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Abbreviations (incl. which abbreviations don't need to be expanded?)

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JMIR Editorial Department
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All acronyms/abbreviations (except common ones such as WWW and HTML, see below) must be explained in parenthesis after their first occurrence. If many unfamiliar acronyms/abbreviations are used, please compile them in an "Abbreviations" section at the end of the paper.

Please do not introduce author-invented acronyms in text and titles, except for entities with lengthy names that are/will be better known under their acronym, for example:

  • instruments/scales (eg, "Diabetes Self-Management and Technology Questionnaire (DSMT-Q)"),
  • trial names,
  • software products,
  • reporting standards (eg, CONSORT), or
  • other entities that are/will be better known under their acronym.

The policy for entities that are currently better known under their acronym (eg, PRISMA) is to list the acronym first and then expand it (this is relatively rare). The policy for entities that will be better known under their acronym (especially for new instruments and scales) is to mention the expanded version first followed by the abbreviated version.

We also do not allow acronyms of "person-centered" phrases such as "PwD" for "persons with diabetes" or "persons with dementia" - please spell these out consistently. As electronic journal we have indefinite space, so except for tables there is no reason to obscure the meaning by using or inventing cryptic acronyms.

According to AMA guidelines (in particular, sections 3.14.11 and 4.20.10), the following abbreviations may be used without expansion:

  • AIDS — acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
  • C — complement
  • CD — clusters of differentiation
  • CD — compact disc
  • CD-ROM — compact disc read-only memory
  • cf — compare
  • CI — confidence interval
  • CST — central standard time
  • DDT — dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (chlorophenothane)
  • df — degrees of freedom
  • DNA — deoxyribonucleic acid
  • DOS — disk operating system
  • dpi — dots per inch
  • EDTA — ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
  • eg — for example
  • EST — eastern standard time
  • etc — et cetera
  • F — French (add catheter)
  • GB — gigabyte
  • GMT — Greenwich mean time
  • HIV — human immunodeficiency virus
  • HLA — human leukocyte antigen (use "HLA antigen")
  • HTML — hypertext markup language
  • http — hypertext transfer protocol
  • ie — that is
  • IQ — intelligence quotient
  • ISBN — International Standard Book Number
  • ISSN — International Standard Serial Number
  • JPEG — Joint Photographic Experts Group
  • kB — kilobyte
  • m- — meta-
  • MB — megabyte
  • MST — mountain standard time
  • nb — nota bene (note well)
  • Nd:YAG — neodymium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet [laser]
  • o- — ortho-
  • OD — oculus dexter (right eye)
  • OS — oculus sinister (left eye)
  • OU — oculus unitas (both eyes) or oculus uterque (each eye)
  • p- — para-
  • PaCO2 — partial pressure of carbon dioxide, arterial
  • PaO2 — partial pressure of oxygen, arterial
  • PCO2 — partial pressure of carbon dioxide
  • PDA — personal digital assistant
  • PDF — portable document format
  • pH — negative logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration
  • PO2 — partial pressure of oxygen
  • PST — Pacific standard time
  • RAM — random access memory
  • Rh — rhesus
  • RNA — ribonucleic acid
  • ROM — read-only memory
  • SAS — statistical analysis system
  • SD — standard deviation
  • SE — standard error
  • SGML — standardized general markup language
  • SPSS — Statistical Product and Service Solutions (formerly Statistical Package for the Social Sciences)
  • SSC — standard saline citrate
  • SSPE — sodium chloride, sodium phosphate, EDTA [buffer]
  • TB — terabyte
  • TIFF — Tag(ged) Image File Format
  • TNM — tumor, node, metastasis
  • ul — uniformly labeled
  • URI — uniform resource identifier
  • URL — uniform resource locator
  • URN — uniform resource name
  • UV — ultraviolet
  • UV-A — ultraviolet A
  • UV-B — ultraviolet B
  • UV-C — ultraviolet C
  • VDRL — Venereal Disease Research Laboratory
  • vs — versus
  • XML — extensible markup language
  • zip — zone improvement plan (zip code)

 

Additionally, JMIR has its own list of abbreviations that we feel can be used without expansion, since they will be familiar to the vast majority of readers or are more recognizable as an abbreviation:

  • App —  in the context of mobile apps, it is simply "app". "App" is not an acronym for "application". 
  • BMI — body mass index
  • COVID-19 — coronavirus disease 
  • DVD — digital video disc/digital versatile disc
  • eHealth — electronic health
  • ID — identification
  • IQ — intelligence quotient
  • IQR— interquartile range
  • JMIR (when used as brand name/referring to the publisher) — please do NOT expand for sister journal titles ("JMIR mHealth and uHealth") or the publisher ("JMIR Publications"). Do expand to "Journal of Medical Internet Research" ONLY when referring to the particular journal at http://www.jmir.org with the ISSN 1438-8871.  See also What does "JMIR" in the title of your journals stand for? 
  • GPS — global positioning system
  • PC — personal computer
  • PNG (and other file names) — portable network graphics
  • SARS-CoV-2 — severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2  
  • SIM — subscriber identification module
  • SMS — short message service
  • USB — universal serial bus
  • Common database names (eg, Embase, CINAHL, MEDLINE)

 

This applies to the abstract, title, main manuscript, and any tables/figures/textboxes/appendices.

 

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