Journal of Property Tax Assessment & Administration

This document provides details on typesetting and layout requirements pertaining to final manuscript submission to Journal of Property Tax Assessment & Administration.

Formatting Requirements

• Do not include a title page. (Begin the document with the abstract and introduction; a title page will be added to your paper by the editors.)
• Do not include page numbers, headers, or footers. These will be added by the editors.
• Write your article in English.
• Submit your manuscript, including tables, figures, appendices, etc., as separate files (Word, RTF, or PDF files are accepted).
• Page size should be 8.5 x 11-inches.
• All margins (left, right, top and bottom) should be 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), including your tables and figures.
• Single space your text.
• Use a single column layout with both left and right margins justified.
• When possible, there should be no pages where more than a quarter of the page is empty space.

Visual Elements

Visual elements such as tables, figures, or photographs can be included for publication. Place each element in a separate file, one to a page. File names should mirror the referenced name (i.e., Table 1, Figure 1, and so on). Tables and figures should be as simple as possible. Image files should not be linked to the manuscript file. They should be supplied in JPEG or TIFF format (at least 300 ppi) or as Adobe Illustrator EPS or PDF files. Camera-ready art and tables created in Microsoft Excel are also acceptable. Figures in color will be converted to black and white.

Tables and figures are cited in the text. Each table and figure has its own distinct number and caption. Tables and figures are numbered consecutively in the order in which they are cited. Please be clear as to the location of each visual element. Within the text, on a separate line at the end of the paragraph that initially references the visual element, type

<< Insert Figure # here >>

or

<< Insert Table # here >>

Additional Recommendations

Text Format

Although there is no length limitation, it would be appreciated if authors kept their manuscripts within the range of 2,000 to 10,000 words. The manuscript must be written in English. Keep text formatting as simple as possible. Special formatting, such as headers and footers, text boxes, equation boxes, shading, unusual fonts, and linked text (to footnotes, references, tables, or figures), should not be used because they create problems during editing and do not transfer during layout. Center page numbers at the bottom of the page.

Footnotes and Endnotes

Footnotes or endnotes must not be used. Authors submitting a paper with footnotes and endnotes will, on acceptance, be asked to incorporate them in the text or delete them.

Language & Grammar

All submissions must be in English. Except for common foreign words and phrases, the use of foreign words and phrases should be avoided.

Colored text

Set the font color to black for the majority of the text. We encourage authors to take advantage of the ability to use color in the production of figures, maps, etc., however, you need to appreciate that this will cause some of your readers problems when they print the document on a black & white printer. For this reason, you are advised to avoid the use of colors in situations where their translation to black and white would render the material illegible or incomprehensible.

Please ensure that there are no colored mark-ups or comments in the final version, unless they are meant to be part of the final text. (You may need to "accept all changes" in track changes or set your document to "normal" in final markup.)

Emphasized text

Whenever possible use italics to indicate text you wish to emphasize rather than underlining it. The use of color to emphasize text is discouraged.

Foreign terms

Whenever possible, foreign terms should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Headings

Headings (e.g., start of sections) should be distinguished from the main body text by their fonts or by using small caps. Use the same font face for all headings and indicate the hierarchy by reducing the font size. There should be space above and below headings.

Main text

The font for the main body of text must be black and, if at all possible, in Times or closest comparable font available.

Titles

Whenever possible, titles of books, movies, etc., should be set in italics rather than underlined.

Tables and Figures

To the extent possible, tables and figures should appear in the document near where they are referenced in the text. Large tables or figures should be put on pages by themselves. Avoid the use of overly small type in tables. In no case should tables or figures be in a separate document or file. All tables and figures must fit within 1.5" margins on all sides (top, bottom, left and right) in both portrait and landscape view.

Mathematics

Roman letters used in mathematical expressions as variables should be italicized. Roman letters used as part of multi-letter function names should not be italicized. Whenever possible, subscripts and superscripts should be a smaller font size than the main text.

Short mathematical expressions should be typed inline. Longer expressions should appear as display math. Also expressions using many different levels (e.g., such as the fractions) should be set as display math. Important definitions or concepts can also be set off as display math.

Equations should be numbered sequentially. Whether equation numbers are on the right or left is the choice of the author(s). However, you are expected to be consistent in this.

Symbols and notation in unusual fonts should be avoided. This will not only enhance the clarity of the manuscript, but it will also help insure that it displays correctly on the reader's screen and prints correctly on her printer. When proofing your document under PDF pay particular attention to the rendering of the mathematics, especially symbols and notation drawn from other than standard fonts.

References

It is the author's obligation to provide complete references with the necessary information. The reference list at the end of the article documents the article and provides the information necessary to identify and retrieve each source. Reference style is the author-date system of The Chicago Manual of Style, 16th ed., 2010. References are arranged alphabetically by author in the reference list. The reference list should include only those sources cited in the text, and conversely, each entry in the reference list must be cited in the text. For references not cited in the text but used as source material, an Additional Resources or Suggested Reading list can be created. After the last sentence of your submission, please insert a line break—not a page break—and begin your references on the same page, if possible. References should appear right after the end of the document, beginning on the last page if possible.

Each reference should give the last names of all the authors, their first names or first initials, and, optionally, their middle initials. The hierarchy for ordering the references is:

1. Last name of first author
2. First name of first author
3. Last name of second author (if any). Co-authored work is listed after solo-authored work by the same first author (e.g., Edlin, Aaron S. would precede Edlin, Aaron S. and Stefan Reichelstein).
4. First name of second author
5. Publication date
6. Order cited in text

The information to be given with each citation in the references is as follows:

Articles in traditional journals:

Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of article, name of journal, year of publication (or "n.d." if no date), volume number, page numbers.

Optional (but desirable): issue number and month/season of publication. For forthcoming (in press) articles, put expected year of publication and substitute "forthcoming" for the volume and page numbers.

Optional(but desirable): A hyperlink to the article.

McMillen, D.P., and R.N. Weber. 2008. “Thin Markets and Property Tax Inequities: A Multinomial Logit
Approach.” National Tax Journal 61(4): 653–671

Books:

Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of book, year of publication (or "n.d." if no date), publisher, publisher's address, edition (if not first). For forthcoming (in press) books, put expected year of publication and add "forthcoming."

Overshot, D., and R. Pray. 2010. 2011 National Construction Estimator, 59th ed. Carlsbad, CA: Craftsman
Book Company

Chapters in collections or anthologies:

Required: Name(s) of author(s) of chapter, name(s) of editor(s) of book, title of chapter, title of book, year of publication (or "n.d." if no date), publisher, publisher's address, and edition (if not first). For forthcoming (in press) books, put expected year of publication and add "forthcoming."

Englebert, E.A. 1969. “Political Aspects of Real Estate Taxation in Relation to Metropolitan Growth and
Planning.” In Land and Building Taxes: Their Effect on Economic Development, edited by A.P.
Becker.Madison: University of Wisconsin Press

Working papers:

Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of working paper, year (or "n.d." if no date), location (e.g., "Department of Economics Working Paper, University of California, Berkeley" or "Author's web site: http://www.someurl.edu/author." If the working paper is part of series, then the series name and the number of the working paper within the series must also be given.

Bahl, R., and J. Martinez-Vazquez. 2007. “The Property Tax in Developing Countries: Current Practice and
Prospects.” Working paper, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, Cambridge, MA

Other works:

Required: Author's (authors') name(s), title of work, year (or "n.d." if no date), and information about how the reader could obtain a copy.

Use hanging indents for citations (i.e., the first line of the citation should be flush with the left margin and all other lines should be indented from the left margin by a set amount). Citations should be single-spaced with extra space between citations.

When works by the same author are listed in a row, use — instead of writing the name again. Hence, one might have

Smith, Adam: The Wealth of Nations, . . .

—: The Theory of Moral Sentiments, . . . 

Similarly, instead of repeating two names use

"— and —."

For instance,

Edlin, A. and S. Reichelstein (1995) . . .
— and — (1996) . . . 

Within the text of your manuscript, use the author-date method of citation. For instance,

"As noted by Smith (1776)." 

When there are two authors, use both last names. For instance,

"Edlin and Reichelstein (1996) claim . . . "

If there are three or more authors give the last name of the first author and append et al. For instance, a 1987 work by Abel, Baker, and Charley, would be cited as

"Abel et al. (1987)." 

If two or more cited works share the same authors and dates, use "a," "b," and so on to distinguish among them. For instance,

"Jones (1994b) provides a more general analysis of the model introduced
in Example 3 of Jones (1994a)."

After the first cite in the text using the author-date method, subsequent cites can use just the last names if that would be unambiguous. For example, Edlin and Reichelstein (1996) can be followed by just Edlin and Reichelstein provided no other Edlin & Reichelstein article is referenced; if one is, then the date must always be attached.

When citations appear within parentheses, use commas—rather than parentheses or brackets—to separate the date from the surrounding text. For instance,

" ...(see Smith, 1776, for an early discussion of this)."