Use and Abuse of Acronyms

We all use them; they are incredibly handy. After all who wants to say or type deoxyribonucleic acid when DNA is so much easier! However, in science writing we have to be very mindful of two things: 1) grants and manuscripts are formal documents and, therefore, require a formal presentation, and 2) the audience, that is the people who may be reading your writing, may not have the same familiarity with the field as you do. While DNA has become unambiguous, even to lay people, most of us create and use acronyms in our work, either as a shorthand in the laboratory or as a way of not having to type out (or read!) a long name repeatedly. Your audience can benefit by the latter, but not from the former. Laboratory shorthand needs to stay in the laboratory. Note that I do not use the word ‘lab’. That is a shorthand. This is formal writing, so I use the whole word.

There are two major benefits for your audience and for you, the author, when they are used appropriately. 1) Your audience benefits when the same acronym is used consistently throughout a scientific area or in your document. Acronyms used in common bring cohesion to a field and immediately places your work in context. The same is true for your document. Using the same acronym ties your document together from beginning to end and helps maintain the logical context within. 2) Audiences do not like long, complicated names anymore than you do. These can get in the way of understanding what you the author are presenting. However, if the acronym is of your devising, remind your audience what it stands for occasionally throughout the document, particularly at the start of the discussion section.

As an editor, I have certain expectations when I see an acronym in use. Below are the rules I follow when considering an author’s use of an acronym:

1. The first use of an acronym in the text MUST include the full name written out. You can do it in two different ways, either the full name with the acronym in parentheses, which is the more standard, or the acronym with the full name in parentheses: for example, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome).

2. When you are defining a new acronym, you can bold and capitalize the letters in the definition that become the acronym. For example, Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome or ARDS. However, this should be limited to a new acronym of your devising for the document you are just writing, in which you are going to use this new acronym. There is no need to let the reader know where the letters of an acronym came from when someone else coined it. So normally, ARDS would not have bold and capitalized letters in its definition; it would be defined as shown in #1.

3. If you only use a phrase once, do not have an acronym for it. There is no point to having an acronym that is never used again. The whole raison d’être for acronyms is repeated use.

4. Even if you include a list of abbreviations, the first use must be fully defined.

5. Journals may have specific instructions about acronyms and their use. Always check the Authors’ Instructions beforehand. As an editor, I try to check those instructions if a client lets me know where they intend to submit.