Cooperation among editors: The Council of Biology editors

Uniformity in style for scientific and technical journals is justified by savings in costs for authors, savings in redactorial costs, and more ready comprehension of text and tables by readers. Uniform style is readily imposed upon journals published within a single organization. Reaching agreements on uniform style becomes more difficult as the span of journals increases to independent journals within on discipline and to journals increases to independent journals within one discipline and to journals in different disciplines. Collaborations within, or sponsored by, the Council of Biology Editors, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the Nordic Publication Committee for Medicine illustrate the possibilities for intradiscipline agreements on style. Collaboration among different disciplines will be more difficult but should be a major aim in scientific publication.