In 2007 RAF CAPS became the authority responsible to the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for publishing Air Power Review, the RAF's flagship journal.
This peer-reviewed journal is intended to provide an open forum for study which stimulates discussion and thought on all aspects of air power. It is also intended to support the British armed forces in general and the Royal Air Force in particular with respect to the development and application of air power.
Contributions from both Service and civilian authors are sought which will contribute to existing knowledge and understanding of the subject. Any topic will be considered by the Air Power Review Editorial Board.
Articles should be original and preferably not previously published, although those of sufficient merit will not be excluded. Between 3,000 and 10,000 words in length, articles should list bibliographical references as end notes, and state a word count. Lengthy articles may be published in instalments. Contributions from serving military personnel should be in accordance with DCI GEN 313 dated 26 November 1999.
Full style and format details can be found at the foot of this page.
Send your submissions to:
The Directors
Royal Air Force
Centre for Air Power Studies
Royal Air Force College
Cranwell
Lincolnshire NG34 8HB
United Kingdom
Telephone +44 (0)1400 268020
DFTS 95751 8020
Fax +44 (0)1400 266265
Email: RAF-CAPS@cranwell.raf.mod.u
Editorial Board:
Group Captain Al Byford, Director Defence Studies (RAF), Editor and Chairman
...
Mr Christian F. Anrig, King's College London at the Royal Air Force College
Mr Seb Cox, Head of the Air Historical Branch (RAF)
Group Captain Steve Harpum, DRAFD, Joint Services Command and
Dr Joel Hayward, Dean of the Royal Air Force College
Mr Chris Hobson, Chief Librarian, Joint Services Command and
Mr Jay Myers, Editor, Head of RAF Information Media Training and Technical Publications (MoD)
Wing Commander Owen Barnes, Deputy Director Defence Studies (RAF)
Mr Clive Richards, Senior Researcher, Air Historical Branch (RAF)
Back issues available in electronic (.pdf) form include:
Style Sheet
In future all submissions for consideration as RAF CAPS publications, whether articles for the Air Power Review, monographs, collected essays, or other publications will need to conform to an agreed RAFCAPS style.
The citation system adopted by the RAF CAPS is a modified version of the Chicago Manual of Style ‘humanities’ style. Authors should note that submissions in the ‘author-date’ style are not acceptable. Details of the revised humanities style of citation are given below.
Originality
Any manuscript submitted should be accompanied by a signed statement from the author confirming that the manuscript is based on his or her own research and that it is not under consideration by other journals or publishers.
Format
The manuscript should ideally be sent as a Microsoft Word document, on CD ROM, and with an accompanying hard copy (A4 size). The first sheet should carry the author's details (a brief resume of about 50 words), institutional affiliation and contact details.
All diagrams, charts and graphs should be referred to as Figures and consecutively numbered (Fig.1, Fig.2, and so on). Tables should carry only essential data and should complement the text rather than repeat what has already been said. They should carry a short title, be numbered (Table 1) and carry the source at the bottom. Each table must be referenced in the text.
If actual statements or phrases are taken from another paper, the name of the author should be mentioned in the text and the chosen material should be placed within quotation marks with an appropriate citation to the source. Alternatively, if another author's views are to be summarised, use the formulation: 'The views of xyz are summarised'; give a crisp summary. It is a good practice to reference sources of information extensively and effectively.
Style
Use of the first person should generally be avoided. The paper may contain sub-headings to make it more reader-friendly. Use short, crisp sentences. They add to readability. British spelling (colour, organisation, etc.) is necessary.
Dates should be written beginning with the date, followed by the month and the year (e.g. 11 September 2001). In the text, write numbers in words till the number ninety-nine and then in numerals (unless confusion would arise - so for instance 'thirty-two 16lb bombs), and use the term 'per cent' rather than % or percent.
Acronyms should carry the full form at the first mention with the acronym in bracket; and thereafter, the abbreviated version. The names of books, journals, newspapers and foreign terms in the body of the text should appear in italics, eg: Asian Security in the 21st Century; Strategic Analysis; The Hindu.
In terms of use of capitals, use lower case while referring to establishments like the government, the army, and so on. Use upper case if these are accompanied by the name of the country (e.g: the Indian Government or the Chinese Army). The president or prime minister stays lower, unless they are accompanied by the name (eg: Prime Minister Tony Blair or External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh).
Footnotes should be numbered in Arabic numerals consecutively through the text and the citations placed at the end of the piece. The examples below include the suggested style for subsequent footnotes citing the same work. In abbreviating titles in subsequent footnotes care must be taken to ensure that it is clear which work is being cited. This is particularly important where multiple works from a single author have been included. As a general guide at least two words from a book title should be included unless the title is itself a single word, or the work referred to cannot be mistaken.
Book:
Single author
First Citation should give, in order after the footnote number: the author (forename or initials and then surname); italicised full title; place, publisher, and publication year in parentheses; and page number:
1. Malcolm Postgate, Operation Firedog: Air Support in the Malayan Emergency 1948-1960 (London, HMSO, 1992), 49.
Subsequent example citation:
Postgate, Op Firedog, 50-51.
Two authors
As above with both authors named:
2.
Subsequent example citation:
Shores and Williams, Aces High, 99.
Multiple authors
As above with all authors named:
3. M M Postan, D Hay and J D Scott, Design and Development of Weapons: Studies in Government and Industrial Organisation (London, HMSO, 1964), 95.
Subsequent example citation:
Postan, Hay & Scott, Design and Development, 99-101.
Editor translator or compiler in addition to author:
Citation should give Editor’s name, translator or compiler in addition to author
Author and italicised title as above, followed by editor or editors, followed by publication details in parentheses, and page number:
4. Sir Arthur Harris, Despatch on War Operations, 23rd February, 1942, to 8th May, 1945, (ed) Sebastian Cox (London, Frank Cass, 1995), 47.
Subsequent example citation:
Harris, Despatch, 87.
Editor, translator or compiler instead of author:
Citation should give the Editor’s name and italicised title of the work followed by publication details in parentheses, and page number:
5. Sebastian Cox (Ed.), The Strategic Air War Against Germany 1939-1945: The Report of the British Bombing Survey Unit (London, Frank Cass, 1998), 88.
Subsequent example citation:
BBSU, 102.
Chapter of an edited volume:
Citation should give author of chapter, title of chapter of essay in single quote marks, followed by editor(s)’ name(s), book title in italics, publication details in parentheses, and page number:
6. Hew Strachan ‘Strategic Bombing and the Question of Civilian Casualties up to 1945’ in Paul Addison and Jeremy Crang (Eds.), Firestorm: The bombing of
Subsequent example citation:
Strachan, ‘Civilian Casualties’, 9.
Multi-volume work:
As for any book but with the volume number in Roman numerals included after the publishing details and outside the parentheses, but before the page number:
Sir Charles Webster and Noble Frankland, The Strategic Air Offensive Against
Subsequent example citation:
Webster and Frankland, SAOG IV, 111.
Journal Article
An article in a print journal should give author(s) as per a book chapter with the article title in single quotes followed by the journal title in italics with volume or edition details and date:
Edgar Jones ‘”LMF”: The Use of Psychiatric Stigma in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War’, The Journal of Military History, Vol. 70, No. 2 (April 2006), 443.
Subsequent example citation:
Jones, ‘LMF’, 444.
On-line articles should give these details along with the full http address and the date the article was accessed.
Newspaper or Magazine Article
Citation should give the author, the article title in single quotes, the newspaper or magazine title in italics, and the full date:
9. Patrick Bishop, ‘The bombing of
Subsequent example citation:
Bishop, ‘
Book Review
Citation should give details of the author of the review [where known] and the author and title of the work being reviewed, the journal or newspaper where the review appeared, and the date of publication. If the review article itself had a title this should also be included:
10. Henry Probert, review of Vincent Orange, Slessor: Bomber Champion, in Royal Air Force Historical Society Journal, No. 40, 2007.
Subsequent example citation:
Probert, Slessor review.
Thesis or Dissertation
Citation should give the author of the thesis; followed by thesis title, thesis type, university and date in parentheses; and page number:
11. John Abbatiello, British Naval Aviation and the Anti-Submarine Campaign, 1917-1918 (PhD Thesis, King’s College University of London, 2004), 52-3.
Subsequent example citation:
Abbatiello, Naval Aviation, 90.
Archival Document
Quote the archive in full and give the customary abbreviation to be used thereafter [e.g. TNA], together with full details of the collection location and reference of the document, along with title or explanatory detail and date if known:
12. The
Christ Church [CC], Oxford, Papers of Marshal of the RAF Lord Portal, Box C Folder 5, Letter from Air Chief Marshal Sir Wilfrid Freeman to Sir Charles Portal, [?] January, 1943.
Subsequent example citations:
TNA AIR 2/9726, Baker to McEvoy, 10 Sept 1946.
CC, Portal Papers, Freeman to Portal, Jan 1943.
Website or Electronic Archive Document
Title or description of the document together with full http website address and the date the document was accessed:
No 1 (Fighter) Squadron Operational Diary Falklands Diary, entry for 25 May 1982 in online copy at http://www.raf.mod.uk/falklands/1sqn_4html#25may, accessed 15 October 2007.
Subsequent example citation:
Online 1 Squadron Falklands diary, 26 May 1982.
