This page documents the house style and standards for all posts in The Scholarly Kitchen (TSK), which align with SSP’s editorial guidelines. Authors of TSK posts are made up of regular Chefs and Guest bloggers.

Aims/scope

  • Scholarly communications community of professionals, such as publishers, editors, librarians, technology and service providers, and others engaged in the research lifecycle
  • Align with SSP’s core values of community, inclusivity, adaptability, and integrity
  • Sales pitches/vanity/advertorial posts are not permitted — be sure you’re adding something to the conversation
  • Consider this an opportunity to influence, inform, inspire, or ignite healthy debate among TSK readers
  • Where possible, invite feedback in the comments (and be prepared to respond)

Formatting

  • Length: 500 – 2,000 words (some exceptions allowed, ideal length is around 1,500 words)
  • Use hyperlinks for in-line citations (no footnotes)
  • American-English spelling preferred
  • Subheadings are optional but encouraged for longer posts
  • Preferred abbreviations or punctuation rules
    • No spaces or periods for abbreviations, e.g., US and UK, not  U.S. and U.K.
    • Em dashes have spaces on either side.
    • We use the Oxford comma rule.
    • Write out the term in full the first time, followed by the abbreviation in parentheses, e.g., Society for Scholarly Publishing (SSP).

Use of AI

  • Use of AI tools in the creation of TSK posts is neither required nor prohibited (except for decorative images, see more below).
    • If AI is applied to the text of a post (for data collection, analysis, writing, editing, translation, etc.), this must be disclosed in a short author’s note at the end of the post (for example).
    • AI tools cannot be credited as authors, per COPE guidelines.
  • TSK abides by SSP’s AI policies (see Appendix B).

Featured images and multimedia

  • If original images (graphs, photos, data visualizations, info-graphics, etc.) or media (audio, video, etc.) are created by authors to appear in-line with posts, these must be provided as image files (.jpg or .png) separately (not pasted into the draft post).
  • If authors wish to include previously published images, these must be submitted as image files along with proof of TSK’s rights to republish and a complete image attribution crediting its creator(s) and citing the relevant license.

Featured images

Authors are invited to select stock images to accompany their posts (which appear in email alerts, search or browse results, etc.), but this is not required. Options for featured images include:

  • Stock images from iStock (where SSP has a licensed account) or Unsplash (or other royalty-free resources)
    • Provide the URL for your chosen image along with your draft post
    • Provide your own: 1200 x 628 pixels to 1200 x 675 pixels (16:9 aspect ratio)
  • NOTE: We do not accept AI-generated images unless they are central to the topic/purpose of the post (for example).
  • If providing an image, please ensure TSK has the necessary rights to publish it.

Alt-text for images

  • The Editorial team will apply alt-text for all images; if authors have specific wishes for image alt-text, please supply that information with your draft post.

Multimedia

Accompanying audio and/or video files can be embedded or linked within posts (for example):

  • Audio: Provide an .mp3 or .mp4 file to the editors for adding to your post
  • Video: Provide the URL for a video hosted on YouTube, etc.