diff --git a/doc/developers/contributing.rst b/doc/developers/contributing.rst
index b993b03d85cb7..bacb9f9615506 100644
--- a/doc/developers/contributing.rst
+++ b/doc/developers/contributing.rst
@@ -846,6 +846,11 @@ Finally, follow the formatting rules below to make it consistently good:
 * When editing reStructuredText (``.rst``) files, try to keep line length under
   80 characters when possible (exceptions include links and tables).
 
+* In scikit-learn reStructuredText files both single and double backticks
+  surrounding text will render as inline literal (often used for code, e.g.,
+  `list`). This is due to specific configurations we have set. Single
+  backticks should be used nowadays.
+
 * Before submitting your pull request check if your modifications have
   introduced new sphinx warnings and try to fix them.