A style guide is a set of standards for the writing and formatting of documents. Such guides may be for general use (e.g., Chicago Manual of Style) or for a specific publication (e.g., American Medical Association Style Guide) or for a specific field (e.g., Citing Medicine: The NLM Style Guide for Authors, Editors, and Publishers). Using guides assures uniformity within a document and across multiple documents (e.g., multiple articles in the same journal). Most often students refer to style guides for the accepted format for citing the sources or references used in writing a paper, but they also include other kinds of information such as the particular rules for using commas or quotations or what to include in a photo caption.
Most scholarly journals have requirements about what style authors must use when submitting a manuscript. You should always visit the relevant journal’s website for information on how to format the structure of your article, citation style, length requirements, etc. Some journals have their own unique style, and others require one of the more common existing styles.
Scholarly journals almost always have professional copy editors to ensure articles have the correct style prior to publishing. However, you should always format your paper according to the journal's style as best as you can before submission. This will help ensure your paper is read and fully considered for publication.
Once your work has been accepted by a book or journal publisher, you will be assigned a copy editor whose job it is to improve your manuscript and prepare it for publication. Copy editors have their own language or jargon and their communications with you may include terms and abbreviations with which you are not familiar. Here are some key copy editing terms.