Style Guide for the Harvard Business Review

The following attached document is a general, expandable style

guide for use by the Harvard Business Review. For discrepancies in
style, unlisted grammar rules, and guidelines regarding citations,
please refer to the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS).

Nathan S Thomas
CONTENTS
FORMATTING..............................................................................................................................................4
Font Typeface..........................................................................................................................................4
Font Size..................................................................................................................................................4
Page Numeration....................................................................................................................................4
Graphics, Images, & Figures....................................................................................................................4
Beginnings of Paragraphs........................................................................................................................4
CAPITALIZATION..........................................................................................................................................4
Acronyms................................................................................................................................................4
Professional Titles...................................................................................................................................5
PUNCTUATION............................................................................................................................................5
Periods....................................................................................................................................................5
Commas..................................................................................................................................................5
Colons......................................................................................................................................................5
Semicolons..............................................................................................................................................5
Dashes.....................................................................................................................................................6
Hyphens...............................................................................................................................................6
EM Dashes...........................................................................................................................................6
EN Dashes............................................................................................................................................6
Apostrophes............................................................................................................................................6
Possession...........................................................................................................................................6
Contractions........................................................................................................................................6
Quotations..............................................................................................................................................6
Standard Quotation Marks..................................................................................................................6
Nested Quotations...............................................................................................................................7
NUMBERS....................................................................................................................................................7
Whole Figures.........................................................................................................................................7
Dates.......................................................................................................................................................7
Fractions..................................................................................................................................................7
SYMBOLS.....................................................................................................................................................7
Percentages.............................................................................................................................................7
Dollar Signs.............................................................................................................................................7

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 Ampersands............................................................................................................................................7
TERMS.........................................................................................................................................................8
C..............................................................................................................................................................8
E...............................................................................................................................................................8
F...............................................................................................................................................................8
N..............................................................................................................................................................8
O..............................................................................................................................................................8
P..............................................................................................................................................................8
R..............................................................................................................................................................8
S...............................................................................................................................................................8
U..............................................................................................................................................................8
V..............................................................................................................................................................8

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FORMATTING
Font Typeface
General body text should be presented in a serif typeface. All other text should be presented in a
sans-serif typeface.

Font Size
Font size across sections and subsections can be variable, but general body text should remain
within a range of 10 points to 14 points. Endnotes, footnotes, and other marginal text should be of
a lower point value than the smallest body text; titles, headings, and subheadings should be of a
higher point value than the largest body text.

Page Numeration
Page numbers should be bolded and placed in the bottom lefthand corner of the page, followed
by the un-bolded title of the magazine (Harvard Business Review). This should be followed by the
date of the magazine issue, written as a month range, followed by the year. All text in the page
numeration should be capitalized. An additional space is used between the page number, the
magazine title, and the date range to separate the three comments:
 30 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW JANUARY–FEBRUARY 2017
 24 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW MARCH–APRIL 2018

Graphics, Images, & Figures

Graphics should not infringe upon the readability of the document’s text. The source of the
information included in any figures should be listed and credited directly below the figure, listed
as follows:

 SOURCE “IMMIGRANT ENTREPREURSHIP.” BY SARI PEKKALA KERR AND WILLIAM R. KERR

 SOURCE “THE SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN IN SALES.”
BY STEVE W. MARTIN

Beginnings of Paragraphs
At the start of each paragraph (marginal text and body text), the first three words should be all-
capitalized and bolded.

CAPITALIZATION
Acronyms
Acronyms should generally be introduced as the full phrase of the title they represent alongside
the acronym’s first appearance in the document. Acronyms are to be written in all capital letters

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 with no spaces, periods, or other symbols separating the letters (exceptions: names of countries,
R&D):
 STEM
 CEO

Professional Titles
Professional titles are to be capitalized only when used as modifiers for the titleholders:
 President Joe Biden.
 The president.

PUNCTUATION
Periods
Periods should only be used at the end of any sentence included in body text. Do not use periods
in acronyms (exceptions: names of countries).

Commas
In a conventionally written series or list, a comma should be used to isolate each element of the
series. If the final item of the series is preceded by a coordinating conjunction, then a comma
should be used before the conjunction (otherwise referred to as the “Oxford Comma”):

 He had two quarters, a nickel, and a dime.

Colons
Colons can be acceptably used when introducing a list or quotation, or when clarifying a
succeeding clause:

 She had the following items: a wallet, a phone, a set of keys, a bottle of perfume.
 They had one thing in common: the determination to succeed.

Semicolons
Semicolons can be acceptably used to connect two separate (yet related) independent clauses, as
well as to replace a comma in a series or list when a comma is used within an item of that series
or list:

 Matt lost his wallet; he couldn’t afford the bus ride home.
 Matt lost his wallet; his phone; his glasses, which he needed desperately; and his keys.

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 Dashes
Hyphens
Hyphens should be used when compounding words and modifiers where a compounded
variant is not common in standard American English usage (see exceptions in “Terms” section):

 Run-in
 Anti-abortion
 Free-for-all

EM Dashes
Though a less formal punctuation mark, EM dashes can be acceptably used to isolate
appositives, introduce a list, clarify a succeeding clause, or perform the function of a
semicolon:

 Matt left his glasses—which he needed so desperately—on the train.

 She lost her belongings—a wallet, a phone, a set of keys, a bottle of perfume.

EN Dashes
EN dashes can be acceptably used when indicating a range of value, distance, or time:

 Winter takes place December–March.

 The data are from 1920–1945.

Apostrophes
Possession
Apostrophes are to be used to indicate possession in cases of both animate and inanimate
nouns. Apostrophes added to (plural and singular) words ending with the letter “s” should be
placed after the letter with no additional “s” added:
 The company’s profits rose.
 Marcus’ team is hardworking.

Contractions
Contractions are acceptable when the author deems their use appropriate.

Quotations
Standard Quotation Marks
Quotation marks should be used when directly quoting another source, with punctuation
marks remaining within the quotation marks. They can also be used to denote or draw
attention to specific words or phrases. Quotation marks should also be used to enclose article
titles or research titles.

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 Nested Quotations
When quoting a passage that has a quotation included within it, the nested quotation’s
quotation marks should be replaced with secondary, single quotation marks.

NUMBERS
Whole Figures
Spell out whole numbers lower than 10:
 There were five of us.
 There are 12 eggs in a carton.

Whole numbers above 1 million are to be written as figures, using decimal values rounded to the
nearest hundredth followed by the modifying “million”, “billion”, “trillion”, etc.:

 We have $1.5 million.

 There are 8 billion people on the planet.

Dates
Use figures for dates:
 He was born in the 1980s.
 The year is 2023.

Fractions
Spell out fractions using a hyphen to separate words:
 Use half a cup.
 He used but one-quarter of his car’s tank.

SYMBOLS
Percentages
Use the “%” symbol when writing percentages.

Dollar Signs
Use the “$” symbol when writing figures of United States Dollars (USD).

Ampersands
Ampersand use is acceptable when used in a title, heading, or acronym (as it commonly appears).
Avoid using the symbol in general body text.

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TERMS
C
CEO
college-educated
counterintuitive

E
e-commerce

F
foreign born

N
new-business
nonnative

O
OECD
overall

P
postmove

R
R&D

S
start-up

U
U.S.

V
VC

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