# Wellcome Style Guide (2021 version) This is the final version of the old Wellcome Style Guide that was used for corporate and other communication. This guide can be referred to in the absence of anything specific in the Wellcome Collection functional style guide, but anything specific in our style guide overrides this. **Wellcome Style Guide** **29 September 2021** This is based on the previous Wordpress version, with some edits. Further changes are likely, and a few sections have notes indicating that work is needed. This guide focuses on the nitty gritty of language (the contents list will give you an idea) and is probably most useful to inform copyediting. Broader aspects of writing and presentation are covered by Wellcome’s brand guidelines, tone-of-voice guidelines, and inclusive language guidelines. To navigate this guide, you can click on the relevant contents entry or do a text search. Many small, specific points are included in the long A–Z at the end. The guide is managed by Michael Regnier. **Contents** Abbreviations ‘About us’ boilerplate copy Ampersands Apostrophes Brackets and parentheses Citations and references Colons and semicolons Commas Contact details Dashes Dates Ellipses Footnotes Full stops Hyphens Lists Numbers People’s names and titles Quotation marks Slashes Formatting text: title case, italics etc Times UK and international audiences US and UK spellings Units Wellcome Collection Gibbs Building Major Wellcome activities and centres A to Z of style points ### Abbreviations Try not to use lots of abbreviations. They can be convenient and save space, but they can also force the reader to stop and skip back to recall what (for instance) SGC stands for. And lots of them, even if they’re well-known, don’t look great on a page – it can make text look like a technical manual. A shorter version of the full name (such as ‘the Consortium’) may be easier to digest. Always consider whether introducing an abbreviation is strictly necessary; if it is only used once or twice then it may be better to spell the whole thing out each time. However, if the abbreviation is itself well-known or needs to be established, then single use is justified. When introducing an abbreviation, put it in parentheses after the full name: * at the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) Some abbreviations are so well-known that you can use them without definition (this will depend on the audience): * UK * USA * DNA (even if many people couldn’t say what DNA stands for, they know roughly what it is) * AIDS * BBC * WHO (probably fine for a policy or scientific audience, but it may need spelling out otherwise) * PO box * Prof. * Ltd * eg * ie * 1pm * 5 mm * 375 kg Some abbreviations are much better known than their full names, so depending on context and likely audience, it can be appropriate to reverse the normal order of definition: * infected with MRSA (methicillin-resistant *Staphylococcus aureus*) After an abbreviation has been introduced, it should be used consistently. But if there is a large gap between mentions, it may be reasonable to introduce it a second time. For abbreviations consisting of a mixture of upper and lower case, do not use full stops or put spaces between parts: * MSc * PhD * FRCPath * mRNA Plurals of abbreviations do not have apostrophes: * MPs * RNAs **Contractions with apostrophes** It’s fine to use contractions like ‘it’s’, ‘can’t’, and ‘we’ll’. Organisations have been wary of these in the past, for fear that they might seem too colloquial, but perceptions have shifted. Nowadays it’s more likely that lots of ‘cannot’, ‘should not’ etc will seem archaic and formal to readers. We can move away from that without jeopardising our overall tone of professionalism. Avoid using ‘should’ve’, ‘could’ve’, ‘would’ve’ etc – these are harder to read. Be careful with ‘we’d’, ‘you’d’ etc: these can mean ‘would’ or ‘had’. Likewise with ‘he’s’, ‘she’s’ and ‘it’s’: these usually mean ‘is’ but can mean ‘has’. If it could reasonably be read the wrong way, consider rephrasing. **Contractions with full stops or no punctuation** Use a full stop for a contraction if the last letter of the original word has been lost: * co. * Prof. If the last letter is present, don’t use a full stop * Dr * Mr * Ltd Plurals are formed with an ‘s’, with no full stop: * eds * nos The following always take a full stop: no. (number), p. (page), pp. (pages), spp. (species), cf. (compare), f. (folio), ff. (folios). A space always comes between these abbreviations and numbers: * pp. 23–25 * no. 210183 * ff. 45–67 Note that ‘edn’ is the standard contraction of ‘edition’ while ‘ed.’ is for ‘editor’ or edited’. ### ‘About us’ boilerplate copy **Main Wellcome boilerplate** Use this to explain who we are and what we do: Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. We support discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, and we’re taking on three worldwide health challenges: mental health, global heating and infectious diseases. Add this line if helpful: Wellcome is a politically and financially independent global charitable foundation. **Legal text** To appear on print publications, PDFs modelled on print publications, and the footers of e-flyers etc. Second sentence can be cut if space is tight. The Wellcome Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales, no. 210183. Its sole trustee is The Wellcome Trust Limited, a company registered in England and Wales, no. 2711000 (whose registered office is at 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, UK). **Wellcome Collection boilerplate** For use on Wellcome Collection materials: Wellcome Collection is a free museum exploring health and human experience. Our vision is to challenge how we all think and feel about health by connecting science, medicine, life and art. We offer changing exhibitions, museum and library collections, online stories and public events, in addition to a café. Wellcome Collection publishes books on what it means to be human and collaborates widely to reach broad and diverse audiences locally and globally.  Wellcome Collection is part of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation that supports science to solve urgent health challenges. Wellcome supports discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, with a focus on mental health, global heating and infectious diseases. Depending on space and relevance, you can shorten this to just the first paragraph, just the first two sentences, or just the first sentence. ### Ampersands Try to avoid ampersands in body text, except: * in titles (such as brand names) that require them * in certain well-known abbreviations such as R\&D or Q\&A. They can be used as a design element or where space is at an absolute premium, for instance as part of a heading or labelling a figure. ### Apostrophes We normally use curly (‘smart’) apostrophes, but if any online formatting constraints make this difficult, it’s OK to use straight apostrophes (likewise for quotation marks). Use apostrophes to indicate the loss of letters when two words are joined together as a contraction (it’s, isn’t, haven’t, you’re, we’ll). Use apostrophes in possessive constructions (Jack’s, Jill’s). If the word ends in a non-plural ‘s’ use an apostrophe and a second ‘s’: * Burroughs’s early death * Paris’s tallest building Make an exception if a name demands it: St Thomas’ Hospital If the word is plural and ends in ‘s’, just add an apostrophe: * a boys’ school * the researchers’ plans ### Brackets and parentheses Use parentheses (commonly called brackets) to give asides in text. Use square brackets when two sets of parentheses overlap (but rephrase to avoid wherever possible): * The programme (partly funded by the Medical Research Council \[MRC]) is… Use square brackets for adding clarification to a quote: * “We are looking at the issue \[of avian flu] very closely,” she said. ### Citations and references **Giving citations in text** In a document where full references to cited publications are needed, there are two ways you can indicate them: 1\) Using author names and dates in parentheses: …according to the study by Smith (2007).\ Some recent research (Bloggs, 2011, 2012; Jones, 2010a, 2010b) has found… With multiple citations in the same place, order alphabetically by author and then by date, adding letters if there is more than one in the same year. An alphabetical bibliography will follow at the end. 2\) Using footnotes: …according to the study1.\ Some recent research2,3,4 has found… Full citations will follow at the foot of the page, or, if the format prevents this, at the very end. If the list is at the very end, give it a heading such as ‘References’. No heading is needed for sets of footnotes on individual pages. The author-date style can interrupt the flow of the prose and give it the feel of an academic report. If it is that sort of document, then this style is appropriate. Otherwise, footnote style is probably better. But if the document uses footnotes for giving additional information, then it may well be clearer to use author-date style in-text citations. For shorter pieces such as news articles, you may not need to cite specific references at specific points in the text. If not, then list the references at the end. **Formatting references** **General points** Note differences from normal house style: in references, don’t put spaces between author initials and don’t use italics or put quotes around publication titles. Multiple authors: if two, give both separated by a comma; if three or more, give the first followed by ‘et al.’ The end of a page range should use as few digits as possible; don’t repeat any that the start of the range has in common with the end: 123–7, not 123–27 or 123–127\ 509–31, not 509–531 **Journal papers** Vega KJ. Heart transplantation is associated with an increased risk for pancreatobiliary disease. Ann Intern Med 1996;124:980–3.\ Warner JA, Warner JO. Early life events in allergic sensitisation. Br Med Bull 2000;56(4):883–93.\ Popplewell EJ et al. The effect of high-efficiency and standard vacuum cleaners on mite, cat and dog allergen levels and clinical progress. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 2000;11(3):142–8. Use the standard abbreviated journal title (no full stops) if there is one. To find abbreviations for biomedical science journals, search for the full journal name on [PubMed](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/advanced). Volume and issue numbers (11 and 3 respectively in the last example above): if a journal has continuous pagination throughout a volume that spans several issues, the issue number can be omitted. If in doubt, leave it in. If a paper has been published online but not in print, omit the page range (and the volume and issue if also inapplicable). You can also link the title to the paper or abstract. Mohun T et al. [Deciphering the Mechanisms of Developmental Disorders (DMDD): a new programme for phenotyping embryonic lethal mice](http://dmm.biologists.org/content/early/2013/03/18/dmm.011957.abstract). Dis Model Mech 2013;6(2).\ Varela M et al. [Schmallenberg virus pathogenesis, tropism and interaction with the innate immune system of the host](http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003133). PLoS Pathog 2013. **Books** Hill C. Practical Guidelines for Cystic Fibrosis Care. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1998.\ Krentz AJ, Bailey CJ. Type 2 Diabetes in Practice. London: Royal Society of Medicine; 2001.\ Kennedy I, Grubb A. Medical Law. 3rd edn. London: Butterworths; 2000.\ Johnson CD, Taylor I (eds). Recent Advances in Surgery vol. 23. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 2000. **Chapters in books** Watkins AD. Neuropharmacology. In AB Kay (ed.). Allergy and Allergic Diseases. Oxford: Blackwell Science; 1997. pp. 505–17. Note the reversal to initials-then-surname for the editor of the book containing the chapter. **Reports with named authors** Treat as books: Lloyd R et al. Review of Informal Science Learning. London: Wellcome Trust; 2012. **Reports without named authors** Treat the institution that created it as the author. This will often but not always be the same as the publishing institution. Wellcome Trust. A Recommended Code of Governance for Schools: A flexible framework for strategic planning. London: Wellcome Trust; 2012.\ Department of Health. NHS inpatient and outpatient waiting times. London: The Stationery Office; 2009. **News articles by named authors** If only in print, give the page number: Sample I. Human embryonic stem cells created from adult tissue for first time. Guardian 2013 15 May; 3. If available online, link the article title and give date of access: Sample I. [Human embryonic stem cells created from adult tissue for first time.](https://wellcometruststyleguide.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/citations-and-references-2/www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/15/human-embryonic-stem-cells-adult-tissue) Guardian 2013 15 May \[accessed 27 May 2013]. **Articles not by named authors** Treat the publication as the author: BBC News. [Man who helped unlock DNA dies.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3937475.stm) BBC News 2004 29 July \[accessed 6 April 2013].\ Oxford Today. 60 seconds with Sir John Gurdon. Oxford Today 2013;25(2):12. ### Colons and semicolons Colons and semicolons can be used in certain types of list, and to separate statements that are part of the same sentence. Use a colon when the second statement is an explanation, example or illustration of the first. Use a semicolon to link two related statements when one isn’t subordinate to the other. Very often, you could replace a semicolon with a full stop and it would still work, although probably less smoothly. * We have some concerns: the exhibition would take a lot of time to organise and its overall theme seems unclear. * We have some concerns; the next project meeting will discuss what can be done. * Visitor numbers have increased: between 2008 and 2009, there was a rise of 24 per cent. * Visitor numbers have increased; our new advertising campaign has worked well. Colons may also introduce a quote: * He said: “This is likely to benefit everyone.” Do not use a hyphen or dash after a colon. ### Commas Far too many uses to go into in depth. This entry makes a few key points about some of those uses. Do not use the ‘Oxford’ or ‘serial’ comma (before the final ‘and’ in a list) unless it is needed to avoid ambiguity. For strings of adjectives, do not include commas unless they apply independently to the noun. Compare: * new, flexible funds (as distinct from the old funds, which perhaps weren’t flexible) * new flexible funds (as distinct from the old flexible funds). With names and job titles/descriptions, use a comma when there is only one person with that description (or at least only one who could be under discussion here): * The famous scientist Albert Einstein lived here (as there are many famous scientists; here ‘Albert Einstein’ is the subject and ‘the famous scientist’ modifies it) * The father of relativity theory, Albert Einstein, lived here (as there is just the one; here ‘The father of relativity theory’ is the subject and ‘Albert Einstein’ is an informative aside). Using a comma between two independent clauses is often frowned on (the ‘comma splice’), but in informal contexts it can work where a semicolon might seem stuffy and a full stop would give a staccato feel (a dash might also do the job): * Drop in anytime, no need to book. * Drop in anytime; no need to book. * Drop in anytime. No need to book. * Drop in anytime – no need to book. ### Contact details **Addresses** Use full postal addresses, unless space is tight and the audience is very local (like in a Tube ad for Wellcome Collection might say ‘Euston Road, NW1’). Include ‘UK’, unless the audience is definitely UK-only. Whenever possible, spell out all the parts of an address, such as ‘Department’ or ‘Road’. Acceptable abbreviations (for use only if space is very tight): * Rd, St, La., Ave, Terr., Cres., Blvd, Dept, Rm * short versions of county names, such as Herts, Oxon, N Yorks Don’t put a comma between town and postcode or between building number and street, but do put one between postcode and UK. If displaying the address across several lines, don’t put commas at the ends of the lines. Wellcome’s full displayed address is: Wellcome\ Gibbs Building\ 215 Euston Road\ London NW1 2BE, UK\ **T** +44 (0)20 7611 8888\ **F** +44 (0)20 7611 8545\ **E** \ **wellcome.org** You may not need to give the fax number. **Telephone numbers** Always include the area code in phone numbers. Include the country code – +44 for the UK – as well as the area code (with its 0 in parentheses), unless the publication is only for a UK audience. Don’t hyphenate any part of the number, but include a space after the area code and in the main part of the number if a natural break is standard: * STD code for London is 020 – not 0207 or 0208 – then break numbers four/four: +44 (0)20 7611 8888 * For seven-digit numbers, break three/four: +44 (0)131 123 4567 * Don’t break six-digit numbers: +44 (0)1223 123456 To introduce a number when giving displayed contact details, use ‘**T**’ plus one space; spell out ‘telephone’ when used in body text: * **T** +44 (0)20 7611 8888 * **T** 020 7611 8888 * Please telephone +44 (0)20 7611 8888 for more details. Use ‘ext.’ to give an extension, spaced with no comma, no brackets but a full stop: * **T** +44 (0)20 7654 3210 ext. 999 Mobile and fax numbers follow the same style, but to introduce a number use ‘**M**’ or ‘**F**’. Try to avoid splitting either telephone or fax numbers over lines. **Email** Use ‘**E**’ plus one space when displayed (‘email’ in body text – no hyphen) Do not underline email addresses in print. On the web, spell out email addresses as well as linking them. If email address needs to be broken to fit across lines, try to break after the @; failing that, break after a full stop or underscore. Avoid breaking after a hyphen, as that can look like it might be an automatically generated line break hyphen rather than part of the address. **URLs** Online, you can usually just link text. But sometimes, and in print, URLs need to be given. Do not introduce a displayed URL with ‘**W**’ or ‘Web’ etc. Leave out the bits at the start, like ‘http\://’ and ‘www’. Do not underline URLs in print. For emphasis, they may be put in bold or coloured (depending on the design style for the publication) – if so, and if part of body text, be careful to put any following punctuation in normal body text style. * **wellcome.org** * **wellcomecollection.org/whats-on** * Details can be found at **wellcome.org**, or by calling… If a URL needs to be broken to fit across lines, try to break after a slash; failing that, break after a full stop or underscore. If possible, avoid breaking after a hyphen, as that can look like it might be an automatically generated line-break hyphen rather than part of the URL. ### Dashes We use en dashes (–) rather than the longer em dashes (—). If any online formatting constraints make dashes difficult to use, it’s OK to use hyphens instead. **Breaking up a sentence** When separating parts of a sentence, often to give an aside, use spaced dashes: * Twin studies can tell us about genetic influences – without knowing about individual genes. * This work – which has been over a decade in the making – will transform our understanding of diabetes. **Indicating ranges** Use an unspaced dash to give a range: * 09.30–17.00 * 9–12 June 2009 * Norbert Smith (1927–1993) * 20–30 children * 4–6 kg It’s usually best to spell out ‘to’ if the range is defined by words, although days and months can still work this way: * three to four members * Open Tuesday–Sunday * 30 October to 7 December 2012 * October–December 2012 **Joining words of equal weight** Use an unspaced dash to join words of equal weight, such as noun pairs identifying a connection or other relationship. * antibody–antigen complex * oil–water interface * Oxford–Cambridge rivalry * Prader–Willi syndrome * British–French partnership * Wellcome–Royal Society funding scheme **Tildes/swung dashes** Can be used to mean ‘approximately’, although usually it will be better to use a word. But when space is tight, such as when labelling a diagram, a swung dash can be used (no space between it and the value): * \~£600m * \~1,000 grants ### Dates **Formatting** Use the form date then month then year, no punctuation, no ‘st’, ‘nd’, ‘rd’ or ‘th’. If the day is needed (when advertising an event, it’s handy to know), put it at the beginning, again with no punctuation: * 4 April 2013 * Thursday 4 April 2013 When giving a time along with a date, put the date first as above, then a comma, then the time as below * Thursday 4 April 2013, 14.00–15.30 For short version of dates, use xx/yy/zz format (04/05/09) unless there’s scope for doubt about which century, in which case use xx/yy/zzzz. But the full version is preferred. **Abbreviating days and months** When needed, use three-letter abbreviations for days and months (no full stops) – but spell them out in full wherever space permits: * Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun * Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec **Abbreviating years** Do not use the last two digits of a year on their own – always use the full year. If necessary (in a quote), put an apostrophe first: * “I started here back in ’95.” **Year ranges** For year ranges, you can usually shorten the end date to two digits (if in the same century): * 1992–97, 1997–2001 Exception: for lifespans, always include both years in full. **Births and deaths** For birth dates or death dates, use b. and d. respectively with spaces: * b. 1743, d. 1915 **Non-calendar years** Use a slash (2008/09) to identify a non-calendar year (such as a financial year or an academic year) that began at some point in 2008 and finished at some point in 2009. Use a dash (2008–09) for any period of time beginning in 2008 and ending in 2009. **Seasons** Lower case: spring, summer, autumn, winter. **Eras** Generally use CE (Common Era) and BCE (Before Common Era) in preference to AD/BC. Only use these if needed for clarity. **Decades** Identify decades in full: 1960s, not Sixties or ’60s. If the century needs to be dropped (such as in a quote), spell it out with an initial cap: Sixties. For decades of a person’s life, use 30s and 40s rather than thirties and forties. **Centuries** Spell out first to tenth centuries (lower-case); use numerals for 11th and beyond (no superscript for ‘th’ etc). Specify BCE/CE only if needed for clarity. ### Ellipses Ellipses are used to indicate skipped text (from a quote, for example). * “The present state of the NHS… is appalling.” * “This is a remarkable finding… We can now halve the time taken for treatment.” They can also be used to tail off and imply that’s there’s more for the reader to find out, but be careful that the context is informal enough for this to work. Wellcome Collection event flyers are often good for it: * You might just decide being wrong is more fun than being right… ### Footnotes Footnotes are best used when the information they contain is important but would ruin the flow of the text if added in parentheses, and when the context is reasonably formal (such as a report). Otherwise, try to avoid using them. In body text, use numbered footnotes: Smith’s latest study1, on public attitudes to science, differs sharply from earlier work by Jones2 and Brown3,4. In tables or figures, use: \*, †, ‡, §, ¶ in that order. If more are needed (try to avoid having this many), double up: \*\*, †† etc. ### Full stops Use full stops at the ends of sentences, with some exceptions: * When the sentence is a heading or subhead, a full stop can look out of place. * When the sentence is a paragraph on its own displayed for instance as part of an advert, there’s often no need for a full stop. * If the sentence ends with a URL or email address, some readers might think the final full stop is part of this. Try to avoid this if you can (perhaps by putting the URL/email earlier in the sentence). If the very end of the piece is a call to visit a website, it may be reasonable to leave off the final full stop entirely; this works better in ads and flyers than in longer pieces of prose. Also use full stops in some types of contraction (such as no., Prof.). Don’t use full stops after initials: * USA * J R Hartley ### Hyphens **Adjectival phrases** Hyphenate before the noun, otherwise don’t: * the up-to-date version * this version is up to date * Likewise: across-the-board, tit-for-tat, matter-of-fact **Adjective plus noun** Hyphenate as a compound modifier (whether before noun or not) but not if used as a noun phrase: * a long-term solution * this solution is long-term * we are looking to the long term * Likewise: low-level, high-affinity, whole-brain, full-scale **Adjective plus participle** Hyphenate whether before noun or not: * a long-running study * the study was long-running * Likewise: closed-minded, part-funded, slow-talking **Adverb ending in ‘-ly’ plus participle or adjective** No hyphen: * widely known, poorly written, surprisingly fast **Adverb not ending in ‘-ly’ plus participle or adjective** Hyphenate whether before noun or not: * well-developed, often-quoted, ill-mannered, half-empty, ever-reliable **Compass points** Hyphenate: * north-west, north-west-facing windows **Double-barrelled names** Hyphenate: * Eliza Manningham-Buller **Fractions** Hyphenate: * three-quarters, one-and-two-thirds **Noun plus adjective** Hyphenate whether before noun or not: * a tumour-like growth * the growth is tumour-like * Likewise: iron-deficient, light-sensitive, country-specific, user-friendly, drug-resistant, cost-free, accident-prone **Noun plus participle** Hyphenate whether before noun or not: * a hospital-acquired infection * the infection was hospital-acquired * Likewise: London-based, protein-binding, continent-spanning **Number plus noun (with/without unit abbreviations)** Hyphenate: * a 16-page leaflet, a two-week holiday, a 19th-century botanist, a 100-metre sprint * Note ages: six-year-old children, six-year-olds, but six years old **Ordinal plus superlative** Hyphenate before the noun, otherwise don’t: * the second-best option * that option was the second best * the third-tallest building * this building is the third tallest in the world **Participle plus noun** Hyphenate as a compound modifier (whether before noun or not) but not if used as a noun phrase: * cutting-edge research * this research is cutting-edge * this research is at the cutting edge * Likewise: blown-glass, wrought-iron **Participle of phrasal verb** Hyphenate as a compound modifier before the noun, otherwise don’t: * a written-off investment * the investment is written off * we have written off the investment * Likewise: washed-up, bolted-on, cleared-out **Noun phrase** Variable – see A–Z for individual examples (short cut, test-tube, website, web page, engine-room, guinea-pig, healthcare…). **Noun plus noun (as compound modifier)** No hard and fast rule here, but we try not to have too many hyphens. Hyphenate only when needed for avoiding ambiguity (the risk of which may vary with context). It’s not necessary for all our publications to be consistent on this, but an individual one should be internally consistent). See A–Z for individual examples. **Prefixes** No hard and fast rule here, but a few general guidelines. Hyphenate after a prefix: * when needed to clarify the pronunciation, or avoid ambiguity or awkward letter combinations (often a judgement call) * when a construction is new or uncommon * when a construction involves a proper noun or associated adjective. Otherwise usually join up. See A–Z for individual examples. ### Lists Lists can be given as part of a sentence in the main body text or displayed with bullet points or numbers. Choose based on how well or badly the single-sentence list would work, and whether a set of bullets would break the flow of the prose or add to the visual impact of the list. **Lists in body text** If a list can flow on naturally from the preceding part of the sentence, it does not need to be introduced by a colon; if not, it should: It is found in blood, urine and lymph. It is found in three bodily fluids: blood, urine and lymph. It is vital to clearly distinguish list items from one another. Commas are the simplest tool, as above. We don’t use the ‘Oxford comma’ (between the penultimate item and the ‘and’) except when it adds clarity, most obviously when any individual item contains an ‘and’: We offer fish and chips, egg and chips, sausage and chips, and sausage and egg. If any item contains a comma, it becomes hard to separate items clearly using other commas. Using semicolons can help here (this can also apply if any item is reasonably long or grammatically complex). Lists in which items are separated by semicolons should be introduced by colons. Our funding streams are: Molecules, Genes and Cells; Physiological Sciences; Immunology and Infectious Disease; Neuroscience and Mental Health; and Populations and Public Health. The aims are: to save money; to simplify the process; to allow applicants a greater range of opportunities to receive feedback; and to promote a sharper focus on the main priority areas that we have recently identified. Individual list items should not contain colons or dashes, to prevent the punctuation from getting too complex. If an item really does need that extra clarification, use parentheses: We offer fellowships in the areas of basic research (for science and veterinary graduates), clinical research (for medical, dental and veterinary graduates) and tropical medicine. **Displayed lists** Use numbered lists if the sequence of items is important or if the items need to be referred back to by number. The molecular genetic approach to inherited deafness often involves four distinctive steps: 1. the genetic defect can be localised to a specific chromosome region by linkage analysis 2. subtle alterations of the DNA in the candidate region can be detected, allowing physical localisation of the deafness gene 3. genes can then be cloned from the area of interest 4. the deafness gene can be identified through demonstration of alterations in this gene in people with deafness. Use bullet points when the sequence of entries is not important. If the list begins with a heading rather than following on from body text, begin each item with a capital letter and end each with a full stop: **Direct research costs covered by the award** * Research expenses, including research assistance, animals, equipment, fieldwork costs and funding for collaborative activity. * Travel and subsistence for scientifically justified visits. * Overseas allowances where appropriate. If the list follows on from body text and is introduced with a colon, have lower case at the starts and no punctuation at the ends of lines except for a full stop at the very end – *unless* individual items contain more than one full sentence, in which case all items should begin with capitals and end with full stops: The award covers the direct costs of carrying out the research, such as: * research expenses, including research assistance, animals, equipment, fieldwork costs and funding for collaborative activity * travel and subsistence for scientifically justified visits * overseas allowances where appropriate. The award covers the direct costs of carrying out the research, such as: * Research expenses, including research assistance, animals, equipment, fieldwork costs and funding for collaborative activity. * Travel and subsistence for scientifically justified visits. Please contact us well in advance of a proposed visit to discuss whether it qualifies. * Overseas allowances where appropriate. You can use sub-bullet points if that extra level of detail is needed, but avoid having a third level. ### Numbers **Words or numerals?** Normally, spell out numbers of ten and below as words, and use Arabic numerals (0, 1, 2, 3…) for 11 and above. Some exceptions: **Units**\ Using numerals with units can give an air of precision and formality, so when you want either, use numerals even with numbers up to ten. But if the tone is more casual or it’s an approximation, stick with words for up to ten: * The test takes less than five minutes to administer * Running time 5 minutes Always use numerals with unit abbreviations and percentages. **Numbered parts and categories**\ For levels, chapters, types, etc, where the number follows, use numerals even with numbers up to ten. Likewise with school Years and Key Stages (note the caps). * level 6, chapter 4, type 2 diabetes * pupils in Year 7, Key Stage 3 **Ranges**\ Try to avoid mixing two formats: if the bottom of a range is normally written as a word (up to ten) and the top as numerals (11 and up), it will usually look better to have both in the same format. Which format will depend on context and is largely a judgement call. * groups of eight to twelve children * treatment usually takes 10–20 sessions **Starts of sentences**\ Try to avoid beginning sentences with numerals. Either rephrase so that the sentence begins with something else or spell out the number. * A total of 23 people attended. * Thirteen people were infected. **Roman numerals**\ Use Roman numerals for clinical trial phases, MHC classes, blood factors and grades of listed building. **Large numbers**\ When you get into millions and billions, unless you need to be exact, spell out million and billion. You can use decimal points for a bit more precision, if needed: * 7.2 billion * 3.27 million Abbreviate million, billion and trillion on subsequent mentions to m, bn and tr, with no space between them and the numerals: * We are providing £15 million, of which £12m has already been allocated. Use commas in numbers of 1,000 and greater: * 4,500 * 32,007 * 4,565,324 The exception is for years, which should be plain four-digit numbers. This helps clarity when years and other numbers might get mixed up: * In 2011, 2,300 British people died from mesothelioma and 2,000 from other related lung cancers. **Decimals and fractions** Use a full stop to indicate a decimal point. Always include the zero before the point in numbers less than one. * 3.6 * 0.23 Remember that the number of digits after a decimal point is significant (0.12 is not necessarily the same as 0.1200). Numbers may be rounded up or down as appropriate, reducing the number of digits after the point. Never use more digits than are meaningful or known to be accurate. Fractions should in general be written out and hyphenated. * two-thirds * one-and-four-fifths **Percentages** In most contexts, use numerals followed by a space and ‘per cent’ (not ‘percent’) In heavier statistical work, use numerals with % sign (no space). Likewise for labels or headings, and in retail contexts (like discounts in the Wellcome Collection bookshop). * a 4 per cent increase * 15% off Note a potential cause of confusion: if, say, a disease’s prevalence rises from 6 per cent to 9 per cent of the population, that is an increase of 50 per cent (as it has gone up by half) or an increase of 3 percentage points (the arithmetic difference between 6 and 9). ### People’s names and titles **Names** When using initials in a name, do not use full stops and insert a space between initials (except in a reference listing, where there won’t be spaces). Don’t include first names of peers, but do include their territorial designations only when relevant or to avoid ambiguity. * H G Wells * Sir Henry Wellcome * Professor Sir David Weatherall * Lord Mandelson * Lord Archer of Weston-super-Mare vs Lord Archer of Sandwell **Titles** Academic or honorary titles are normally worth using on first mention: Dr, Professor (Prof. is acceptable), Professor Sir Standard titles (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms) used with the full name on first mention can seem a bit stiltedly formal, but in a list of people where most of the others have a Dr or Professor, it can be reasonable to include these too. On subsequent mentions, style can vary. In a news article, it’s probably best to go from ‘Dr John Smith’ to ‘Dr Smith’, to keep a more neutral tone. In a feature, ‘Smith’ or ‘John’ may be more natural, depending on how formal the piece is. If the person in question needs to be treated a little more gently – a child or a person who has become noteworthy for something that’s happened to them (like an illness) rather than their work – ‘John’ may be better. Jr, Sr: use after names, with a comma – Joe Bloggs, Jr II, III etc: use after names, without a comma – Joe Bloggs III Do not use ‘the Hon.’, ‘the Rt Hon.’, ‘the Noble’, ‘the Learned’ etc (for MPs, ministers, peers etc). **Postnominal letters** Postnominal letters (such as OBE, QC, FRS, MP) indicate an honour, qualification, position or membership. Use them only if the information adds something (MP is generally important; FRS may be useful if wanting to stress how senior and accomplished a scientist is), or if the text is biographical. If an individual has more than one set of letters, separate them with a comma. Do not put a comma between surname and first qualification. Postnominal letters are arranged into groups in this order: 1. Orders and decorations conferred by the Queen (VC, KG, CMG, MBE, QPM, etc) 2. Appointments to the Queen (PC, ADC, QHP, QHS, etc) 3. Queen’s Counsel (QC), Justice of the Peace (JP) and Deputy Lieutenant (DL) 4. University degrees 5. (a) Religious orders; (b) Medical qualifications 6. (a) Fellowships of learned societies (FRS); (b) Royal Academicians; (c) Fellowships, Memberships, etc of professional institutions and associations 7. Member of Parliament 8. Membership of one of the Armed Forces If someone has a lot of letters, consider whether they are really all necessary to list. ### Quotation marks We normally use curly (‘smart’) quotes, but if any online formatting constraints make this difficult, it’s OK to use straight quotes (likewise for apostrophes). Use double quotation marks when directly quoting speech or writing. Use single quotes otherwise: * some titles (such as events and poems) * buzz phrases or terms that you want to hold at a bit of a distance without completely endorsing (such as: people hoped for a ‘magic bullet’ against MRSA) – but do this sparingly * quotes within quotes * drawing attention to a new and unfamiliar term (such as: by applying the ‘Hogden test’, named in honour of its inventor). **Positioning other punctuation relative to quotation marks** Put a final full stop inside the quotation marks only if the quote includes a complete sentence that stops at the end of it: * She found the results of the experiment “a complete surprise”. * She said, “The results came as a complete surprise.” Put a final comma inside the quotation marks only if it’s serving as a placeholder for a full stop at the end of a complete sentence when an attribution follows the quote: * She found the results of the experiment “a complete surprise”, and ran the tests again. * “The results came as a complete surprise,” she said. ### Slashes The slash has four main uses: * to indicate alternatives (we will refund train/bus fares), although it will often be better to use ‘or’ * to separate numerators and denominators in fractions – although we normally prefer to spell them out (four-fifths rather than 4/5) * to separate abbreviated form of dates, months and years * to identify a non-calendar year: 2008/09 (NB use this for the financial year or academic year that began in 2008 and finished in 2009, but use 2008–09 for any other period of time beginning in 2008 and ending in 2009 * in a few particular abbreviations such as n/a and w/c. Use a dash, not a slash, to indicate an alliance or combination (unless in an official name that uses a slash): * Avoid: This Wellcome/MRC joint scheme * Use: This Wellcome–MRC joint scheme ### Formatting text: title case, italics etc **Title case** **What Does and Doesn’t Get an Initial Capital in Title Case?** Some smaller words usually don’t get initial capitals in title case: articles (the, a, an), shorter prepositions (in, of, to, for), shorter conjunctions (and, or, so), forms of ‘be’. But, as a rule of thumb, any of these words with five letters or more should probably be capped (Until, After, Against). Four letters is borderline: make a judgement call based on the context (if you’re capping ‘Without’, it will look odd to lowercase ‘with’ in the same title). The criterion is insignificance rather than shortness as such. Because of this, if any of these smaller words have a particular significance or emphasis in the context, then it can be reasonable to cap them too (‘but’ can often carry a lot of weight). Be consistent within a publication; consistency between different publications, at least on this point, is less important. Don’t use initial capitals after hyphenated prefixes, but do for compounds of whole words: * Research Career Re-entry Fellowships, How to Pre-empt Negative Publicity * Early-Career Awards, South-East Asia When the title of something is followed by a colon and then a subtitle, switch down to sentence case for the subtitle: * *The Big Questions in Science: The quest to solve the great unknowns* **Titles and headings** Use title case for the title of most publications, but sentence case for chapter or section headings. **Names** Use title case for names, such as those of people, countries, cities, religions. Also adjectives and verbs derived from names (except where the association with the eponymous individual is conventionally ignored, like ‘pasteurise’). Geographical terms only take title case if they are part of an accepted official region or political division. Lower case should be used for more general geographical descriptions (note that ‘the West’ is a cultural concept while ‘the west’ is simply geographical): * South Africa, southern Africa, north London, South-East Asia, East of England, south of France **Institutions/bodies** Organisations and their subdivisions almost always have title case (assuming that they do have an official title). The ‘the’ usually does not count as part of the title and should not be capitalised unless at the start of a sentence. There are a few exceptions, where the capital T is compulsory: * The Wellcome Trust Limited (the company that is legally the Wellcome Trust’s trustee; ‘the Wellcome Trust’ itself has a lower-case ‘the’, although usually we just say ‘Wellcome’) * The Hub (at Wellcome Collection) **Job titles** Use title case for specific job titles, but not when the phrase is more a description than a title. * Dr Smith is Head of Population Genetics * Dr Smith is a population geneticist * Dr Smith worked with fellow department heads **Grants, schemes, programmes, activities etc** Use title case for funding schemes and other named activities when referred to specifically in full. If abbreviating to the core noun on subsequent mentions, use sentence case. When referring to schemes collectively or generically, use sentence case. * We offer Senior Research Fellowships. These fellowships are highly prestigious… * We offer a number of fellowship schemes… **Brand names** Many brands refer to themselves without initial capitals – some just in their logo, others in body text too. Give them title case unless it looks strange to do so. One class of such exceptions is when a lower-case ‘i’ or ‘e’ precedes a capital: eBay, eSure, iPod, iTunes. **All capitals** Sometimes we use all caps for visual effect, but this is normally a matter for the Design team. **Italics** **Foreign words and phrases** Foreign words are often set in italics, but if their use in English has become sufficiently common that they may be thought of as assimilated, they are usually set in roman. Some of the likelier foreign words and phrases are listed in the A–Z. NB try not to drop in too many Latin or other foreign words or phrases. They risk coming across as obscure or pretentious. If there’s a natural-sounding English phrase that does the job, prefer that. **Emphasis** Italics can be used (sparingly) to emphasise part of a sentence. But it’s preferable to avoid this if possible. Does this point need the emphasis? Can the sentence be rephrased to make clear where the emphasis lies? Online, if you need emphasis, use bold and not italics. * It was what the research *didn’t* find that was most interesting. **Image credits** In print publications, we usually put image credits (although not the captions describing the images) in italics. * Red blood cells. *Annie Cavanagh/Wellcome Images* Online, use roman. **Bold** Apart from use in headings and sub-headings, bold can be used in body text to highlight key words or phrases, but this effect works better in more practical, information-giving contexts than in general narrative. It goes particularly well with bullet-points: The award covers the direct costs of carrying out the research, such as: * **research expenses** – this may include research assistance, equipment and fieldwork costs * **travel and subsistence** for scientifically justified visits * **overseas allowances** where appropriate. But in more narrative prose, it can be distracting to have bits of bold littering a paragraph. When spelling out a URL that isn’t hyperlinked (normally in print), use bold rather than underlining. **Underlined text** Avoid. **Styling titles of publications, activities etc**\ (NB this section might benefit from simplification – perhaps making all titles just title case with no quotes and italics, or perhaps having a select few that use italics) Note that the guidance below is for titles when used in body text. If titles are given in a heading or a displayed list so that it’s clear what they are, omit any italics and quotes. Also omit italics and quotes in full academic-style reference listings. Note also that when a title has a subtitle (following a colon), the subtitle takes sentence case. **Albums**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case * *A Hard Day’s Night* * ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ **Articles** in journals/magazines/newspapers\ print and online: roman, single quotes, first initial capitalised * ‘Chromosome engineering in mice’ **Artworks**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case * *Madonna of the Rocks* * ‘Madonna of the Rocks’ **Books**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case * *On the Origin of Species* * ‘On the Origin of Species’ **Chapters**\ print and online: roman, single quotes, first word initial capitalised * ‘Darwin in the drawing-room’ **Courses**\ print and online: roman, title case * Human Genome Analysis * BSc in Molecular Biology **Events** (including conferences/seminars/talks)\ print and online: roman, title case, single quotes – although the quotes can be dropped if the title makes it clear that it’s a meeting/conference/etc * ‘Gene Therapy’ * Third International Meeting of the Canadian Rheumatoid Society **Exhibitions**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case * *Medicine Man* * ‘Medicine Man’ **Films**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case\ (if small and part of an exhibition, treat as an artwork) * *Gone with the Wind* * ‘Gone with the Wind’ **Games**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case * *Monopoly* * ‘Monopoly’ **Grant types**\ print and online: roman, title case * Senior Research Fellowships **Journals** (don’t treat any initial ‘the’ as part of the title)\ print: italics, title case\ online: title case * the *British Medical Journal* * the British Medical Journal **Leaflets** and other small published works\ print and online: roman, single quotes, title case * ‘Exploring the mind and body in motion’ **Magazines** (don’t treat any initial ‘the’ as part of the title)\ print: italics, title case\ online: title case * the *Economist* * the Economist **Newspapers** (don’t treat any initial ‘the’ as part of the title)\ print: italics, title case\ online: title case * the *Guardian* * the Guardian **Plays**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case * *The Importance of Being Earnest* * ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’ **Poems**\ print and online: single quotes, title case\ (but treat book-length poems as books) * ‘Ode to a Skylark’ **Projects**\ print and online: roman, title case * the Human Genome Project **Reports**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case * *Costs and Business Models in Scientific Research Publishing* * ‘Costs and Business Models in Scientific Research Publishing’ **Ships**\ print: italics, title case\ online: title case * *SS Titanic* * SS Titanic **Songs**\ print and online: single quotes, title case * ‘Under the Moon of Love’ **Theses/dissertations/conference papers/essays**\ print and online: roman, single quotes, title case * ‘Optical Control of Circuits and Behaviour’ **TV/radio programmes**\ print: italics, title case\ online: single quotes, title case * *Panorama* * Panorama **TV/radio stations**: roman, title case * Channel 4 **Websites** (or named sections of websites): roman, title case * BBC News * the Huffington Post **Scientific terms** There are many conventions. Genus names should have initial capitals and italics except where they are being used as common names; the species names that follow take lower case and italics (although if a species name is used adjectivally on its own, it is in roman). In higher-order classification systems (phyla etc), titles are capitalised; when used adjectivally or colloquially they revert to lower case. * *Xenopus*, *Drosophila melanogaster*, *Homo sapiens*, *C. elegans*, actinomycetes, petunia, Diptera, dipteran, falciparum malaria Virus species names are generally used on their own (without genus): no italics or title case * vaccinia virus Gene names are italicised; protein names are not. Be very careful about which is under discussion, as a gene and the protein it codes for may well have the same name. Anatomical names or disease names don’t get italics, even if they have a Latin origin. Title case is usually only used when they’re named after someone or somewhere. ### Times Use the 24-hour clock. The hour/minute separator should be a full stop. Include a 0 at the start for times before 10.00: * 09.00, 17.30 Avoid am and pm, but if necessary (like in a quote), use lower case, no full stops and no space before: * 9am, 5.30pm NB 12 noon and 12 midnight are neither am nor pm. When giving a date along with a time, put the date first as above, then a comma, then the time: * Thursday 4 April 2013, 14.00–15.30 ### UK and international audiences A lot of what Wellcome publishes, including of course everything that goes online, is available to readers outside the UK (even if it may not be specifically targeted at them). In such cases: * Avoid phrases such as ‘in this country’ to mean ‘in the UK’. * Don’t assume readers will have knowledge of UK geography, customs, institutions. * Unless the context makes it obvious, write ‘the UK government’ rather than ‘the government’ etc. * Be careful with seasons: in the southern hemisphere, spring is autumn and summer is winter. ‘Foreign’ can sound derogatory – avoid wherever possible. Prefer ‘international(ly)’ to ‘overseas’ or ‘abroad’ where reasonable. If in doubt, assume an international readership. But we still (almost) always use UK spellings. ### US and UK spellings We use UK rather than US spellings, with a few exceptions: * Sulfur, fetus and fetal are regarded as more correct in UK scientific circles. * For direct quotes from a US publication the spelling should remain American. * For US addresses, publication titles, institution names etc, the spelling should remain American. **-ise/-ize endings**\ -ize endings are more common in the USA than in the UK (and -ise less so), but this isn’t a strict national divide as such. We use -ise (and -isation etc), with exceptions as above for quotes and names. Likewise use -yse, not -yze endings. NB the World Health Organization has a z. ### Units **With numbers** Our standard guidance on numbers is to spell out in words up to ten and then use numerals for 11 and up. When using units, this can vary. Using numerals with units can give an air of technical precision and formality, so when you want either, use numerals even with numbers up to ten. But if the tone is more casual or it’s an approximation, stick with words for up to ten. * The test takes less than five minutes to administer * Running time 5 minutes **Unit abbreviations** Bear in mind that some unit abbreviations can further convey formality and precision. Use them if appropriate. When using unit abbreviations, always use numerals with a space (exceptions: no space for sums of money, ºC and angles): * 4 kg, 5 mm, 25ºC, 180º, £5,000, 99p If an abbreviation is well-known (such as mm, cm, m, km, mg, g, kg), it’s safe to use it without definition. Consider the likely audience. Try to avoid abbreviating hours, minutes and seconds, but where needed: in a scientific context, use h, min and s; for a general readership, use hrs, mins and secs. Units that are named after people are normally written in full in lower case but have upper-case abbreviations: * joules, J; watts, W **Metric and imperial** Normally avoid imperial units (such as feet, inches, pints, ounces, pounds, acres) unless in quotations. Some imperial units can be used when talking informally, vaguely or metaphorically (‘a few miles from Godalming’, ‘tons of work’), or when the audience is UK-based (where giving a person’s height or weight is more conventionally done in imperial), or when the context makes imperial the obvious choice (‘a pint of milk/beer’). Otherwise use metric or other SI units, but be careful with the level of accuracy if converting. **Currency** Use pound sign and numerals in most contexts: * £5,000, £19.99 If it’s a whole number of pounds, there’s no need to add ‘.00’ unless for consistency with the rest of a set of values that do have pence. Usually use p for pence (no space before) in values under £1: * 99p Never use the pound sign and p together (£2.50p). Follow this style for other currencies, using accepted symbols or abbreviations: * $5,000, ¥5,000, €5,000, SFr5,000 Spell out less-well-known currencies if necessary for clarity (will depend on the audience): * 3 million pesos Distinguish dollars from different countries with prefixes if needed for clarity: * US$, Can$, Aus$, NZ$, HKG$ Pounds are also used in Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, South Sudan and Syria. So for material particularly aimed at audiences in and around these countries, it may be better to use GBP instead of £: * GBP4.5 million If a sum is in another currency, it will often be appropriate to add an approximate parenthetic conversion to pounds. Use an online currency converter and don’t give lots of decimal places: * The project is also supported by $2.5 million (£1.6m) from the Gates Foundation For an international audience, it may be more appropriate to give a conversion into US dollars, even if the initial sum is UK pounds : * The UK government committed £1 billion ($1.3bn) to the WHO’s vaccination fund ### Wellcome Collection (NB this section needs updating) Wellcome’s public venue at 183 Euston Road, London. Not ‘the Wellcome Collection’ (except in a phrase like ‘the Wellcome Collection events programme’). Don’t shorten it to ‘Collection’. Occupies the Wellcome Building, although we rarely call it that. Levels (not floors): * levels –2, –1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (lower-case l) Permanent galleries: * *Medicine Man* * *Medicine Now* Also contains: * Gallery 1 * Gallery 2 * Wellcome Café * Wellcome Kitchen * Wellcome Shop * the Information Point (reception on level 0) * the Forum * the Studio * The Hub (note cap T) * Event Spaces (see below) * the Reading Room * the Wellcome Library (see below) **Event Spaces** (formerly Wellcome Collection Conference Centre) Includes: * Henry Wellcome Auditorium * Dale Room * Franks Room * Steel Room * Burroughs Room * Williams Lounge **Wellcome Library** Unlike Wellcome Collection, this does have a ‘the’ when used in prose (‘the holdings of the Wellcome Library’). Can be shortened to ‘the Library’ on subsequent uses. Its named collections are: * Archives and Manuscripts * History of Medicine Collection * Medicine and Society Collection * Medical Collection * Art Collection * Asian Collection * Moving Image and Sound Collection * Wellcome Images * Biomedical Images \[available as part of Wellcome Images] Rooms/areas of the Library (not exhaustive): * Copy Services * Reading Room * Viewing Room * E-Learning Room * Rare Materials Room **Exhibition/gallery label formatting** Every show has its own identity, so consistency between different exhibitions is less important than consistency within one. When preparing wall labels, it’s a good idea to establish what order the various lines of information should go in. A starting-point might be this: Title/description Details of larger work that this is part of Creator, date Details of this edition/translation/reproduction Materials Duration \[in the format X mins Y secs] Credit or Wellcome Collection object code Body text Common variations from this might be to lead with the creator name or to put the credit line after the body text. Bear in mind that most individual objects won’t have all of these pieces of information. **Wellcome Collection boilerplate** For use on Wellcome Collection materials. Use either version as desired: Wellcome Collection is a free museum exploring health and human experience. Our vision is to challenge how we all think and feel about health by connecting science, medicine, life and art. We offer changing exhibitions, museum and library collections, online stories and public events, in addition to a café. Wellcome Collection publishes books on what it means to be human and collaborates widely to reach broad and diverse audiences locally and globally.  Wellcome Collection is part of Wellcome, a global charitable foundation that supports science to solve urgent health challenges. Wellcome supports discovery research into life, health and wellbeing, with a focus on mental health, global heating and infectious diseases. Depending on space and relevance, you can shorten this to just the first paragraph, just the first two sentences, or just the first sentence. **Event Spaces at Wellcome Collection legal text** For use on all relevant publications: Event Spaces at Wellcome Collection is operated through Wellcome Trust Trading Limited, a non-charitable trading company registered in England and Wales (no. 3227027), controlled by the Wellcome Trust (a charity registered in England and Wales, no. 210183). The registered offices of both are at 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE, UK. ### Gibbs Building Wellcome headquarters at 215 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE. It contains (among other things): * ‘Bleigiessen’\ big sculpture, by Thomas Heatherwick Studio (German for ‘lead-pouring’; pronounced ‘bligh-geesen’) * Cornerstone Café\ on ground floor * Rooftops Restaurant\ staff restaurant on fifth floor * Cloud 9\ staff bar on ninth floor * main meeting rooms on ground floor: Darwin, Jenner 1, Jenner 2, Mendel 1, Mendel 2 – not ‘the Darwin Room’ etc. NB This line needs updating ### Major Wellcome activities and centres Wellcome runs and supports many major programmes of activity and research centres. To check the name of one, try searching the Wellcome website. These pages may be useful: * [Our work](https://wellcome.org/what-we-do/our-work) – big list of activities and projects * [Research centres and institutes](https://wellcome.org/what-we-do/our-work/research-centres-and-institutes) * [International programmes and activities](https://wellcome.org/what-we-do/our-work/programmes-and-initiatives-africa-and-asia) * [Grant funding](https://wellcome.org/grant-funding) * [Vision and strategy](https://wellcome.org/who-we-are/strategy) ### A to Z of style points **A** **a or an?** a if the next word starts with a consonant sound, an if it has a vowel sound: an hour, an honour, a hero, a historic, an egg, a European, an MP **A4** paper size **A\&E** accident and emergency **A level** (n.), **A-level** (adj.) **α-helix** use alpha symbol **above board** two words **ACh** abbreviation for acetylcholine **Achilles heel**, **Achilles tendon** cap A, no apostrophe **acknowledgements** with an e **acquired immune deficiency syndrome** AIDS (not immunodeficiency) **Act** piece of law once it has been passed by Parliament; capital A **ACTMalaria** capitals ACTM **AD (anno domini)** avoid; instead use CE (Common Era) **adaptation** not adaption **ad hoc** **ad nauseam** **ADHD** attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (no punctuation) **adrenaline** with an e. Adrenalin (cap A) is a trademarked brand of adrenaline **adviser** not advisor **aficionado** **ageing** not aging ***aide-memoire*** plural *aides-memoire* **AIDS** acquired immune deficiency syndrome (not immunodeficiency) **air conditioning** (n.) **air-conditioned** (adj.) **all right** all correct **All Souls College,** **Oxford** no apostrophe **alright** OK – more for informal use **ALSPAC** Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (aka Children of the 90s) **Alzheimer’s disease** apostrophe; lower-case d **am** lower case, joined up to number (3.30am) – use this only in quotes as house style is 24-hour clock **amid** not amidst **amino acid** two words **among** not amongst **analyse** with an s **anatomical names** not italic **annex** (v.), **annexe** (n.) **antenatal** **anticancer** **antidiabetic** **anti-inflammatory** **antimalarial** **antimicrobial** **antioxidant** **antiretroviral** **any more** **armchair** **artefacts** not artifacts **artwork** **Asperger’s syndrome** **aspirin** **atherosclerosis** **attention deficit hyperactivity disorder** (ADHD); no punctuation **au revoir** **audiovisual** **autism spectrum disorder** not autistic spectrum disorder **autoimmune** **autumn** **avant-garde** **avian flu** preferable to avian influenza or bird flu (latter acceptable for headings if space tight) **Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)** aka Children of the 90s **B** **B cell** (n.), **B-cell** (adj.) **BA** no full points, no spaces **Bacille Calmette–Guérin** BCG; only use the full name when discussing its history **backfiles** one word **bank holiday** lower case **base pair, base pairing** **baseline** **BBSRC** Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council **BC** (before Christ) avoid, instead use BCE (before Common Era) **BCE** (before Common Era) use instead of BC **beamline** **beam time** **bednet** **Beijing** use in preference to Peking **Belarus** formerly Byelorussia **Bell’s palsy** **benchmark** **benefited** one t; derivatives similar ***bête noire*** plural *bêtes noires* **biannual** twice a year; biennial is every two years. But these are so often confused that it’s almost always better to use alternatives such as twice a year and every other year **biased** one s; derivatives similar **bile duct** **Bill** legislation while still being considered by Parliament **Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation** note ampersand; can shorten to Gates Foundation **billion** thousand million **biomechanics** **biomedical** **bird flu** prefer avian flu, but this can be acceptable in headings **birth control** (n. and adj.) **birth rate** **birth weight** **black-and-white** (adj.) hyphens when prenominal (‘a black-and-white photo’), otherwise not (‘in black and white’) **blasé** **blood–brain barrier** **blood cell** **blood count** **blood group** **bloodstream** **blueprint** **boardroom** **Bombay** avoid. Prefer Mumbai **bona fide** **bookshop** **born digital** **Braille** **brain-dead** **brain death** **brainstem** **branchpoint** **breakpoint** **breastfed, breastfeeding** **BSc** **built-in** **bull’s-eye** **Burma and Burmese** avoid. Prefer Myanmar (n. and adj.) **Burroughs Wellcome & Co.** no comma, note ampersand **by-election** **Byelorussia** (now called Belarus) **bygone** **bylaw** not byelaw **bypass** **by-product** **bystander** **C** ***c.*** short form of circa; no space between it and numerals (‘c.1900’). Use only with numbers **Ca2+** **Caesarean section** **café** **Calcutta** avoid. Prefer Kolkata **Cancer Genome Project** **cannot** **canvas** material **canvass** survey opinion **car-park** **cardiovascular** **care giver** ***carte blanche*** **case–control** en dash **casenotes** **casework** **cast iron** (n.), **cast-iron** (adj.) **catalyse** **CBT** cognitive behavioural therapy **CD-ROM**, **CD-ROMs** **CE** Common Era, use in preference to AD **cell line** **Celsius, ºC** close up ºC to number; not centigrade **central Europe, central European** **centre of excellence** lower-case unless part of a specific title **cf.** use only in parentheses or footnotes, not in body text **Chagas’ disease** **change-over** (n.), **change over** (v.) **Charity Commission** **chatroom** **chemoattractant** ***chez*** **childbirth** **chord** musical; **cord** vocal, spinal etc **Christian name** avoid. Use first name, forename or given name ***circa*** avoid where possible; use a word like ‘around’ instead. Use c. with approximate dates **cis-acting** **City, the** the part of central London housing major financial institutions **CJD** Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease **cliché** **coapplicant** **coauthor** **coenzyme** **coexist** **cofactor** **cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)** not ‘behaviour’, no hyphen **co-infect** **collective nouns** normally act in the singular. If the verb is more applicable to the component parts, then the plural can be used. Sports teams almost always take the plural form of the verb. **colleges and commas** where a location is part of the institution’s name, usually there is no comma (King’s College London) – but check its website. Where the place name is added to locate, notably with Oxbridge colleges, use a comma (King’s College, Cambridge) **Colombia** the country **colour-blind** (adj.), **colour blindness** (n.) **Columbia, District of** DC – where Washington is **Columbia University** in New York (not CUNY, which is City University of New York) **combating, combated** **Commons** can be used as shorthand for House of Commons on second mention **common sense** (n.) **commonsense** (adj.) **communism, communist** lower-case c unless referring to a specific party **conjoined twins** not Siamese twins **consensus** **continent, the** lower-case c; mainland Europe. Try to avoid as quite informal and very UK-centric **cooperate** **co-opt** **coordinate** **cord** vocal, spinal etc; **chord** musical **corgi** breed of dog **cost–benefit analysis** **Côte d’Ivoire** use in preference to Ivory Coast **countryside** **court martial** plural is courts martial **Covid-19** cap C; technically the disease rather than the virus (SARS-CoV-2), but in many contexts that distinction may not matter **co-workers** **Coxsackievirus** **crêpe** **Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease** CJD **Crohn’s disease** **cross-hatch** **cross-hybridisation** **crosslink** **cross-section** **cross-talk** **crossword** **CT** computerised tomography **curriculum vitae** plural curricula vitae; CV may be used without definition (CVs plural) **Czar** prefer Tsar **D** **d.** died; put space before date **Darier disease** **Dark Ages** **Darwinian** **data** treat as singular **database** **dataset** **dead end** (n.); **dead-end** (adj.) **decision maker** ***déjà vu*** **Democratic People’s Republic of Korea** use North Korea instead **Democratic Republic of the Congo, the** note two ‘the’s; can shorten to DRC if audience is likely to know the abbreviation **dependent** (adj.), **dependant** (n.) **desiccated** not dessicated **developed countries** avoid. Prefer high-income countries **developing countries** avoid. Prefer low-income countries or low- and middle-income countries **diabetes, types 1 and 2** not I and II **die-hard** **dietician** not dietitian **diphtheria** **disorient** prefer to disorientate (likewise derivatives) **dispatch** prefer to despatch **distil** one l (but distilled, distillery, distillation) **DNA** deoxyribonucleic acid; use undefined in most cases **DNase** **dorsoventral** **dosage** general quantity of medicine prescribed, (500 mg a day) **dose** particular portion of medicine (these two pills here) **dotcom** not dot.com or dot-com **double spaces** only use single spaces between sentences **Down’s syndrome** **DPhil** **Dr** no full point, always abbreviate as title **Duchenne muscular dystrophy** (DMD) **E** **e-** mostly takes a hyphen (**e-newsletter**, **e-commerce**, **e-health**), but write **email** and **ebook** closed up. Use the prefix only when helpful; a bulletin sent by email is obviously an e-bulletin **early-career researcher** (‘early-career’ is a hyphenated compound modifier); but **early career stage** (here ‘career stage’ is the compound and ‘early’ modifies this on its own) **East Africa** **eastern Europe** **East Midlands, the** **East of England, the** **East Timor** use in preference to Timor-Leste **earrings** **EBI** European Bioinformatics Institute **Ebola** cap E **e-bulletin** **e-commerce** ***E. coli***** O157** letter O not zero **ed.** abbreviation for editor/edited; eds plural (NB no full stop after eds) **edition** abbreviate to edn **editor(s)** abbreviate to ed./eds **e-flyer** **e.g.** try to avoid; use ‘for example’, ‘such as’, ‘like’ or similar **e-health** **elF-2**, elongation factors **Eire** use Republic of Ireland instead **email** **EMBL** European Molecular Biology Laboratory **Empire/empire** capital E for a particular empire, otherwise lower-case **encyclopedia** not encyclopaedia **e-newsletter** **engine-room** ***en masse*** **enquiry** more commonly used to mean question, while inquiry more often means investigation **enrol** not enroll (but enrolled, enrolling) **en route** **en suite** **enthral** single l. But double for derivatives: enthralled, etc **Epstein–Barr virus (EBV)** **ESRC** Economic and Social Research Council ***et al.*** use only when referring to a multi-authored work (Jones et al., 2007). NB in a full citation it will be roman along with everything else **etc** **eukaryote, eukaryotic** **every day** (n. and adv.) on each day (‘it happens every day’) **everyday** (adj.) commonplace (‘an everyday mistake’) **exclamation marks** avoid **exposé** **extracellular** **eyesight** **eyewitness** **F** **f. and ff.** folio (two for plural); put one space, then the numerals **facade** no cedilla under the c **factor V, IX etc** for blood factors **fall-out** (n. and adj.), **fall out** (v.) **FAQ** frequently asked questions. Can also use in the singular: ‘this FAQ’ = ‘this list of frequently asked questions’ **Far East** avoid. Prefer East Asia, South-East Asia **far-fetched** **farmyard** **fax** **fEC** full economic costs; note lower-case f **feedback** (n. and adj.), **feed back** (v.) **fetal and fetus** no o **fibre optics** **film-maker** **fine-tuning** **first,** **second, third** spell out up to tenth, then 11th, 12th, etc, but usually spell out much larger ones again: hundredth, millionth **first-aid** (adj.), **first aid** (n.) **first-class** (adj.) **first-line treatment/therapy** **first name** not Christian name **First World War** prefer to use World War I **flashback** **flashpoint** **focus, focused, focusing** **fold** hyphenate with numbers (three-fold, 6.5-fold, 16-fold). But be very careful of ambiguity, as people use it differently: is a three-fold increase a rise to triple the original (from 10 to 30) or a rise of triple the original (from 10 to 40, up by 30)? **follow-up** (adj. and n.), **follow up** (v.) **foodstuff** **foot and mouth disease** (FMD) **footstool** **forebrain** **foreign place names** prefer indigenous versions where there is an issue of colonialism (Mumbai, Kolkata) but not otherwise (Cologne, Naples) **foresight** **forever** continually **for ever** for all time **forums or fora?** generally forums, except in certain legal contexts or when discussing ancient Rome **Francis Crick Institute** normally called ‘the Crick’ on subsequent mentions **frameshift** **FRCPath** **freshwater** (adj.), **fresh water** (n.) **fruit fly** (n.), **fruit-fly** (adj.) *Drosophila* **fulfil, fulfilling, fulfilled, fulfilment** watch the ‘l’s **full economic costs (fEC)** lower-case f in abbreviation **full-length** (adj.), **full length** (noun phrase) **Funding Councils** capitals **G** **gallbladder** one word **Gambia, the** **gap junction** **gases** **gassed** **gastrointestinal** **Gates Foundation** commonly used shorthand for the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation **Gb** gigabase **GB** gigabyte **GCSE** use without definition; same as Key Stage 4 **genetic modification, genetically modified** GM can freely be used as shorthand for either on second mention unless there’s a risk of confusion **genre** **germ line** (n.); **germline** (adj.) **GlaxoSmithKline** **Glaxo Wellcome** **glycoproteins** **GMO** genetically modified organism (GMOs plural) **Goldsmiths, University of London** formerly Goldsmiths College **Golgi body** **goodwill** **government** (n. and adj.) **graft-versus-host disease** GVHD **Gram-negative and Gram-positive** **grantholder** **Green Paper** capital G and P **ground-breaking** **guidebook** **Guillain–Barré syndrome** **guinea-pig** **H** **half-life** **halfway** **halftone** **hallmark** **handout** (n.), **hand out** (v.) **HapMap** as in the International HapMap Project (from haplotype mapping) **hard-wire** (and derivatives) **hay fever** **head-dress** **headquarters** **headteacher** but National Association of Head Teachers; avoid headmaster/mistress where possible **healthcare** **heat shock** (n. and adj.) **HEFCE** Higher Education Funding Council for England **HEFCW** Higher Education Funding Council for Wales **HeLa** cell line **herpesvirus** family of viruses **herpes zoster** (virus) **heterogeneous** diverse **heterogenous** derived from different sources **HFEA** Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority **high-income countries** preferred to developed countries or developed world or First World **high-level** (adj.), **high level** (noun phrase) **hindbrain** **hip-joint** **historic**, use a not an before it **HIV** human immunodeficiency virus; lower-case initials when spelt out; do not say ‘HIV virus’ **HIV positive** hyphenate in ‘HIV-positive blood’ but not in ‘the blood is HIV positive’. Likewise negative **Hlabisa District** in South Africa **homeopath, homeostasis etc** not homoeo… **home page** **hominid** **homogeneous** uniform **homogenous** similar because of common origin **hotspots** **housekeeping** **HTLV-I** human T-lymphotropic virus type I; Roman numeral **HUGO** Human Genome Organisation **Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)** **Human Genome Project (HGP)** **Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa)** – any following noun (like ‘initiative’ or ‘consortium’) in lower case **human immunodeficiency virus** HIV **human papillomavirus** HPV **Huntington’s disease** not Huntingdon’s **hydrolyse** **hyperreactivity** **I** **i.e.** avoid; use phrases like ‘that is’ or ‘namely’ **IFN, interferon** Greek letters as (IFN-α, β, γ) symbols **II, III** used in people’s names; roman, after surname, no hyphen **ill health** **IMAX** capitals **inbuilt** **infrared** **inquiry** more commonly used to mean investigation, while enquiry more often means question ***in situ***** hybridisation** **install, instalment** **interdisciplinary** **interleukin-1 (IL-1)** **interlinear** **International HapMap Project** **internet** lower-case i **interwar** **intraspecific** ***in utero*** ***in vitro*** ***in vivo*** **Ireland** use Republic of Ireland instead **i.v.** intravenous **Ivory Coast** prefer to use Côte d’Ivoire **J** **Johns Hopkins University** not John Hopkins **Joint Global Health Trials scheme** **Jr** no full stop, capital J, not Jnr, comma before (Harry Connick, Jr) **judgement** not judgment (except in some legal contexts) **K** **k/K** k is abbreviation for kilo; K for Kelvin (not to be used as shorter version of KB) **Kaposi’s sarcoma** **kb** kilobase **KB** kilobyte (NB 1024 bytes not 1000) **keynote** **Key Stage 4** same level as GCSE **King’s College, Cambridge** **King’s College London** (sometimes shortened to KCL but more usually King’s) **King’s Cross** **knockout** **know-how** **Kolkata** use in preference to Calcutta **Korea** avoid using this to mean South Korea **KwaZulu-Natal** **L** **labelled** ***laissez-faire*** not *laisser-faire* **Laos** not Lao **lawsuit** **lay-by** **learned** not learnt **Lebanon** no the **legionnaires’ disease** ***Leishmania*** (the organism), **leishmaniasis** (the disease) **letterhead** **leukaemia** **licence** (n.); **license** (v.) **life cycle** **life form** **life history** **lifelike** **lifelong** **lifespan** **lifestyle** **lifetime** **limb bud** **listed buildings** England and Wales: grades I (most important), II\* and II – ‘a grade II listed building’ (lower-case g, Roman numerals, no hyphen). Scotland and Northern Ireland: grades A, B and C **loathe** detest; **loth** unwilling (not loath) **local authority** and **local education authority** lower case **log in** (v.), **login** (adj. and n.) **long-standing** **long-term** (adj.), **long term** (noun phrase) similarly for longer, short and shorter **lookout** (n.), **look out** (v.) **loop of Henle** **Lords** acceptable shorthand for House of Lords on subsequent mentions **loudspeaker** **lower-case** (adj.), **lower case** (noun phrase) **low-income countries** prefer to developing countries, developing world or Third World. Often we talk about ‘low- and middle-income countries’ together **M** **MA** **mAb** monoclonal antibody **Magdalen College, Oxford** **Magdalene College, Cambridge** **make up** (v.), **make-up** (n. and adj.) **Marfan syndrome** **Master’s** short for Master’s degree. Note the cap M and apostrophe **master switch** **materia medica** **Mb** megabase **MB** megabyte **M-CSF** macrophage colony-stimulating factor **medieval** not mediaeval **mendelian** **MHC** major histocompatibility complex; classes I and II not 1 and 2 **microorganism** **microsatellite** **midblastula** **midbrain** **midday** **Middle Ages** **Middle East** **middle-income countries** we rarely use this phrase except as part of ‘low- and middle-income countries’ together **Midwest, the** region of the USA **milestone** **million** 1 million, use numeral **minisatellites** **mismatch** **misspelling** **Montréal** **moon** **mosquitoes** not mosquitos **motor neurone disease (MND)** not neuron; but use neuron everywhere else **motorway** **MRC** Medical Research Council **MRSA** methicillin-resistant *Staphylococcus aureus* **MRSs** microsatellite repeat sequences **MSc** **mucus** (n.); **mucous** (adj.) **multicellular** **multicopy** **multidimensional** **multidrug-resistant** **multifunctional** **multimedia** **multinational** **multiracial** **multisubunit** **Mumbai** use instead of Bombay **Myanmar** (noun and adj.) use in preference to Burma and Burmese **myasthenia gravis** **N** ***N*****-acetylglucosamine** **naive** **National Curriculum** **National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR)** **National Institutes of Health (NIH)** often helpful to specify ‘the US National Institutes…’ Takes the singular (unless talking specifically about the component institutes) **naso-pharynx** **NB** **née** **neodarwinian** **NERC** Natural Environment Research Council **Netherlands, the** not Holland **neuron** but motor neurone disease **nevertheless** **Newcastle upon Tyne** **newcomer** **NICE** the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (has changed its name a couple of times but kept the acronym) **NMDA** N-methyl-D-aspartate **NMR** nuclear magnetic resonance **Nobel Prize** **Nobel Prize winner** (aka Nobel Laureate) **non-communicable** **nonetheless** **non-fiction** **non-identical** **non-infectious** **non-specialist** **no one** **North Africa** **North-East, the** region of England **northern hemisphere** **North Korea** use in preference to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea **North-West, the** region of England **notebook** **O** **obsessive–compulsive disorder** **OCR** (optical character recognition) can be used as a verb, like ‘the text has been OCRed’ **off-peak** **offshoot** **offshore** **Ofsted** can use without reference to the full title: Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills **oilfield** **oil well** **ongoing** **online** **open access** **orang-utan** **orient** prefer to orientate (likewise derivatives) **outcompete** **outdoor** **outpatient** **overestimate** **overexpression** **overleaf** **overnight** **overoptimistic** **overreach** **override** **overrule** **P** **p.** page; put a space after (p. 17) **p\&p** standard abbreviation for postage and packing – for use in UK context only **p.a.** per annum **page/pages** use p. or pp. respectively if abbreviated; space before number (p. 5, pp. 9–14) **painkiller** **pairwise** **palaeontology** **paperback** **papier-mâché** **par excellence** **Parkinson’s disease** **patch-clamp** **pâté** **pay scales** **PCR** polymerase chain reaction **peacetime** **peer review** (n.), **peer-review** (adj. and v.), **peer-reviewed** (adj. and v.) **Peking** avoid. Prefer Beijing **per annum** try to avoid ***per se*** **PET** positron emission tomography **petri dish** **PGD** preimplantation genetic diagnosis **pH** **PhD** **phone numbers** no hyphens; include STD code and international code \[+44 (0)20 7611 8236], applies to fax numbers also. Abbreviate to **T** in contact listing only **phosphorous** (adj.); **phosphorus** (n.) **picornavirus** ***pièce de résistance*** **plc** **pm** use closed up to number (6.30pm); use only in quotes as we prefer 24-hour clock **policy maker** **postcard** **postcode** **postdoctoral** **postgraduate** **post-mortem** (adj.), **post mortem** (n.) **postnatal** **post office** initial caps only if talking about the corporate entity, not a local office **postwar** **pp.** pages; space after **Prader–Willi syndrome** **practice** (n.); **practise** (v.) **preconditions** **predate** hunt; probably best to avoid unless there’s no room for ambiguity **pre-date** precede **pre-eminent** **pre-empt** **pre-established** **prehistory** **pre-impact** **premeiotic** **prerequisite** **press, the** singular when meaning coverage (‘the press we received was encouraging’), plural when meaning the print media (‘the press were interested’) **prewar** **PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)** **prime–boost** **Prof.** prefer Professor unless space is tight **pro forma** **program/programme** use program for software only; otherwise use programme **pro rata** **prostaglandin E2** **protein kinase C (A etc)** **protester** not protestor **proto-oncogene** **PrPC** normal or ‘cellular’ form of prion protein; capital superscript C **PrPSc** disease-associated or ‘scrapie’ form of prion protein; superscript Sc **Psci-com, Psci-comlit** treat as proper noun **public, the** usually treat as plural **pulse rate** **Q** **Q\&A** questions and answers **Queen, HM The** can use ‘The Queen’ on subsequent mentions **Queen Mary University of London** no comma **Queens’ College, Cambridge** **Queen’s College, Oxford, The** **Queen’s University Belfast** **queueing** not queuing **R** **R\&D** research and development **radioisotope** **radiolabelled** **rainfall** ***raison d’être*** **reanalyse** **reappear** **rearrange** **recreation** enjoyment **re-creation** making again **re-establish** **re-evaluate** **re-examine** **Regent’s Park** **regime** **reimburse** **reinstate** **reoccupy** **reopen** **repellant** (n.); **repellent** (adj.) **Republic of Korea, the** prefer South Korea **resale** **Research Councils** capital R and C **response-mode** (adj.) not responsive **rhesus-positive (and negative)** hyphenate when prenominal (‘rhesus-positive blood’) but not otherwise (‘the blood is rhesus positive’) **right angle** **rivers** lower case: river Thames, Amazon river **RNase** **roadside** **role** **Romania** not Rumania **royal** lower case, except for ‘His/Her Royal Highness’ and ‘The Princess Royal’ **runoff** **S** ***Saccharomyces cerevisiae*** brewer’s yeast **saint** use St **St Andrews, University of** **St Thomas’ Hospital** not St Thomas’s **saltwater** (adj.), **salt water** (n.) **SAMRC** South African Medical Research Council **sand fly** **SARS** **SARS-CoV-2** the coronavirus causing Covid-19 **sceptic** not skeptic **schizophrenia/schizophrenic** do not use to mean ambivalent or self-contradictory **schoolboy/schoolgirl/schoolchildren** **school years** Year 7, Year 12, etc **Science and Technology Facilities Council** STFC; merger of old CCLRC and PPARC **science centre** lower case unless a specific named one **SCN** suprachiasmatic nucleus **sea level** **seaside** **sea urchin** **seawater** (adj.), **sea water** (n.) **seaweed** **second-hand** **Second World War** prefer World War II **semiarid** **semicircle** **set-up** (n., adj.); **set up** (v.) **SHEFC** Scottish Higher Education Funding Council **short circuit** (noun phrase) **short-circuit** (v.) **short cut** **shortlist** (v. and n.) **short-term** (adj.), **short term** (n.) similarly for shorter, long, longer **Siamese twins** avoid. Use ‘conjoined twins’ instead **sic** **side chain** **side-effect** **sixth form** (n.); **sixth-form** (adj.) **sizeable** **skiing** **skilful** **smallpox** **SNPs** single nucleotide polymorphisms; pronounced ‘snips’ so write ‘a SNP’ rather than ‘an SNP’ **socioeconomic** **south-east** **South-East Asia** **South-East, the** region of England **southern Africa** as distinct from South Africa **southern hemisphere** **South Korea** use in preference to Korea or the Republic of Korea **South-West, the** region of England **sp.** species (singular; plural is spp.) – spell out where possible **spaces** only use single spaces between sentences **spaceship** **spatiotemporal** **speciality** particular talent or recipe **specialty** area of medicine specialised in; specialism might be clearer **spelt** not spelled **spirochaete** not spirochete **square root** **Sr** no full stop, capital S, not Snr, comma before (Harry Connick, Sr) **starting-point** **state** (as in government) lower-case s **stationary** not moving **stationery** envelopes and suchlike **status quo** **steady-state** (adj.), **steady state** (noun phrase) **stem cell** **stepwise** **streamline** **subcellular** **subdivision** **subfield** **sublethal** **subroutine** **sub-Saharan Africa** **subscript** **subtitle** **subunit** **subway** **Sudan** no the **sudden infant death syndrome** SIDS **sulfur** not sulphur. The traditional British spelling is no longer seen as standard in scientific contexts **sun** **supervisor** not superviser **swap** not swop **swear words** do not use **T** **T cell** (n.), **T-cell** (adj.) **T helper cell (Th cell)** not ‘helper T cell’. Types: Th1 cell, Th2 cell **take-off** (n.), **take off** (v.) **takeover** (n. and adj.); **take over** (v.) **targeted, targeting** **taxpayer** **TDR** Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (cosponsored by UNICEF, the UN Development Programme, the World Bank and the WHO; managed by the WHO) **temperature** use celsius (ºC); close up ºC to number; do not use centigrade **test-tube** **tête-à-tête** **textbook** **The Institute for Genomic Research** note capital T. TIGR **think-tank** **Third World** avoid. Prefer ‘low-income countries’ or ‘low- and middle-income countries’ **three-dimensional** spell out at first, but can shorten to 3D on subsequent uses **throughput** **time-course** **timescale** **Timor-Leste** prefer East Timor **tone-deaf** (adj.), **tone deafness** (n.) avoid metaphorical use **top up** (v.), **top-up** (adj. and n.) **totalling, totalled** ***tour de force*** **Tourette syndrome** **tranquil**, but **tranquillity** and **tranquilliser** **trialling, trialled** **tropics, the** **Trustnet** Wellcome’s intranet **Tsar** preferred to Czar **tsetse fly** **T-shirt** **turning-point** **turnover** (n.); **turn over** (v.) **tweet** lower case **two-thirds** **type 1 diabetes (and type 2)** **U** **UCL** University College London **UK** United Kingdom; use without definition **UK Biobank** no ‘the’ **UK Patent Office** **Ukraine** no ‘the’ **ultraviolet** (UV) **uncooperative** **underway** **unicellular** **universe** lower-case **University College London** **University of X** or **X University**? ‘University of X’ is much more common in the UK, but check their own website and look at the logo if in any doubt **upregulation** **up-to-date** (adj.); **up to date** (adv.) **USA** (n.), **US** (adj.) can use without definition **V** **value added tax (VAT)** in UK-only contexts the abbreviation is normally fine on its own **van der Waals** lower-case v and d **vCJD** variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease **versus** preferred abbreviation is vs – if needing to use v. (such as in a quote), use a full stop **via** **vice versa** **videoconferencing** **Vietnam** not Viet Nam **viewpoint** **W** **wartime** **web** **web page** **website** **wellbeing** **Wellcome Genome Campus** **Wellcome Trust Limited, The** the company that is the trustee of the Wellcome Trust. Note the cap T for The. Very rarely mentioned outside financial reports and legal boilerplate **Wellcome Sanger Institute** **Wellcome Trust, the** we almost always just say ‘Wellcome’. Exceptions are in legal text and other very formal contexts, and sometimes if there’s a need to avoid confusion with Henry Wellcome. Never ‘the Wellcome’ **West(ern) vs west(ern)** use ‘West’ when the cultural sense is intended; use ‘west’ when geographical sense is intended (except in proper names that include ‘West’) **West Africa** **western Europe** **West Midlands, the** region name **wet nurse** (n.); **wet-nurse** (v.) **while** not whilst **whistle-blower** **White Paper** capital W and P **WHO** World Health Organization – note z **whole-mount** (adj.) **widescreen** **widespread** **wifi** **wild type** (n.), **wild-type** (adj.) **Williams–Bueren syndrome** **Wilms’ tumour** **workshop** **workstation** **World Health Organization** z not s **World War I, II** **worldwide** but world wide web **X** **X chromosome** (n.), **X-chromosome** (adj.) **Xerox** brand name only – use photocopy generally **X-ray** **Y** **Y chromosome** (n.), **Y-chromosome** (adj.) **Year 7, Year 11** etc in school **year-end** **Z** **zebrafish** **Zika** capital Z