bibliographies: publishing information

A bibliographic entry for a book or pamphlet includes the place of publication, the publisher and the date.

Place of publication

If a document has more than one place of publication, choose the Canadian city, if any, or the first city mentioned. When it is necessary to differentiate a place of publication from others with the same name or to identify one that is not well known, add a geographic identifier (name of country, province or state), in an abbreviated form:

• Willmot, Elizabeth. When Anytime Was Train Time. Erin, Ont.: Boston Mills,
  1992.

If the place of publication is not given, insert "N.p." for "no place of publication," in square brackets.

Publisher

Listed after the place of publication, the publisher’s name is preceded by a colon and a space, and followed by a comma. The publisher’s name should be transcribed as it appears in the document, but articles and abbreviations such as Co., Ltd. and Inc. are usually dropped:

• Harris, R. Cole, and John Warkentin. Canada Before Confederation: A Study
  in Historical Geography. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1991.

The publisher’s name may be given in full or in an acceptable abbreviated form. For abbreviations of publishers’ names, consult Canadian Books in Print and Books in Print.

If the name of the publisher is not provided, insert "n.p." for "no publisher," in square brackets.

Date of publication

The date of publication is preceded by a comma and is always written in Arabic numerals. If the date of publication is not provided, add the copyright date instead.

If neither the date of publication nor the copyright date can be ascertained, check library records for the missing information. You can either give an estimated date of publication followed by a question mark, enclosing both in square brackets, or add "n.d." for "no date of publication."

Give inclusive dates for a multivolume work:

• Banicek, Edward. A History of Indonesia. 3 vols. Philadelphia: Ross and
  Kittredge, 1988–93.

If a multivolume work has yet to be completed and all the volumes in print are listed, indicate the date of the first volume, followed by an en dash:

• Skelton, Margaret. A Critical History of Modern Dance. 2 vols. to date.
  Chicago: Terpsichore Press, 1987–.

© Services publics et Approvisionnement Canada, 2024
TERMIUM Plus^®, la banque de données terminologiques et linguistiques du gouvernement du Canada
Outils d'aide à la rédaction – Writing Tips
Un produit du Bureau de la traduction