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Physical Review Style and Notation Guide

Anne Waldron, Peggy Judd, and Valerie Miller

First Edition July 1983
Revised February 1993
Minor Revision June 2005

Contents


I. INTRODUCTION
    To view best the Style Guide in HTML format, we recommend using a late version Web browser. Some character entities, such as daggers, do not display when viewed by older Web browsers. The entire guide is in HTML format except for the ``Instructions for Composing Mathematical Material'' section, which is in PDF (Portable Document Format); HTML cannot handle the complex math in this section. To view the PDF section, download a free copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader here.

    There are differences between the online version and the PS, PDF version of the Style Guide due to HTML's limitations. Some examples were altered so they could be rendered in HTML; other examples were eliminated. The broken lines used in the tables should actually appear as solid lines in the finished article. Figure captions, table captions, tables, and references appear in the same point size for legibility. They should be a smaller point size in the finished article.

    Use the PDF version for printing a hardcopy of this Guide.

II. STYLE INSTRUCTIONS FOR PARTS OF A MANUSCRIPT

    *The parts of a manuscript which must be included in every manuscript are marked with an asterisk.
  1. * Title
  2. * Author(s) name(s)
  3. * Author(s) affiliation(s)
  4. * Receipt date
  5. * Abstract
  6. * Physics and Astronomy Classification Scheme (PACS) indexing codes
  7. * Main body of the paper-sequential organization
    1. Types of headings and section-head numbers
    2. Reference, figure, and table numbering
    3. Equation numbering
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Appendix(es)
  10. * Footnotes and reference citations
    1. Footnotes---introductory
    2. Footnotes---reference citations
    3. Footnotes---nonparenthetical side remarks
    4. Footnotes---tables and figures
  11. Tables
    1. Sizes
    2. Captions
    3. Lines and space
    4. Headings
    5. Entry lineup
  12. Figures
    1. Types of figures
    2. Designing and labeling figures
    3. Identifying figures
    4. Figure captions

III. STYLE INSTRUCTIONS FOR GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION, SPELLING, HYPHENATION, AND ABBREVIATION OF UNITS

  1. Grammar and punctuation
    1. Text and math as sentences
    2. Use of the comma
    3. Use of parentheses
    4. Use of the colon
  2. Spelling and hyphenation guide
  3. Abbreviation rules
  4. Units

IV. INSTRUCTIONS FOR COMPOSING MATHEMATICAL MATERIAL

    This section is in PDF format. If you need Adobe Acrobat Reader for viewing, go here to download a free copy of the Reader.
  1. Characters available
    1. Alphabets
      1. Greek alphabet
      2. Latin alphabet
    2. Numbers
    3. Symbols
    4. Diacritical signs in math
    5. Subscripts and superscripts
  2. Abbreviations in math
    1. Abbreviations designating mathematical functions
    2. Abbreviations in subscripts and superscripts
  3. Mathematical expressions
    1. When to display
    2. Punctuation
    3. Equation ``breaking'' (multilinear equations)
    4. Equation numbering
  4. Bracketing
    1. Grouping sequence
    2. Specific bracket notation
    3. Specialized notation
  5. Additional style guidelines
    1. Placement of limits
    2. Fractions
    3. Multiplication signs
    4. Mathematical terms

APPENDIX: JOURNAL TITLE ABBREVIATIONS

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