hand margin of the main text to indicate where the printer is to place the illustration. A list of captions to the illustrations should be typed on a separate sheet, giving a brief, one-line description of the subject and, when necessary, the source and any acknowledgement of permission to reproduce that may be required, eg Courtesy, Trustees of the Science Museum. Authors are responsible for obtaining the permission of copyright owners to reproduce their illustrations.

References:
Papers should be rigorously documented. Notes and references should be typed double-spaced on a separate sheet, numbered consecutively. The reference numbers should be entered in the main text as raised numerals without brackets. References should be cited as follows:

Books:

R.A. Buchanan, Industrial Archaeology in Britain (Allan Lane, London, 1972), p. 47.

Parts of books:

R.A. Buchanan, 'I. K. Brunel, engineer', in The works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, ed. Sir Alfred Pugsley (Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 1976), pp. 5-23.

R.A. Buchanan, op. cit., p. 21. If it is the following reference, use Ibid., p. 21.

Periodicals:

N.A.F. Smith, 'The Pont du Gard and the aqueduct of Nimes', Transactions, Newcomen Society, vol. 62 (1991), pp. 53-80.

Abbreviated journal titles may be used where they are in common use or where there are several references to the journal, although the first reference should be stated in full and abbreviations must be consistent. Where periodical volume numbers are displayed as roman numerals, these should be written as capital letters.

Newspaper reports:

The Newcastle Courant, 8 Mar 1834, p. 8, col. 4.

Unpublished papers:

Letter, Edward Pease to Thomas Richardson, 10 Oct 1821, Hodgkin. Papers, Durham County Record Office, D/HO/C 63.5.