Editorial Guidelines – Citation System

The journal uses the Chicago Notes and Bibliography system in a modified version in accordance with the present editorial guidelines (the journal applies a Polish-language adaptation of the Chicago system). These guidelines constitute the binding citation standard used in all journal publications.

1. General principles of citation

All bibliographic sources must be provided in footnotes. Footnotes should contain full bibliographic information enabling the identification of archival materials, sources, and scholarly works.

2. Footnote requirements

Footnotes should allow for the unambiguous identification of the cited source. This requires providing full bibliographic data at the first citation, including:

• author or institution responsible for the content,
  • full title,
  • publication details (place and year of publication, publisher),
  • for online sources: URL and date of access,
  • for legal acts: full title of the act, date, and publication reference (if applicable),
  • for archival materials: the archival reference code (usually an abbreviation of the archive name), followed by the fonds/record group designation, the file number (signature), and the page or folio number. If the last two elements are not available, the notation “no ref. and no pagination” should be used.

3. Chicago system – editorial modifications

The Chicago Notes and Bibliography system may be subject to modifications resulting from the editorial requirements of the journal, in particular with regard to:

• the order of bibliographic elements,
  • abbreviations used in subsequent references,
  • standardisation of references to online sources and legal acts.

4. Citation examples (modified Chicago system)

4.1. Archival materials

State Archives in Warsaw (hereinafter: AAN), Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education (hereinafter: MWRiOP), List of vocational schools 1918–1939, ref. no. 222, fol. 7.
Short reference:
AAN MWRiOP, ref. no. 222, fol. 17–19.

4.2. Book (monograph)

First citation:
J. Kowalski, Title of the Book, Scientific Publishing House, Warsaw 2020, p. 45.
Short citation:
J. Kowalski, Title of the Book, p. 78.

4.3. Academic article

First citation:
A. Nowak, Title of the Article, “Journal Name” 2021, no. 3, p. 117ff.
Short citation:
A. Nowak, Title of the Article, p. 120.

4.4. Chapter in an edited volume

First citation:
P. Wiśniewski, Title of the Chapter, in: Title of the Edited Book, ed. Maria Zielińska, Academic Publishing House, Kraków 2019, pp. 55–70, 60.
Short citation:
P. Wiśniewski, Title of the Chapter, p. 62.

4.5. Legal acts

Citation:
Act of 23 April 1964 – Civil Code, Journal of Laws 1964, No. 16, item 93, as amended, Art. 5.
If no official journal is available:
Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997, Art. 2.

4.6. Online sources

Citation:
Ministry of Justice, Title of document or webpage, https://www.example.gov.pl, accessed: 10 January 2026.
Short citation (if used):
Ministry of Justice, Title of document.

4.7. Bibliography (general rule)

The final bibliography should be arranged alphabetically by authors’ surnames:

AAN MWRiOP, List of vocational schools 1918–1939, ref. no. 222.
Kowalski Jan, Title of the Book, Scientific Publishing House, Warsaw 2020.
Nowak Anna, Title of the Article, “Journal Name” 2021, no. 3, pp. 112–130.
Wiśniewski Piotr, Title of the Chapter, in: Title of the Edited Book, ed. Maria Zielińska, Academic Publishing House, Kraków 2019, pp. 55–70.
Ministry of Justice, Title of webpage, https://www.example.gov.pl, accessed: 10 January 2026.

Nota bene

• In footnotes, the author’s first name initial is used; in the bibliography, the full first name is used.
  • Each footnote is treated as a complete sentence; therefore, it begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.
  • The abbreviation “n.” (and following pages) is allowed.
  • In the bibliography, the full page range of articles or chapters must be provided.
  • A shortened form is used in footnotes from the second citation of the same source.
  • “Ibid.” refers only to the immediately preceding footnote, provided that it contains only one work. If multiple works are cited in the previous footnote, “Ibid.” cannot be used; instead, the author’s name, a shortened title, and page number must be given.
  • “Idem” refers only to the author of the previous footnote and cannot be used in composite references.
  • In composite footnotes, sources must be cited in the following order: archival sources, manuscript sources, printed sources, scholarly works.
  • If the year of publication is missing, the following abbreviations are used: n.d. (no date), n.p. (no place), or both n.d., n.p. for missing data.
  • Footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page and separated from the text by a line. The bibliography is placed at the end of the article.
  • The bibliography may be divided into the following sections: archival materials, printed sources, scholarly works, Internet sources.