The NLM follows specific guidelines to ensure every journal has a unique, recognizable abbreviation:
The official repository for these abbreviations is , the NLM’s online catalog, and specifically the NLM Catalog of journals. Here, you can search for a journal title and find its official abbreviated form. For example: The NLM follows specific guidelines to ensure every
: Use the Appendix A of Citing Medicine for a list of common English word abbreviations used in titles. Integration with Reference Software Integration with Reference Software Dr
Dr. Elena Vasquez had spent thirty years compiling the dead. Not people, but periodicals. As the last senior editor for Journals Database at the National Library of Medicine, her Bible was not a holy book but the List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA). Her Rosetta Stone was the Index Medicus . As the last senior editor for Journals Database
A: Not always. Some journals print incorrect or inconsistent abbreviations on their covers or websites. Always verify with the NLM Catalog for manuscript submission.
Her job was to kill verbs, crush conjunctions, and behead adjectives. The New England Journal of Medicine became N Engl J Med . Journal of the American Medical Association shrank to JAMA . Annales de médecine interne was simply Ann Med Interne . She found a strange peace in this violence of syntax. In a world of chaos, a standardized abbreviation was a life raft.