Spelling

• American (i.e., not British) English.

Paragraphs

• New paragraphs are indented (except for the first paragraph of a new section, which is aligned left).

Headings

• Headings are boldfaced.
• Main headings have capital letters for significant words; are in roman font; one line before.
• Subheadings have initial capital only; are in italic font; one line before.

Grammar

• “That” to be used only in restrictive relative clauses; “which” to be used in descriptive relative clauses.
• “Since” to be used only with reference to a passed period of time, not as a synonym of “because”; “while” to be changed to “although” when not used specifically in terms of a time relationship.

Punctuation

• Use serial commas (i.e., place a comma before “and” in a list; e.g., “red, white, and blue”).
• Periods and commas go inside quotation marks; semicolons and colons go outside quotation marks.
• Use commas after “e.g.” and “i.e.”
• Use unspaced em-dashes (—). Most word-processors will convert double-hyphens to em-dashes automatically.
• Use apostrophe + s for possessives of words ending in –s, e.g., “Edwards’s view.”

Quotations

• Use only double quotation marks (except for quotes within a quote, which use single marks).
• Quotations of 40 words and more are to be displayed (indented, with one line before and one line after), with no quotation marks;  source given at end of a quotation is in roman, and follows closing punctuation.
• Text within quotations must remain as published; it should not be standardized (this includes capitalization and standardization of transliterations).

Ellipsis

• Spaced ellipsis, without brackets; four spaced dots when including a full stop.

Spacing

• Space between initials in a name (e.g., J. P. Smith).

Numbers

• Numbers one to ninety-nine are written out; numbers 100 and over are in numerals (but “36 percent”).
• Approximations in place of numbers are written out (e.g., “around eight hundred”).
• Change fractions to decimals where possible.
• No elision of numbers: pages 232-238, not 232-38; 1980-1984, not 1980-84.
• “Chapter one,” “chapter two,” etc., not “chap. 1” or “chapter one” or “chapter 1.”

Notes

• Footnotes, when used, should contain only substantive information.  Bibliographic citation should be in-line, in Modern Language Association style (see below for examples).
• Note indicators are superscripted arabic numbers without parentheses.
• If the note comes at the end of a quote, the note indicator comes after the closing quote marks: “. . . the largest community in the world today.”¹

Bibliographic reference in text

• In MLA form, citations of sources are separated from text by a space, with author’s last name and page number within parentheses. Example:  (Cozort 43).  If the author’s name is obvious from the text, cite only the page number.  If more than one work by an author is included in the list of references, a keyword is also inserted.   Example: (Cozort Highest 43). There are no commas.

Dates

• 1500s, not 1500’s.
• “1960s,” not “sixties.”
• “Seventh century,” not “Seventh Century” or “7th Century.”
• 650 B.C., A.D. 1998, 621 B.C.E. (B.C.E. and C.E. are preferred to B.C. and A.D.)
• March 5, not March 5th.
• Ranges: 1950-1959 (with a hyphen, not a dash).

Titles

• Book titles are italicized; article titles are enclosed in quotation marks.
• Conference titles such as “Buddhism and Human Rights” are in quotation marks, not italics.
• Titles like “assistant book editor” are not capitalized (unless used in a heading).
• Transliterations in the title and headings should be the same as in the body of the article.

Lists

• For a numbered list within a sentence, use numbers enclosed in parentheses and end each item with a semi-colon. For example, “The Four Sublime Abodes are: (1) love; (2) compassion; (3) empathetic joy; and (4) equanimity.”
• Numbered lists and notes in text: 1….2…., etc. (number followed by period; no parentheses or superscripts).

Figures and Charts

• For figures mentioned in text: figure 1; figure 2 etc.
• For figure caption : fig. 1 ; fig. 2 etc.
• Charts are in tables and do not use tabs.

Units

• Units of measurement should be unambiguous; if using dollars, it must be clear to which country’s dollars the article is referring.

Typeface

• Do not use bold anywhere in the document except for headings.
• Use italics for emphasis rather than bold or underscoring

Foreign Language Issues

• All technical terms in Buddhist languages, except proper names, are italicized except for those that have become English words. A list of common terms may be found below. Please note carefully which ones are and are not italicized.
• Use a font that contains characters with the necessary diacritical marks. We recommend Gentium Plus, which can be downloaded free from (http://scripts.sil.org/cms/scripts/page.php?site_id=nrsi&id=gentium_download#c6982247); it is suggested that you download and install this font and use this template (Template for JBE articles) to prepare your article.

Examples of Bibliographic Entries (MLA Style, 8th Edition)

Book:
Prebish, Charles. Luminous Passage: The Practice and Study of Buddhism in America. University of California Press, 1999.

          . Prebish, Charles. American Buddhism. Duxbury Press, 1979. [note that for additional works by the same author, one underscores ten spaces instead of repeating the name.]

Hammond, Phillip and David Machacek. Soka Gakkai in America: Accommodation and Conversion. Oxford University Press, 1999.

Keown, Damien, editor. Contemporary Buddhist Ethics. Curzon Press, 2000.

Keown, Damien and Charles Prebish, editors. The Encyclopedia of Buddhism. Routledge Curzon Press, 2006.

Chapter in a book:

Keown, Damien. “Are There Human Rights in Buddhism?” In Buddhism and Human Rights, edited by Damien Keown, Charles Prebish, and Wayne Husted, Curzon Press, 1998, pp. 15-41.

Journal article:

Prebish, Charles. “Two Buddhisms Reconsidered.” Buddhist Studies Review, vol. 10, no. 2, 1993, pp. 187-206.

Keown, Damien and Shakyamuni Buddha. “Ethics and Salsa.” Journal of Buddhist Ethics, vol. 12, 2004, pp. 132-301.

Electronic source:

Electrobuddha, Cyber. “Buddhism on the Internet.” Buddhism in Cyberspace,  www.bjc.com/Eelectrobuddha. Accessed 4 November 2017.

Spelling/Hyphenation/Capitalization

(For additional queries and style questions, please take a look at the current volume of the Journal.)

A

a priori (no italics)

acknowledgment

adviser

aesthetic

afterward

all right

alms food

Americanize

analogue

anātman

anattā

ancien régime, the (no italics)

anglicize

anti-Semitic

arabic numerals

arhat, arahant

Asian American (family)

AUM

B

B.A.

bachelor’s degree

behavior

benefited

best-known (when attributive)

Bhagavad Gita (italics)

bhikṣu (lower-case ‘b’ unless part of a name)

Bible, the

biblical

big bang theory

bioethics

Bodhisattva (if referring to Siddhartha Gautama prior to enlightenment, or a particular bodhisattva, such as the Bodhisattva Tara; otherwise not capitalized)

Bronze Age

Buddha, the

buddhas

Buddhahood

Buddhist

Buddhist ethics

Buddhist Studies

C

ca. – change to “circa” or “around” where possible

call for papers

canceled

catalog

chapter one

Christian

Christlike

civilization

classical

coauthor

coeditor

color

consensus

coorigination

copyeditor

criticize

D

Dark Ages, the

de facto (no italics)

descendant

Dharma (italics)

doctor’s degree

download

E

e.g. – change to “for example” where possible

the East, Eastern

ecosystem

ego-self

Eightfold Path, the

embarrass

endeavor

Enlightenment, the

etc. – change to “and so forth” where possible

F

fall (the season)

ff.

fin de siècle (no italics)

First Noble Truth

Five Precepts, the

fluorescent

foresee

Four Noble Truths, the

Fulfillment

G

Gelugpa order

generalize

glamorous

glamour

Golden Rule, the

green revolution

H

harass

hell-being

Hinduism

homepage

homeric

HTML

I

i.e. – change to “that is” where possible

ibid. (no italics)

idiosyncrasy

inasmuch

indispensable

Indo-European

inoculate

Internet

Iron Age

J

JBE (italics)

JGB (italics)

Jew

Journal of Buddhist Ethics (italics)

Journal of Global Buddhism (italics)

Judgment

K

karma

L

labeled

laissez-faire (no italics)

lay people

layman

liaison

lifespan

lightning

Listserv

litre

M

M.A.

Madhyamaka

macroeconomics

Mahāyāna

matter-of-fact (when attributive)

metre

midcentury

Middle Ages, the

middle-class voters; the middle class

mid-June

millennium

Muslim

mustache

N

neo-Darwinian

Neolithic

Neoorthodox

nirvāṇa

nonattachment

nondualistic

nonessential

nonexistence

nonhuman

nonintentional

nonperson

nonsentient

nonviolent

non-Western

O

ongoing

online

P

Pāli

paṭicca-samuppāda

percent

Ph.D.

postdoctoral

pp.

pratītya-samutpāda

preconference

preempt

president (of the United States); President Obama

privilege

pro-life

protolanguage

prototypical

pseudoheroic

R

rabbi, the; Rabbi Salzman

reaffirm

reedit

reestablish

reexamine

Renaissance, the

resistance

reunify

Rig-Veda (italics)

roman numerals

romantic period

S

saṅgha (Pāli)/ saṃgha (Sanskrit); capitalized if referred to as one of the Three Jewels.

savior

self-consciousness

self-reliant

Shingon

Shintoism

skeptic

Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa

sixth-century poet

socioeconomic

Southeast Asia

space age

spring (the season)

status quo

Stone Age

sturm und drang (no italics)

supersede

supraliminal

sūtra/sūtta (no italics); Lotus Sūtra

T

Tantra

Tantric

Taoism

theater

Theravāda

Three Jewels, the

Three Treasures, the

three-quarters (of a mile)

totaled

toward (not towards)

transsocietal

tropic of Cancer

U

underused

unselfconscious

unshakable

upload

up-to-date

V

Vajrayāna

Vedic

Vinaya

Vinayapiṭaka

viz. – change to “namely” where possible

W

web page

website

well-known (when attributive)

the West, Western

World Wide Web

worldwide