ISSN International Centre

Skip to content


LTWA on-line - Index

- A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

You can browse the list here above in alphabetical order. 

The List of Title Word Abbreviations is the print edition of the machine-readable file of words and abbreviations maintained by the ISSN International Centre. It includes words and their abbreviations used for the establishment of the abbreviated titles of the continuing resources. In accordance with the scope of application of the international standard ISO 4, these abbreviations may also be used for titles of non continuing resources.

Linguistic scope

This list includes words in all languages in the Cyrillic, Greek and Latin alphabets. Cyrillic or Greek words have been transliterated into the Latin alphabet according to the following international standards:

ISO 9: 1995 – Documentation – Transliteration of Slavic Cyrillic characters into Latin characters.

ISO/R843: 1968 – International system for the transliteration of Greek characters into Latin characters.

Each entry in the List includes and associated language code. If a specific language is cited, it means that the entry exists in at least this language. Where more than one language is known to be applicable, the code “multilingual” appears.

Entries in the List and their abbreviations are also valid for words in languages not specifically cited when the listed entry is a cognate in another language, without regards to differences in capitalization or the presence or absence of any diacritics or hyphens.

Since:

conséquence            conséq.                 fre

Famil-                     fam.                      eng

San-Diego                S.-Diego                eng

Thus:

conséquence [eng]      conseq.

Familie [ger]               Fam.

San Diego                  S. Diego

The languages and corresponding codes found in the List are as follows:

afr

afrikaans

lat

latin

alb

albanian

lav

latvian

arm

armenian

lit

lithuanian

aze

azerbaijani

mac

macedonian

baq

basque

may

malay

bel

belarusian

mlt

maltese

bre

breton

mol

moldavian

bul

bulgarian

mon

mongolian

cat

catalan

mul

multilingual

cor

cornish

nor

norvegian

cos

corsican

pol

polish

crp

creoles

por

portuguese

cze

czech

pro

Provençal

dan

danish

roa

other roman languages

dut

dutch

rum

romanian

eng

english

rus

russian

esk

eskimo

scc

serbian

esp

esperanto

scr

croatian

est

estonian

sla

slavic

fin

finnish

slo

slovak

fre

french

slv

slovène

fri

frisian

spa

spanish

gae

gaelic

swe

swedish

gag

gallegan

tag

tagalog

geo

georgian

taj

tadjik

ger

german

tur

turkish

gre

greek

ukr

ukrainien

hun

hungarian

uzb

uzbek

ice

icelandic

wel

welsh

ind

indonesian

wen

sorbian languages

iri

irish

yid

yiddish

ita

italian

yor

yoruba

kaz

kazakh

 

 

kir

kirghiz

 

 

kur

kurdish

 

 

lan

D’oc language

 

 

lap

lappish

 

 

Types of entries

Entries in the List are filled alphabetically without regard to accents or other diacritics. The List contains the following three types of entries:

1. Words in their dictionary forms

abolition                abolit.

compte rendu         c.r.

The abbreviations given are generally also used for the plural and other derivative forms of these words. However, some plural or derivative forms are abbreviated and are listed separately:

country                  ctry.

countries                ctries.

2. Words roots (radical ending in a hyphen)

These entries are truncated forms of words where the hyphen stands for any grammatical or flexional ending as well as endings of derivative forms:

annu-     annu.

This entry is intended to include all semantically related words such as:

annual, annuale, annuaire, annuario, etc.

but does not include any unrelated words, regardless of similar initial spelling. Unrelated words are abbreviated differently and have their own listings:

annuity          n.a.

annul-           annul.

annunc-        annunc.

Also excluded are compound words which begin with these roots; abbreviations for compound words are constructed according to their own specific rules (See Compound words hereafter).

Consider a listed word root to include the word which is the same as the root and use the listed abbreviation.

Since:

fabric-           fabr.

then:

fabrication      fabr.

But also:

fabric             fabr.

If a word needing abbreviation is the same as a word root and the abbreviation for the root is the root itself, consider the word as « n.a. » (not abbreviated).

Since:

mission-        mission.

install-          install.

Then:

missionary      mission.

Installation     install.

But:

mission          n.a.

install            n.a.

Abbreviations listed for word roots are not used for words which would otherwise be encompassed by the root form if less than two letters would be dropped to form the abbreviation.

Since:

modul-          modul.

then:

modular         modul.

But:

module          n.a.

3. Suffixes or words preceded by a hyphen

When these entries occur at the end of a word, the suffix or word is abbreviated as indicated, regardless of whether the entry standing alone would otherwise be abbreviated differently, or not at all.

Since:

-book            -b.

Therefore:

notebook        noteb.

yearbook         yearb.

Therefore:

Book               n.a.

Compound words

In accordance with standard ISO 4, compound words are abbreviated for the most part by combining the individually derived abbreviations for each part, retaining any periods.

Since:

Forschung        Forsch.

Technologie      Technol.

In cases where a hyphen appears in a compound word, it is retained in the abbreviation:

technisch-industriell             tech.-ind.

The abbreviations of some compound words are exceptions and appear in the List with their own specific abbreviations:

gazdaságpolitika                  gazdpolit.

Names of persons

The names of persons are « not abbreviated » and therefore, do not appear in the List. This principle applies also to personal names occurring in the names of corporate bodies and places:

Mozart                             n.a.

Mozart Recording Co.          Mozart Rec. Co.

Mozart county gazette        Mozart cty. Gaz.

However, adjectives formed from names of persons are abbreviated and are found in the List:

mozartien                         mozart.

Geographic names

Prominent or well-known geographic names are abbreviated:

London                  Lond.

New York               N.Y.

Some geographic names of two or more words have abbreviations which differ from the abbreviation that would be produced by taking the words singly:

New Guinea              N. Guin.

Even though:

new                        n.a.

If the name of a lesser known geographic area is the same as or includes the name of a geographic name found in the List, use the existing abbreviation:

London                    Lond.

London, Kansas         Lond. Kans.

Geographic names are also abbreviated when they end in certain listed suffixes, including:

-burg                      -bg.

-ton                        -t.

-ville                       -v.

Thus:

Milledgeville              Milledgev.

Registration of new words and abbreviations

In conformity with the rules of the international standard ISO 4 and the ISSN Manual, any unlisted word, word root, common suffix, prominent or well-known place name occurring in a continuing resource may be proposed for abbreviation and registration in the List, providing the following conditions are met:

  1. The proposed entry is not already covered by an existing entry;
  2. The proposed entry is in a Cyrillic, Greek or Latin alphabet language;
  3. The proposed entry is a compound word whose parts cannot be abbreviated according to the preceding instructions.

References

ISO 4: 1997 – Information and  documentation – Rules for the abbreviation of title words and titles of publications

ISSN Register, available online (the ISSN Portal), it contains abbreviated key titles with all bibliographic data elements identifying the resources. Paris: ISSN International Centre.

ISSN Manual – Paris : ISSN International Centre.

 





© 2006 ISSN International Centre - Legal Notices