An inconsistency that comes up often concerns the use of Arabic numbers in text. I see issues not only in periodical publications, but in books as well.

Generally, these issues concern Arabic numbers that appear at the start of sentences.

Here’s an example:

12.6% of start-ups hire their first employee in the second year, 4.0% hire in the third year, and 3.1% hire in the fourth year.

The question authors and editors ask is whether starting a sentence with a numeral is OK. Authors and editors also often wonder whether adding “A total of” at the beginning might make the sentence clearer and whether it would be acceptable or even advisable.

There are two points to keep in mind. 

First, most publishers never allow Arabic numbers at the start of a sentence. I agree with this tradition and think that using numerals at the beginning of a sentence reads poorly and looks unprofessional.

Second, the only instance where using numerals at the start of any line would be for an item in a bulleted list, or in a table. 

There are two ways that I recommend dealing with this. One would be to completely recast the sentence as follows:

Of start-ups hiring their first employee, 12.6% do so in the second year, 4.0% do so in the third year, and 3.1% do so in the fourth year.

I believe that this makes the sentence more coherent and eliminates the problem completely.

The simpler alternative would be, as suggested above, to add “A total of” at the start of the sentence.

Maintaining long-standing publishing best practices such as this is important to preserve the integrity of published work, which is why paying attention to issues such as this is important. At Virtus, our editorial staff can help.

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