General Information

Each issue of Libyan Studies is published annually at the end of the year, online. BILNAS makes articles available as soon as they are ready for publication, without waiting for the issue to which they belong to be completed. These articles are called ‘FirstView’ articles and can be viewed here: Cambridge Core.

Coverage includes current research on all aspects of Libya, particularly on archaeology, history, and related aspects of the natural environment. The editor is willing to consider contributions on related topics in respect to other parts of North Africa, including the Sahara as a whole and the Maghreb, as well as territories around the Mediterranean.

Contributions may take the form of research articles, shorter notes, reports on archaeological fieldwork and book reviews. In all cases, authors are advised to notify the editor in advance of submitting copy. For more information about book reviews please see here.

Submissions Procedure 

Potential contributions to Libyan Studies must be made online using the submissions procedure outlined here.

Cover sheet 

The cover sheet must include name, affiliation, email address, abstract, 3-5 key words and any special instructions with text or images. The abstract of not more than 100–200 words is required for all articles, notes and archaeological reports. Abstracts should be provided in English (for translation into Arabic and for wider publicity in various abstracting journals). The abstract should be a factual summary of the contents and conclusions of the paper; it should not form part of the introduction.

Word Count 

The preferred length of contributions is 3,000 to 8,000 words, excluding bibliography and notes. Authors who wish to submit larger contributions should contact the editor.

Page Layout

Text should be typed double-spaced in 12 pt font, with a 4 cm left hand margin. All pages should be numbered in the bottom right-hand corner. Paragraphs should be justified, separated by a single line space, and not indented.

Greek, Arabic and Transliterations

Where Greek and Arabic text, inscriptions, and transliterations are provided, authors must supply the font file and a pdf. An English translation should be provided where possible.

Headings 

Use of headings should be limited to three levels if possible. Headings should be typed on a separate line. Primary headings should be in bold font, secondary headings in italic font. Use sentence-case, including words following colons (e.g. The changing face of Sudanese archaeology: heritage and community engagement). 

Abbreviations 

In general, abbreviations should be punctuated: ed., e.g., etc., i.e., n., no., pl., p. 20, cf. c. However, abbreviations in plural (eds, ns, nos, pls), contractions (Dr, Mr, Mrs, St), and series of initials (MA, PhD, UK) should omit stops. When used in text, abbreviations should be written in full: ‘for example’, ‘as illustrated in Figure 1’. For ‘around’ use ca. 450 BC.

Table and Figure Citations

Always spell out table and figure citations in full: Figure in caption; Figure in text. Do not use Fig. unless referring to another publication.

Numbers

Spell out numbers one to ten, except when in sequences or as measurements. Numbers over ten are to be printed as numerals except at beginning of sentences. Roman numerals are to be avoided where possible. Ordinal numbers are to be spelled out in text: ‘during the eighth century’, ‘the second phase’. Two-digit number spans (e.g. 222–25) unless the first number following the en-rule would be a zero, in which case use three digits (e.g. 202–205).

Measurements

Measurements should be in metric units: 4 cm, 5.3 m, 2 km, 7 ha, 14 g, 6 kg, abbreviated without stops. Where it is necessary to preserve imperial measurements then metric equivalents should be provided in parenthesis: ‘extended 8 yards (7.3 m)’; ‘34 inches (0.86 m)’.

Dates

Dates should be expressed as follows: 620 BC, AD 1340, AH 620, tenth century AD, fourth century AH, 14 July 1764, the 1890s, 211–202 BC, AD 1911–15. Radiocarbon determinations should be given with calculated error to one standard deviation, and with the laboratory reference cited: 5,050±110 BP (GrN3451). Calibrated dates should use the form Cal BP. Centuries spelled out (e.g. twenty-first century).  No hyphens between early, mid, late and ordinal number (e.g. late seventh century), as there’s no century called, for example, the early seventeenth century.  However, hyphens added where the century is adjectival (e.g. late-seventh-century objects).

Sequences

In a sequence, the last two digits only should be given in the second element, except when the first of the two digits would be a zero: 1–13, 19–22, 124–35, but 104–108. British English spelling should be used throughout. Spelling of names should be standardised within each contribution. The editor reserves the right to modify spelling.

Spelling

Always UK English spelling, for -is/-iz endings, which are both are acceptable in UK English, the journal style prefers -is endings.

Punctuation

Single quotes (double within).  Closing punctuation to appear outside quote marks unless the quote marks contain a full sentence, in which case the closing period should precede the closing quote mark.

Oxford/serial commas to be made consistent by paper in line with author preference.

No capitalization following colons (except, of course, in the case of proper nouns).

Citations and references

et al. in italics.

Commas before page numbers in citations.

Online data

If a manuscript includes a Data Availability Statement, this goes to the back matter of the article. For websites in the reference list, the access dates must be displayed as follows:

(accessed on 19 July 2021)

Endnotes 

The use of notes should be avoided if possible, but if used, please use endnotes rather than footnotes. References in notes should follow the Harvard system. Endnotes should be referenced in the main text by superscript numbers and should be placed after punctuation.  An alphabetical list of references referred to in the text or in endnotes should be provided at the end of the text (excluding classical sources). Authors must ensure that references are accurate and complete. 

References

References should list Sources first, if they exist, and then normal bibliographical references.

In text
References should use the Harvard (author/date) system, and should be cited in text with full details available in the references. Please ensure all references cited in the text are available in the references and vice versa. For example: ‘it has been shown (Goodchild 1950, 35)…’, ‘Goodchild (1950, 35) has shown….’ With two or more references by the same author in the same year this should be cited as: (Goodchild 1950a; 1950b). For more than two authors citations should be: (Goodchild et al. 1950, 31–35) and note that et al. is in italics. Where several works are referred to at the same time, list them alphabetically rather than chronologically: (Barker and Jones 1984; Barth 1857; Goodchild 1976). Do not abbreviate classical source references: (Tacitus, Annals, 4, 72).

Reference list
Book references should contain author’s name, date, title, publisher, and place of publication. Periodical titles are to be spelled out in full. Periodical numbers are to be given in Arabic numerals, not Roman.  For example:

Hamilton, J. 1856. Wanderings in North Africa. John Murray, London.
O’Connor S. 2011. Armies, navies and economies in the Greek world in the fifth and fourth centuries B.C.E. PhD dissertation, Columbia University, New York.
Goodchild, R.G. 1950. The limes Tripolitanus II. Journal of Roman Studies 40: 30–8.
Brehony, J.A.N. 1960. Semi-nomadism in the Jebel Tarhuna. In S.G. Willimott, J.I. Clarke, J.I. (eds), Field Studies in Libya. Department of Geography, University of Durham, Research Paper 4: 60–69.
Gosselain, O., and Livingstone Smith, A. 2013. A century of ceramic studies in Africa. In P. Mitchell and P. Lane (eds), The Oxford Handbook of African Archaeology. Oxford University Press, Oxford: 117–30.
IG = Inscriptiones Graecae II et III: Inscriptiones Atticae Euclidis anno posteriors. 1913-40. 2nd edition, parts 1­–3. Edited by Johannes Kirchner. Berlin.
Messina, V. 2014. Nutritional and health benefits of dried beans. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Available at: http://xxxxx (accessed on 3 September 2017).

Figures

Figures should be numbered in consecutive order, and be accompanied by a caption. A single system of numbering is used for both line drawings and photographs. Captions should identify the source of a figure. Figures must be sent as separate digital files, preferably as TIFF or EPS files. Line art figures should be submitted at a minimum resolution of 1000 dpi (TIFF) or 1,200 dpi (EPS). Greyscale figures should be submitted at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (TIFF). Resolution at less than 300 dpi will not be accepted.

The maximum area available for figures and captions is 20.5 cm × 15.2 cm. Where possible, figures should be submitted at the size you wish them to be printed – particularly important when there are scales. It is also helpful to specify preferred page size – e.g. half page, full page. Please also click here to see the latest Cambridge Journals Artwork Guidelines for illustrations, pictures and other artwork (such as multimedia and supplementary files).

Tables

Tables should be numbered separately to figures, in consecutive order, and be accompanied by a caption. Tables must be provided in an editable format. These can be submitted either as separate Microsoft Excel files, MS Word tables or as plain text files using tabs between columns. It is also useful to provide a PDF file to accompany editable tables, to show formatting preferences.

Supplementary Material

We now accept supplementary material, such as long tables, datasets, images. This material will not appear in the main body of the article, but will be published online alongside the article. Therefore it must be additional material that is not vital for an understanding of the main article. All supplementary material must be referred to in the article, stating clearly (in an endnote) that the material is available online. All supplementary material must be submitted with the article for peer review. This material is not typeset, so the author is responsible for its presentation.

It needs to be presented in Word or as a PDF, a single document preferably, with the captions in the document. The main reference to the material in the text must go at the bottom of the document, before the refs but after the acknowledgements.

 SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL The supplementary material for this article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1017/lis.20... [1]

Within the document, refer to the material as "shown in the supplementary material… figures xxx etc.”

The DOI for the supplementary material is the same DOI as the article, this is because the materials are placed on the article landing page in a separate tab. This DOI is also of course not active until the article is published online.

Copyright

Authors retain copyright of their own material and are responsible for obtaining permission to use any illustrations or prose/poetry extracts, and for paying any reproduction or copyright fees. Permission must be sought to reproduce illustrations and text in electronic form. Copyright in the UK extends over the life of the author and seventy years from the end of the year in which the author dies. Extracts of prose longer than 400 words require permission, as does any extract that constitutes at least a quarter of the work. Please contact the publications manager if you are unclear about copyright: (publications@bilnas.org).