Oxford spelling

Spelling standard introduced by Oxford University Press

Oxford spelling (also Oxford English Dictionary spelling, Oxford style, or Oxford English spelling) is a spelling standard, named after its use by the Oxford University Press, that prescribes the use of British spelling in combination with the suffix ize in words like realize and organization instead of ise endings. Oxford spelling is used by many UK based academic journals (for example, Nature) and many international organizations (for example, the United Nations and its agencies). It is common for academic, formal, and technical writing for an international readership. In digital documents, Oxford spelling may be indicated by the IETF language tag en GB oxendict (or historically by en GB oed).

Oxford spelling is used by the Oxford University Press (OUP) for British publications, including its Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and its influential British style guide Hart's Rules, and by other publishers who are "etymology conscious", according to Merriam Webster. Oxford spelling (especially the first form listed in the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Twelfth Edition) is the official or de facto spelling standard used in style guides of the international organizations that belong to the United Nations System. Other international organizations that adhere to this standard include the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Interpol, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Amnesty International (AI), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). Oxford spelling is used in a number of academic publications, including the London based scientific journal Nature and all other UK based "Nature" branded journals, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, and the Journal of Physiology. It is used by The Times Literary Supplement, Encyclopædia Britannica and Cambridge University Press. The newspaper's chief revise editor, Richard Dixon, wrote of the change:

The following table summarizes a few general spelling differences among five major English spelling conventions, plus the French spelling convention for comparison. Note: en GB simply stands for British English; it is not specified whether ize or ise should be used. The language tag en GB oxendict, however, demands the use of ize and ization. +Comparison of English spelling of selected words Britishen GB Oxforden GB oxendict Australianen AU Canadianen CA Americanen US cf. Frenchfr FRorganisationorganizationorganisationorganizationorganizationorganisationrealiserealizerealiserealizerealizeréaliserageingageingaging, ageingagingagingvieillissementanalyseanalyseanalyseanalyzeanalyzeanalyserbehaviourbehaviourbehaviourbehaviourbehaviorcomportementcataloguecataloguecataloguecataloguecatalogue, catalogcataloguecentrecentrecentrecentrecentercentredefencedefencedefencedefencedefensedéfense (noun)défendre (verb)licence (noun)license (verb)licence (noun)license (verb)licence (noun)license (verb)licence (noun)license (verb)licenselicence (noun)autoriser (verb)programmeprogram (computer code)programmeprogram (computer code)programprogram, programmeprogramprogrammetravellertravellertravellertravellertravelertravailleur (worker)voyageur (traveller)