The Royal United Services Institute

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United Service, is the Institute’s highly-respected professional journal. It is published quarterly – in March, June, September and December.

United Service seeks to promote informed debate on, and improve public awareness and understanding of, defence and national security – in short, to inform the defence and security debate, which it has been doing since 1947.

It is aimed at a diverse readership drawn from the Australian Defence Force, the federal and state police and customs services, the intelligence community, the public service, academia, defence science, defence industry (including logistics and transport), the merchant marine and the wider Australian community. Given this breadth, United Service avoids the use of abbreviations, acronyms and jargon wherever practicable.

United Service publishes papers presented at meetings and seminars organised by the Institute. Contributed papers dealing with defence and security issues or military history also will be published, together with relevant opinion pieces, letters to the editor, defence and security news, obituaries, book reviews, book notes and Institute news. The focus is primarily on defence and security policy and its strategic and operational implementation, although material with a different scope (tactics, techniques, equipment and the like) will be considered where it contributes to the overall objective.

Editor: The editor is Brigadier David Leece, PSM, RFD, ED (Retd), a former citizen-soldier, who in civilian life was a research scientist and later a senior public administrator in the agriculture, natural resource management and environment protection fields. He retired from full-time public administration in 2002, but continues to serve part-time as an assistant commissioner of the Natural Resources Commission of New South Wales. He has had extensive experience as both an author of scientific papers and a publisher of scientific journals.

Editorial Advisory Committee: The editor is advised by a committee consisting of Brigadier David Leece (chair), Brigadier Philip Carey, Group Captain Doug Roser and Air Vice-Marshal Bob Treloar.

Contributions

Contributions relevant to the journal are invited from readers, whether or not they are Institute members. All contributions are refereed, normally by the Editorial Advisory Committee, and edited before acceptance.

Papers normally should not exceed 3500 words and may be accompanied by one or two photos, a brief biography and a photo of the author. Opinion pieces, obituaries and book reviews should not exceed 850 words and letters 200 words, although longer letters may be considered where the subject warrants. We also publish short book reviews (300 – 400 words), particularly of books that have been in our Library collection for some time to encourage use of them, and book notes (100 words) of books recently acquired by the Library.

Contributions should conform to the journal’s style. They, preferably, should be typed single-spaced in Times New Roman 11-point, with the margins ‘justified’. It is the editor’s responsibility to put accepted papers in the form necessary for submission to the printer, but authors can assist by conforming as far as possible to the notes for contributors below.

Submission: Contributions should be addressed to the Editor either at nsw.rusi@defence.gov.au (preferred) or by post to the Institution’s offices: Royal United Services Institute of New South Wales, Locked Bag 18, Darlinghurst NSW 2010, Australia.

Copyright

Submission of a paper to United Service implies the transfer of the copyright from the author to the Royal United Services Institute of New South Wales as publisher. Submission also implies that the author has not published the material, nor submitted for publication, elsewhere; unless previous publication is clearly stated and the first publisher has granted permission for the material to be re-published by United Service.

The Institute claims copyright of the journal and its contents. The Copyright Act 1968 permits fair dealing for study, research, news, reporting, criticism and review. Selected passages may be reproduced for such purposes, provided acknowledgement of the source is included. Otherwise, articles and papers published in United Service may not be reproduced either in whole or in part without the written permission of the Editor.

Publishers

United Service is jointly published by the Royal United Services Institute of New South Wales, Incorporated, ABN 80 724 654 162, Locked Bag 18, Darlinghurst NSW 2010, Australia; and Pinnacle Publications Pty. Ltd., ABN 14 078 342 613, T: (02) 4620 5032; F: (02) 4620 5084; PO Box 5212, Minto BC NSW 2566.

Printer

United Service is printed and mailed to subscribers by Galloping Press, 203 Homer Street, Earlwood NSW 2206, Phone: (02) 9558 1201.

Subscriptions

Institute members receive the journal as part of their membership entitlement – there is no additional charge. The subscription for non-members is: in Australia $50 per year (post paid); outside Australia AUD$60 (Asia-Pacific) or AUD$70 (elsewhere) per year (air post); and can be arranged through the Editor at the Institution’s offices.

Advertising

Advertising should be arranged through Pinnacle Publications Pty. Ltd., ABN 14 078 342 613, T: (02) 4620 5032; F: (02) 4620 5084; PO Box 5212, Minto BC NSW 2566.

NOTES FOR CONTRIBUTORS

Intending contributors should take the following points as a guide.

Major Papers

The standard format for lectures, presentations and contributed papers follows the following sequence:

• title;
• author’s name and institutional affiliation (where relevant);
• abstract (providing a synopsis of the paper) of up to 150 words, typed in italics;
• main body of up to 3200 words, including and introduction and conclusion;
• references; and
• a biography of the author of up to 150 words.

Headings: Within the main body:

• primary headings should be in upper and lower case bold;
• secondary headings should be in lower case (except for the first letter of the first word) bold italics; and
• tertiary headings should be in lower case (except for the first letter of the first word) italics.

Headings are typed commencing flush with the left margin. There is one space above each heading, but no spaces below a heading.

Paragraphs: The text is typed in Times New Roman 11-point and ‘justified’, with the first word of each paragraph indented 0.6 cm. Any sub-paragraphs are indented 0.6 cm, including any that are denoted by dot points or numbers.

Spelling: United Service is published in English following contemporary international conventions. The spell-check ‘English (UK)’ in ‘Word’ may be used as a guide. The spelling in recent editions of The Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary of Current English (Oxford University Press: Melbourne) is used to resolve any uncertainties.

Footnotes: Footnotes are preferred to endnotes. They may be used where relevant to provide additional detail, but should be avoided wherever possible. Text footnotes should be indicated by superscript numbers and table footnotes by superscript letters. Text footnotes should appear at the bottom of the page where they occur. Table footnotes should be shown immediately beneath the table.

References: If only one or two references are cited in a paper, these may be included in a footnote. Otherwise, literature cited in the text should be referenced at the point of citation by the author-date-page number system e.g.

• (Brown 2005) – for a single author;
• (Brown and Jones 2005) – for two authors;
• (Brown et al. 2005) – for three or more authors;
• (Brown 2005a; Brown 2005b) – where there are two papers by Brown being cited which were published in 2005; and
• (Brown 2005, 23-27) where the material cited is in a book on pages 23-27.

Where literature has been cited in the text, a list of references should follow the conclusion. The references should be listed alphabetically by the first author’s family name. The following hypothetical examples provide a guide:

Brown, A J (2005) Tanks in modern warfare Australian Defence Journal 35, 185 – 193.
Brown, A J, and Jones, H T (2005) Australian participation in the tercentenary celebrations of the Royal Regiment of Wales Journal of the Royal New South Wales Regiment 27 (3), 1 – 9.
Brown, A J, Jones, H T, and Smith W S (2005) The American Civil War (Pergamon Press: Melbourne) 393 pp.

Note that second and subsequent lines of any reference are made ‘hanging’ using the ‘Format’/‘Paragraph’/‘Special’/‘0.6 cm’ facility in ‘Word’.

Tables: Tables are numbered consecutively in Roman numerals. A title, in lower case except for the first letter of the first word, is inserted above the table. Otherwise, the table is drawn using the ‘Table’ facility in ‘Word’. Horizontal divisions within the table may be shown, but vertical divisions normally are not shown.

Figures: Photographs, maps, diagrams and charts and are provided as separate, standalone documents and are numbered consecutively in Roman numerals. A caption, in lower case except for the first letter of the first word, is placed below the figure. Where the copyright for the figure is held by another party, permission to reproduce it must be obtained before submission to United Service and the credit must be correctly attributed at the end of the caption e.g. (Photo: Department of Defence).

Other Contributions

Opinion pieces, obituaries and book reviews should not exceed 850 words and letters 200 words, although longer letters may be considered where the subject warrants. We also publish short book reviews (300 – 400 words), particularly of books that have been in our Library collection for some time to encourage use of them; and book notes (100 words) of books recently acquired by the Library.

These contributions should conform to the style of similar contributions in recent issues of United Service and the guide for major papers (above) as applicable.

Tips on how to write a book review

• In the opening paragraph, include the name of the book, the author and the key focus of the book, e.g. naval strategy in the Pacific during World War II.
• If the author adopts a specific theme, thesis or position in the book, that theme should be clearly presented.
• Briefly review the contents and structure of the book. Sometimes a review of the structure of the various chapters or groups of chapters is helpful.
• If the reviewer has an opinion on the author, contents and/or presentation of the book, it is appropriate to state that opinion.
• If important, it may be appropriate to comment on the presence, absence or quality of the index, references, bibliography, maps, photographs, diagrams or similar items.
• It may be appropriate to comment on the style in which the prose is written, e.g. a book may be criticised as written in a dull or overly journalistic style.
• The conclusion should summarise the reviewer’s overall assessment of the book, e.g. this book provides new insight into the topic, or is one of the best I have read on the topic.
• The book reviewer should make a recommendation about the people to whom the book might appeal – general readers, Australian Defence Force personnel, veterans, H.S.C. students, history teachers, etc.

The book review should not exceed 400 words (short reviews) or 850 words (long reviews). For recently-published books, it should be accompanied by a scanned photo of the cover. Reviews should be typed or word processed if possible. Be certain to include your name as reviewer.

Updated: 27 February 2008

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