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Editorial Manual

Mastheads and cover pages

All United Nations documents other than publications and supplements to the official records bear a masthead identifying the organ to which it is submitted and giving the document symbol, information with regard to the scope of its distribution, the date of issue, the original language and the language of the translated version.

Other elements that normally appear in the masthead are:

• The words “United Nations”
• The emblem of the United Nations
• The name of the principal organ (General Assembly, Security Council, Economic and Social Council, Secretariat) or of certain other major organs (such as UNDP, UNICEF and UNCTAD)

For more information on the use of the United Nations emblem, see Editorial guidelines/Policy questions.

Document symbol

For information on symbols of United Nations documents, see .

Distribution category

The distribution category may be General, Limited or Restricted  (see Editorial guidelines/Policy questions).

Date

The date that appears in the masthead of a document should be the date on which the document is submitted to the Documents Management Section.

Language

Documents must be drafted and submitted in one of the six official languages.

The language of the document indicated in the masthead  (for example Original: English) is the language in which the text was drafted in the Secretariat or submitted to the Secretariat by a Member State or another organization for translation into the other official languages.

The language indicated in the masthead applies to the main document and not to any annexes or attachments to it. If the original language of any annex or attachment is different from that of the main document, that original language is indicated in square brackets at the top of the annex in question (under and to the right of the heading Annex). If the annex is being circulated in the language of submission only, however, it is not necessary to indicate the language notation at the top of the annex.

If a complete text is submitted in more than one language version – for example, a peace agreement drafted and signed in equally authentic English and French versions – then the language is indicated in the masthead – or above the text in the case of an annex – as Original: English and French.

If a document is made up of a number of different texts – such as replies from Member States or curricula vitae – submitted in various languages, then the language is indicated in the masthead as, for example, Original: Arabic/English/French/Spanish.

Similarly, if some sections of a report are drafted in English and some in French, the language shown is Original: English/French.

If a document is issued in one official language only, the notation Original: English is replaced with Arabic only, Chinese only, English only and the like.

If a document is issued in more than one official language but not in all of them, the languages are indicated in the masthead, below the original language:

          Original: English
          English, French and Spanish only

Note: A footnote may be added to indicate the reason for the issuance of the document in some languages only.

This instruction does not apply to corrigenda. For the language designation in corrigenda, see Editorial guidelines/Basic Documents/Corrigenda and reissues.

Corner notation

In the upper left-hand corner of the cover page, under the masthead, information is given on: 

• Body concerned
• Session
• Place and dates of the session
• Agenda item number
• Agenda item title

Not all of these elements apply to all documents (see models below). There is no need to include the place of the session in documents of the principal organs (General Assembly, Security Council and Economic and Social Council), nor of the Human Rights Council. However, the place of the session should be included in documents of the subsidiary bodies of those organs.  

Agenda

In the case of the General Assembly, the reference is to an item of the preliminary list, or an item of the provisional agenda, or an item of the agenda as adopted at the start of the session. A footnote reference is provided for the preliminary list and the provisional agenda; there is no footnote for the annotated preliminary list or the adopted agenda (for more detailed information on the various stages of the agenda of the General Assembly, see Basic Documents/Documents relating to the agendas of the principal organs).

In reports and communications, a sub-item is always included after the main item, even if the two are identical, unless the sub-item is also the title of the report.

In draft resolutions, the sub-item is always included with the main item, even when they are identical and when the sub-item is also the title of the draft resolution.

In documents of the Security Council, no agenda item is given.

In the case of the Economic and Social Council, the reference is to the provisional agenda or the adopted agenda of the session. A footnote is provided for the provisional agenda only.

If a document is issued before the earliest form of the agenda is available – the preliminary list, in the case of the General Assembly, or the provisional agenda, in the case of the Economic and Social Council – no item number is given.

Dates

For the dates of the session, use:

• An en dash for a series: 10–21 April 2023
• The word "and" for consecutive dates: 12 and 13 June 2023

Headings

Every document issued for the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council other than a communication from a Member State or high Secretariat official normally has a title indicating the subject (which frequently corresponds to the agenda item or sub-item) and a subtitle indicating the type of document (report, note, memorandum and the like) and the author (normally the Secretary-General). In reports of the Secretary-General, the headings are followed by a summary, contained in a text box, regardless of the length of the document.

(See also Basic documents/Notes by the Secretary-General.)

Models

The models below show the style of the corner notation and headings for various documents of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Economic and Social Council, as well as a model of a treaty body document.

General Assembly

(item used as title)

(item used as title)

(item used as title)

(agenda item used as title)

(specific title, different from agenda item)

(sub-item used as title)

(sub-item used as title)

(specific title, different from sub-item)

Document issued under many sub-items

(A/ and E/)

 (A/ and S/)

 (A/C...)

Security Council

Economic and Social Council

 (reference to provisional agenda)

(reference to adopted agenda)

Treaty body