Free tool
Journal abbreviation finder
Look up the official NLM abbreviation of any journal title in the NLM Catalog, or get an ISO 4 abbreviation suggested for any title. Results are formatted without periods, as CSE requires.
About this journal abbreviation lookup
Start typing a full journal title and the finder searches the NLM Catalog, the database the U.S. National Library of Medicine uses for PubMed and MEDLINE. Each match shows the official NLM journal abbreviation and its ISSN, ready to copy. If a journal is not in the catalog, you still get a suggested abbreviation built from ISO 4 rules, so you are never left guessing. The tool is free and needs no account.
NLM and ISO 4 journal abbreviations
ISO 4 is the international standard for abbreviating the titles of journals and other serials. It shortens individual words using the ISSN List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA). NLM abbreviations are built on the same standard and are written without periods, which is exactly the form CSE references use. In practice, the NLM journal abbreviation and the ISO 4 abbreviation are usually the same apart from punctuation.
| Full journal title | Abbreviated journal title |
|---|---|
| Journal of Food Science | J Food Sci |
| New England Journal of Medicine | N Engl J Med |
| Applied and Environmental Microbiology | Appl Environ Microbiol |
| Nature Communications | Nat Commun |
| Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |
| Science | Science |
How CSE abbreviates journal titles
- Abbreviate each significant word using the LTWA: Journal → J, Science → Sci, Medicine → Med.
- Drop articles, conjunctions, and prepositions such as “of”, “the”, and “and”.
- Do not use periods:
J Food Sci, notJ. Food Sci. - Never abbreviate one-word titles:
Science,Nature,Cell. - Journal titles are not italicized in CSE references.
When you cite by DOI or PubMed ID in our CSE citation generator, the official abbreviation is filled in for you.
FAQ
Journal abbreviation questions
How do I find the abbreviation of a journal?
Type the full journal title into the finder above. It searches the NLM Catalog, the journal list behind PubMed and MEDLINE, and shows the official abbreviation and ISSN for each match. You can also see the abbreviation on the PubMed record of any article from that journal.
What is the difference between NLM and ISO 4 journal abbreviations?
Both shorten the same words using the List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA). The main difference is punctuation: ISO 4 abbreviations normally end each shortened word with a period (J. Am. Chem. Soc.), while NLM abbreviations leave the periods out (J Am Chem Soc).
Do you use periods in journal abbreviations in CSE style?
No. CSE follows NLM practice and writes journal abbreviations without periods: J Food Sci, not J. Food Sci. A single period then follows the whole abbreviation in the reference, as in “N Engl J Med. 383(1):1–4.”
Are one-word journal titles abbreviated?
No. Journal titles made of a single word, such as Science, Nature, and Cell, are never abbreviated. In longer titles, articles, conjunctions, and prepositions are dropped, so the abbreviation often has fewer words than the full title.
What if a journal is not in the NLM Catalog?
The finder still suggests an abbreviation built from ISO 4 rules and the LTWA, formatted without periods for CSE. Check it against the journal’s own website if you can, since some journals state their preferred abbreviation.
Are journal titles italicized in CSE references?
No. In CSE style, journal titles are abbreviated but not italicized, underlined, or put in quotation marks.
Is the journal abbreviation finder free?
Yes. It is free with no sign-up. When you cite an article by DOI or PubMed ID in the CSE citation generator, the official abbreviation is filled in automatically.