MusAu Style Sheet

Manuscript requirements

  • Please submit your article in Microsoft Word DOCX format (Word 2007 or newer).
  • Please use the following Microsoft Word standard styles: headlines 1 to 3, endnotes, and quotes. Do not manually format text in boldface or resize the font to create a headline. Do not manually indent standard text to label quotes. Use the corresponding style to ensure that the quote is displayed correctly.
  • MusAu is compatible with the Unicode standard. If your text contains special symbols, use the corresponding Unicode character (if possible).
  • Standard text formatting (bold, italic, underline, strikeout, superscript and subscript, alignment), tables, lists (numbered and unnumbered), hyperlinks, and Unicode characters are supported.
  • It is possible to embed media types such as Vimeo video clips, Adobe and Shockwave Flash objects, SoundCloud audio, Wikimedia files, or PDF documents (through Google Viewer).
  • All MusAu papers are published with a cover picture. This usually is an image in your article or a newly uploaded picture. Authors are recommended to find an individual image for their paper. Book reviews normally use a picture of the book cover.

Abstract

All research articles, special issue chapters, and discussion papers have to be supplied with a structured abstract. The abstract describes the purpose, value, approach, and results of the article. It usually has 150–350 words (the maximum is 500 words). On special request, a German translation of the English abstract can be published alongside the main (English) abstract.

References

Please use the Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.), using notes (the “author-date” style is not accepted). A bibliography is not required. We strongly recommend the use of reference management software such as Endnote, Citavi, or Zotero. We also recommend consulting Kate L. Turabian, Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 8th ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2013).

Text formatting

  • Please format your text left-aligned, use American spelling and provided styles (see above, chap. Manuscript requirements).
  • Abbreviations according to CMS: anon., b., ca., cf. [confer], c.f. [cantus firmus], chap., col., d., ed., e.g., et al., fig., fol., i.e., m. (pl. mm.), MS (pl. MSS), n.d., no., op., p. (pl. pp.), pl. (pl. no.), repr., rev., sec., supp., trans. Spell out months. Use standard abbreviations for work catalogues (BVW 1080, Hob. XXI:2, D 960, K. 426, MH 832, WAB 108 etc.).
  • Dashes: Use the en-dash to indicate a continuous range: 1737–1806, pp. 36–47, mm. 1–10. Otherwise, use unspaced em-dashes throughout your text. Please format digits according to the instructions given in the Chicago Manual of Style.
  • Measure numbers: Use the abbreviated forms “m.” and  “mm.” To indicate a specific beat within a measure, use a period to separate the measure number from beat: m. 3.1, m. 5.2–4, mm. 7.4–8.2.
  • Numbers: As a general rule, spell out single numbers from one to one hundred (using a hyphen between two words: “twenty-four”) as well as round numbers (“thousand”) and centuries (“nineteenth century”). Use numerals for years, dates, pages, measures, opus numbers, and for a series of numbers. Write out note and interval values (“quarter note,” “fifth”).
  • Life dates: The editors advise to insert life dates of historic figures in round brackets after mentioning a person for the first time. In which cases the inclusion of life dates is considered beneficial and whether life dates are added at all is left to the author’s discretion.
  • Quotation marks: Use double quotation marks (“...”) generally and single quotation marks (‘...’) for a quotation inside a quotation.
  • Translated quotations: Any quotation from a text other than English has to be translated into English, supplemented by the original wording. 
  • Protected spaces: Use protected (hard) spaces before page, chapter, and measure numbers, work catalogue and archival numbers, and prior to “major,” “minor,” “sharp,” “flat,” and “natural.”
  • Capitalization: Capitalize all key and pitch-class names (e.g., F minor, F sharp), historical eras (e.g., Baroque). Musical genres (in the broadest sense) are capitalized only when used as a title (e.g., Toccata in D minor, Sonata no. 27, Offertorium in F major, Mozart’s Te Deum K. 141).
  • Italicization: Italicize individual titles of all works (including short works) that are not based on a genre name (e.g., Das Veilchen, Die schöne Müllerin, Le nozze di Figaro). Exceptions are made when the title is identical to the incipit (see next point).
  • Incipits should be set in quotation marks (if they are not identical to a genre name), also when the incipit is identical to a song title (e.g., the duet “Là ci darem la mano” from Don Giovanni, “Im wunderschönen Monat Mai” from Dichterliebe).
  • For all other text formatting questions, please refer to the Chicago Manual of Style.

Figures and images

All figures and tables should be legible, numbered consecutively with Arabic numerals, and supplied with a short legend for explanation. The text should refer explicitly to the figures. Please use high resolution graphics, which will be scaled down to an appropriate size. The use of colors is preferred.

Supplementary material

We welcome any supplementary data that is submitted for publication if it adds value to the article. It may even be the key material (such as, for instance, a first-time list a of a composer’s works in XLS format). However, any supplement should not be crucial for understanding the article. Please refer directly to the supplement somewhere in the article and insert a hyperlink to it.
You may submit any adequate and common file format, such as PDF, JPG, DOCX, XLSX, MID, MP3, SIB, MUS, etc. The file format should be as common as possible to enable a majority of readers to open it. If possible, always use the newest format version (e.g., XLSX instead of XLS, etc.). We also ask for scores to be submitted in original SIB/MUS/CAP and PDF and MusicXML formats.
Recommended file formats: PDF (PDF/A), HTML, JPG, TIFF, GIF, SIB, MUS, CAP, MusicXML, MP3, TEI, MEI. We would not recommend (but do accept) WPD, DOC, XLS, PPT, AAC, WMA, OGG, MOV, 3GP, MMAP, and BMP. Macros and compressed files (ZIP, RAR) are not accepted. Executable files (EXE) are not permitted, unless you are the author.
Please note that supplementary material will not be edited. Authors are responsible for ensuring that it will be displayed correctly.

Upon acceptance of the manuscript, all materials reprinted or adapted from other sources must be accompanied by a statement from the corresponding archive/library management, copyright holder, author, and/or publisher granting permission for reproduction in MusAu under CC-BY license!