Editorial terms – IJK
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I
ibid.: (Latin ibidem, in the same place) in citations, this means that the details of the immediately previous citation apply here, too. It’s always worth checking this carefully, in case the citation that ‘ibid.’ refers to has been deleted or swapped in the course of writing or editing.
idiom: a form of expression, grammatical construction or phrase that is used in a distinctive way within a particular language, dialect or language variety, or a group of words that have acquired a particular meaning through usage that is not identifiable from the meanings of the individual words: eg ‘It’s raining cats and dogs’, ‘I’m pulling your leg’, ‘That’s the last straw’.
illustration: any visual element in the text, including figures, tables, diagrams, line images and photographs.
imprint page (verso title page or VTP): the page on the back (or verso) of the title page that contains all of its publication details and history and the legal information such as the copyright line and ISBN. It is sometimes called the ‘copyright page’.
indent: to create space at the start of a line, usually to signify a new paragraph.
initial capitals: see maximum capitalisation
initialism: a set of capital initials each of which is an abbreviation for a word (contrasted with acronym); in British English style, initialisms usually do not have full points (eg USA).
integrated images: images interspersed with the text and placed in the optimum position to allow the text and the images to be read together; contrasted with plates.
ISBN (International Standard Book Number): a unique 13-digit number by which a publication may be identified and ordered. Different formats and versions of the same work (such as audiobooks, ebooks, and substantially revised versions and new editions) need different ISBNs. The ISBN appears on the imprint page in the prelims and above the bar code on the back cover or jacket of a book. Journals have an 8-digit ISSN (International Standard Serial Number) instead.
ISSN (International Standard Serial Number): see ISBN
italic type: characters that slope to the right like this. Used to indicate elements such as titles of works, certain words, including those from other languages whose meaning could be confused if they were left non-italicised, and titles of legal cases. Also used sparingly to indicate emphasis.
J
justified: text adjusted so that all complete lines fill the text area and align at the left and right margins.
K
kerning: the space between two letters and the practice of adjusting it to make text easier and more pleasant to read.
key: in line images, a panel in which graphic elements used in the map, graph or diagram are explained: the key might show small squares of different colours, different styles of line (dotted, dashed, etc) or a set of symbols, each labelled to show what it represents.
keyboard shortcut: a sequence of keyboard strokes that remove the need for you to click your mouse in order to perform an action onscreen, such as ctrl-Z for ‘undo’.
key in: to type in. See also rekey.