NBMG Exceptions to the GSA Style Guide

Since many faculty members at NBMG publish articles in journals and often need to use the GSA style format for the citations, the following is a list of points where NBMG/UGS and GSA differ.

NBMG/UGS	GSA
The subtitle begins with a lower case letter (unless that word is a proper noun) and is preceded by an em dash.	The subtitle begins with an upper case letter and is preceded by a colon.
The phrase "in press" replaces the date or is enclosed in parentheses after the date, if the date is known.	The phrase "in press" goes at the very end of the citation and is enclosed in parentheses.
NBMG allows citing of unpublished information.	"Do not cite, or list in the References Cited, papers that are unpublished, in preparation, in review, or in revision." (from GSA website)
Scale is written as "1:24,000" (with comma)	Scale is written as "1:24 000" (with a space replacing the comma). This is the format given on the GSA website, but if you look at the actual GSA publications, you see 1:24,000.

Here are citation examples in both style formats.

NBMG/UGS format:
Davis, D.A., Tingley, J.V., and Muntean, J.L., Gold and silver resources in Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Map 149, scale 1:1,000,000.

Tingley, J.V. and Pizarro, K.A., 2000, Traveling America's loneliest road—a geologic and natural history tour through Nevada along U.S. Highway 50: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 26, 132 p.

GSA format:
http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/geostyl7.htm (for map)
http://www.geosociety.org/pubs/geostyl2.htm (for book) – note use of “and others”

Davis, D.A., Tingley, J.V., and Muntean, J.L., Gold and silver resources in Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Map 149, scale 1:1 000 000.

Tingley, J.V. and Pizarro, K.A., 2000, Traveling America's loneliest road: A geologic and natural history tour through Nevada along U.S. Highway 50: Reno, Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Special Publication 26, 132 p.

Use of “et al.” versus “and others”

GSA uses “et al.” instead of “and others” used by UGS and STA. This preference will not affect the reference list since the author names are all included there anyway. NBMG will use the “et al.” format in the text of technical publications and the “and others” format for publications for the general public (guidebooks in the Special Publication series, Educational Series, etc.).