7 | How to Use and Format Acronyms

Acronyms help us to communicate scientific content quickly. However, the use of too many acronyms or the improper use of acronyms can hamper reader comprehension. Best practices for using acronyms in papers include the following.

Define the acronym at its initial point of use in the abstract and again in the main text.

Once an acronym has been defined in the main text, use it thereafter (though repeat definitions are acceptable in the conclusions of a long paper and figure and table captions).

Avoid the use of acronyms in titles (with the rare exception of a lengthy gene name, most title words should be spelled in full to make the content readable for a broad audience).

Do not use an acronym if the phrase is used rarely—though it may be appropriate to use such an acronym for organization names and methodological names that are best known by their acronyms, e.g., NIH, HPLC.

Use acronyms judiciously while balancing the competing needs for brevity and clarity for non-technical readers.

If your paper contains numerous acronyms, consider creating a list of abbreviations to be published along with the text if space allows, as this will aid in reader comprehension.

Typically, the acronym is defined in full before the parentheses and the acronym itself is given within the parentheses. However, if the definition is too disruptive to the flow of the text (e.g., a gene name), you may write the acronym first and place the full definition in parentheses—apply this technique sparingly. Similarly, reverse order may be appropriate for organizational names if the entity is better known by its acronym.

While some journals do allow the use of a few common acronyms without definition, for example, DNA and RNA, it is usually best to define the term if there is any doubt as to what is acceptable for a particular journal.

The above advice applies to grant proposals too. In particular, define all acronyms at their point of first use in each section of a grant proposal because reviewers may skip to different sections. Introductory sections (Summary, Project Narrative, Specific Aims) must always be written as stand-alone documents, i.e., be understood without having to refer to other sections.