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Index Medicus -national Library Of Medicine- Abbreviations For Journal Titles -

You may encounter another abbreviation set: the ISO 4 standard. While often similar to NLM, there are differences (e.g., J Biol Chem under NLM is often J. Biol. Chem. under ISO 4, with periods). Always use NLM for journals requiring that style.

  • Single-Word Titles: Journals with single-word titles are never abbreviated.
  • Suffixes: Subtitles are generally omitted.
  • Capitalization: Abbreviations use sentence-style capitalization (only the first word and proper nouns are capitalized).

    • When searching PubMed, using the correct abbreviation can sometimes help narrow down search results, particularly when the journal name is generic (e.g., Science or Nature).

    To understand the abbreviations, one must understand their origin. Index Medicus was a comprehensive bibliographic index of scientific medical journal articles, published historically by the U.S. Library of the Surgeon General's Office (which later became the NLM). You may encounter another abbreviation set: the ISO

    For over a century, Index Medicus served as the primary roadmap to medical literature. To save space and ensure consistency within the printed volumes, the NLM developed a rigorous system for abbreviating journal titles. This became known as the Index Medicus style.

    Although the printed Index Medicus ceased publication in 2004, succeeded by the electronic database MEDLINE and the search engine PubMed, the abbreviation style remains the standard for medical writing. Today, it is formally referred to as NLM Title Abbreviation. Suffixes: Subtitles are generally omitted

    The NLM abbreviation system is not random; it follows a clear set of internal rules. Understanding these rules allows you to decipher an abbreviation even if you don't have the catalog handy.

    Never guess. Always look it up. Here are the three best methods: When searching PubMed

  • PubMed (Quickest):

  • The List of Journals Indexed in Index Medicus (Historical):

    • | Full Journal Title | NLM Abbreviation | | :--- | :--- | | New England Journal of Medicine | N Engl J Med | | The Lancet | Lancet | | Journal of the American Medical Association | JAMA | | British Medical Journal (Clinical Research Ed.) | BMJ | | Nature Medicine | Nat Med | | Cell | Cell | | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA | Proc Natl Acad Sci USA | | Journal of Biological Chemistry | J Biol Chem | | Pediatrics | Pediatrics | | Circulation | Circulation |