ba-1951-0004.ch008

Identification of Less Common Forms of Abbreviations of Chemical Journal Titles TERESA GNASSO LABOV

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Downloaded by UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST on May 31, 2018 | https://pubs.acs.org Publication Date: January 1, 1961 | doi: 10.1021/ba-1951-0004.ch008

The Barrett Division, Allied Chemical & Dye Corp., New York 6, Ν. Y.

Journal citations are unwelcomed by the literature searcher only when they tend to obscure rather than to disclose the actual journal title. Confusion in such a citation may arise from a change in the normal word order, as inversion; addition of extra words, such as the society name, place of imprint, or founder; unusual contractions or abbreviations of individual words; and the complete omission of certain words appearing in the full title. Standard abbreviations have been established from time to time, but as yet no one system of constructing abbreviations may be considered to be truly international.

T o the chemical worker, references to periodicals, books, and patents are the means b y which the wealth of published scientific knowledge is made accessible. Without the elaborate network of abstract journals, bibliographies, reviews, and indexes which exist today, the research worker is little better off than the first man who discovered the use of fire. A n important phase of locating any article is the identification of the periodical i n which it appeared, or, as is more often the case, the abbreviations of its title.

General Forms of Abbreviation Few literature searches can remain within the Chemical Abstracts system of abbrevia tions for any length of time. E v e n within the confines of Chemical Abstracts, Beilstein, British Abstracts, and Chemisches Zentralblatt, the abbreviation of Justus Liebig's Annalen der Chemie will vary from Ann. to A to Annalen to Liebig's Ann. Chem. Other examples could easily be appended. One question arises immediately: Is there not at least one standard list of abbreviations of journal titles? I n 1922, the abbreviations used i n the " L i s t of Periodicals Abstracted by Chemical Abstracts" (8) were adopted as a standard b y the International U n i o n of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Crane and Patterson (12) commented i n 1927 that these abbreviations "have not been accepted universally, but their use is increasing/' and Soule (42) added i n 1938 that the adoption of the " L i s t of Periodicals Abstracted b y Chemical Abstracts" b y the International Union of Chemistry "gives the list a definite status and increases the probability of its wider adoption i n the near future." One can readily observe that the acceptance b y the International U n i o n of Pure and Applied Chemistry of Chemical Abstracts abbreviations has not led to many drastic changes i n practice. I t is encouraging that, among the standard reference works pub lished since 1922, at least one (18) follows this list. Another list of abbreviations is offered b y the " W o r l d List of Scientific Periodicals" 1

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P r e s e n t a d d d r e s s , S i n c l a i r R e f i n i n g C o . , N e w Y o r k 20, Ν . Y .

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SEARCHING THE CHEMICAL LITERATURE Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1961.

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ADVANCES IN CHEMISTRY SERIES

(44 4&)* The second edition of this work, published i n 1934, contains abbreviations which follow the system recommended at an international conference of the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation. The original W o r l d List abbreviations, pub lished i n 1927, required only slight modifications to comply with this system. The whole problem of abbreviated titles is aptly reviewed b y M i t c h e l l i n his preface to the second edition of the W o r l d List, where he states that "the use of abbreviated titles is a necessity i n scientific literature, but unless the abbreviations have been devised so that each one indicates only one periodical and also unless they are i n general use, they fail of their purpose." T h e R o y a l Society Scientific Information Conference, held i n London from June 21 to J u l y 2, 1948, recommended that the W o r l d List abbreviations be adopted b y abstracting agencies. Pflucke i n 1933 (31) mentions that the Chemisches Zentralblatt abbreviations are based on the W o r l d List and the rules of the International Institute of Intellectual C o operation, as set forth i n German Standard N o . 1502. Thus there are two sets of abbreviations which have attained, at the very minimum, the nominal status of international standards. A comparison of the two lists—i.e., " L i s t of Periodicals Abstracted b y Chemical Abstracts" most recently revised i n 1946, and the " W o r l d List of Scientific Periodicals"— discloses the following data:


f

Chemical Abstracts 1946

World List 1934

7842 entries, including 4318 titles in current usage and 3524 ear lier titles, with refer ences to succeeding ones 36,000 titles listed

I n general, the citations i n the World List are slightly longer than those i n Chemical Abstracts. Chemical Abstracts

World List

Ber.

Ber. dtsch. chem. Ges.

Chem. Ind. Compt. rend.

Chem. Industr., Berl. C. R. Acad. Sci., Paris

Monatsh. Mh. Chem. Rec. trav. chim. Rec. Trav. chim. Pays-Bas

Title Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft Die Chemische Industrie Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de Vacadémie des sciences Monatshefte fur Chemie und verwandte Teile anderer Wissenschaften Recueil des travaux chimiques des Pays-Bas

This difference i n length of citation would be expected, because the W o r l d List must distinguish among nearly five times as many journals as Chemical Abstracts. Another system of abbreviations, which also has a world-wide perspective, is utilized i n the "International Catalogue of Scientific Literature" (21). This work, a continuation of the "Catalogue of Scientific Papers" which will cover the literature of the nineteenth century, is issued annually i n seventeen volumes, the fourth of which deals with chemistry. The rules for periodical abbreviations which are given i n the "Instructions for Use of Regional Bureaus" (1903) are most brief. T h e first two rules state general principles to which no one would object. 1. Abbreviated titles must be intelligible without a key. 2. Words i n abbreviated titles must follow each other i n the same order as the original title. The remaining two rules presuppose a little more than what is common knowledge of the histories of various journals. 3.

Titles of proceedings, reports, or scientific periodicals i n general, which are SEARCHING THE CHEMICAL LITERATURE Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1961.

LABOV—LESS C O M M O N

ABBREVIATIONS O F JOURNAL TITLES

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edited or published b y learned societies, academies, etc., must begin with the name of the place where the society resides. 4. When the society does not reside i n a fixed place, the publication must be dealt with as stated i n Rule 2, the place of present publication being added at the end of the abbreviation. Chemical Abstracts has no written rules for abbreviation of periodical titles (δ). I n general, the normal word order of the title is preserved. The abbreviations should suggest the title without use of the List of Periodicals. I n each of the prefaces to the two editions of the W o r l d List, a special description of the rules employed i n constructing the abbreviations is given. T h e rules of the " I n t e r national Code of-Abbreviations for Titles of Periodicals" (1930) and its supplement (1932) were utilized i n revising the directions given i n the first edition {22). A brief summary of these rules, as they now exist, is as follows: 1. Contractions are differentiated from abbreviations b y omission of full stop. Thus if Engineering is contracted to Engng, no period follows the abbreviation, whereas if Engineering is shortened to Eng., a period is used. 2. Nouns have capital initial letters, adjectives small. 3. Prepositions, articles, and connectives are generally omitted. 4. Singular and plural words are not distinguished. 5. Places of imprint are omitted, except where a question of the language used, or the need to distinguish two periodicals with the same title, arises. 6. I n Germanic and Scandinavian languages, different parts of complex words are abbreviated as if distinct. F o r example, Kunstseide might be abbreviated Kt.-sd., but never Kunst. Similar problems arise when one attempts to define the most general forms used i n citing journals i n other sciences. T h e question of standard abbreviations for titles of periodicals i n botany was discussed recently b y Little (25). T h e confusion within this science exists i n part because each of the four main botanical indexes—i.e., Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, Agricultural Index, Biological Index, and Bibliography of Agricul ture—stoutly adheres to its own system of abbreviating periodical titles. The suggestion is made b y Little that an attempt to eliminate these differences be made at the forth coming Seventh International Botanical Congress at Stockholm. Thus, various schemes for standardization of abbreviations have met with only partial success. I t is not surprising that additional proposals for eliminating abbreviation prob lems have been made. One suggestion that has been presented from time to time is to assign a number to every periodical and use these numbers i n place of word abbreviations. Whereas such a scheme would eliminate the confusion which now exists between the same or similarly titled periodicals, i t would create problems when periodicals change titles or cease publication, or when new periodicals are initiated. Also the numbers would give little indication of the subject matter or type of journal cited. A more feasible plan was proposed b y the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation and, more recently, b y the R o y a l Society. L e t it be the responsibility of the periodical publisher to obtain an abbreviation which has the approval of either Chemical Abstracts or the W o r l d List (preferably both). This abbreviation would then appear printed on the covers and at the bottom of each page of the journal. Such a plan would make abbreviation problems a thing of the past.

Less Common Forms of Abbreviation There seem to be logically only four types of word order which can be used i n abbrevi ating the name of a journal. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Exact title order, as appears i n the periodical. Name of issuing society, followed by the title. Place of imprint, followed by the title Founder or successive editors of journal, followed by title.



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Thus, for the Journal of the American Chemical Society, there would be :


1. 2.

J. Am. Çhem. Soc. Am, Chem. Soc., J.

3. 4.

Washington, J. Am. Chem. Soc. Lamb, J. Am. Chem. Soc.

I n addition to the problem of which word order is to be used, there is the question of which words or parts of words shall be omitted or retained. For instance, the word American might appear as A, Am., Amer., or Amern., not to mention what is done to the word Journal. I n addition, the letter A might also stand for Annalen, annaler, annales, annali, Annalen der Chemie, abstracts, age, or even British Abstracts, Section A. Generally no difficulty arises i n the case of a periodical abbreviation given i n exact title order, provided that the individual word abbreviations chosen are long and distinct enough. T h e abbreviation Z. an. follows the principle of strict order, but its parsimony leads to a possible confounding of the following: Z. anal. Chem. Z. anal. Entwichlungsgeschichte Z. angew. Chem. Z. angew. Mikroskop. u. Klin. Chem.

Z. angew. Mineral. Z. angew. Phot. Wiss. u. Tech. Z. anorg. Chem. Z. anorg. u. allgem. Chem.

Similarly, the Russian word Trudy as an abbreviation would lead to the possible confusion of 126 citations (86 of which now have other titles). B y beginning an abbreviation with the name of the issuing society, as i n the case of Am. Chem. Soc, J., one benefit is procured: M o s t libraries index and shelve society or institutional periodicals and pamphlets under the name of the society issuing them. Whereas Deutsche chemische Gesellschaft, Berichte m a y be entirely logical to a librarian ; however, its utility to the research worker is more questionable. A n ingenious variation for the abbreviation of an important Italian journal can be found b y considering Atti delta reale accademia nazionale dei Lincei, Rendiconti Classe di scienze fisiche, matematiche e naturali. Chemical Abstracts accords one of its lengthiest abbreviations to this journal, maintaining, however, the normal word order—Atti accad. nazi. Lincei, Classe sci. fis. mat. e nat. Chemisches Zentralblatt also conforms to the logical word order i n using Atti R. Accad naz. Lincei, Rend. However, Beilstein and British Abstracts invert the order and place the society first so as to produce R.A.L., and Real. Acc. Lincei, respectively. The third arrangement of abbreviations, with the place of imprint first, is exemplified by Wash., J. Am. Chem. Soc. Thus Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft is sometimes cited as Berliner Ber., or even Ber. Ber. The methods i n which the society or place of imprint is placed first i n citing journals are not too common, and the fact that such systems have been utilized can generally be recognized without too much difficulty. The last type of word order to be considered consists i n placing first the name of the founder or one of the successive editors of the journal. A brief list of the most common of such abbreviations includes the following: Crell J., Journal filr die reine und angewandte Mathematik Dingl, J., Dingier^ Polytechnisches Journal Drude, Annalen der Physik Erdemann's J., Journal fUr praktische Chemie Fr., Zeitschrift fur analytische Chemie (Fresenius) Gilb. Ann., Annalen der Physik (Gilbert) H.-S., Zeitschrift fUr physiologische Chemie (Hoppe-Seyler) Liebig's, Annalen der Chimie Pogg. Ann., Annalen der Physik (Poggendorf) Pflûger Arch., Archiv fur die gesamte Physiologie Sill. J., The American Journal of Science (Silliman) Wiedermann's Ann., Annalen der Physik

A n extensive list of older periodicals, including their editors, is given b y D y s o n (14)G i v e n a n abbreviated citation that is not immediately decipherable, how then to proceed to identify it? SEARCHING THE CHEMICAL LITERATURE Advances in Chemistry; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1961.


LABOV—LESS C O M M O N ABBREVIATIONS OF JOURNAL TITLES

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One tendency might well be mentioned here. The shorter and seemingly more obscure abbreviations are generally those given to the most widely used journals within any one field. I t is more likely that Α., Β., and C. will refer to Annalen der Chemie, Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellsciiafl, and Comptes rendus Jiebdomadaires des seances de Vacadémie des sciences, than to periodicals such as Allgemeine Textile-Zeitschrift, Bulletin of Pharmacy, and Coal Age. A first step in unraveling the obscure citation is to place it i n one of the four categories described above. Thus Lond., P.R.S. is obviously a case of the place of imprint pre ceding the title, whereas S.C.I.J. is probably an example of the issuing society placed first. B y omitting the place or society name, the remaining parts of words m a y be found by using any of the periodical lists giving abbreviations. The location of some of these sources is given i n the bibliography. If i t is suspected that an editor's or founder's name has been utilized—for example, Lamb, J. Am. Chem. Soc.—the abbreviations shown above should be considered, as well as descriptions of the history of chemical periodicals such as those of Crane and Patterson (12), Mellon {26), or Soule (1$). The various sources of lists of abbreviations may aid i n discovering the journal name. When the citation is seemingly given i n normal title order, clues to the subject matter considered may help to identify the journal. The subject matter might be de duced from such key words as Bot. (Botany) or Anal. (Analytical) or from the content of the reference itself. The data of the reference and the language i n which the reference is published may also be valuable; these would aid i n placing the journal within definite time-space limits. Again, such guides to the chemical literature as Crane and Patterson (12) or Mellon (26) should be utilized. Perhaps even the synchronistic tables as found in Lange (24) may be of value. This discussion is b y no means complete. N o attempt has been made to consider the problems which arise when i t is necessary to transliterate other alphabets into the Roman. This problem arises especially with the Slavic languages, Chinese, Japanese, and Hebrew. Generally, such citations tend to be lengthy, and hence more easily deciphered. No complete scheme can or should be proposed for identifying obscure journal cita tions. A n outline is suggested which may be valuable at times, and at other times totally useless. I n this problem, as i n all others considered i n this symposium, the searcher needs a good general knowledge of chemical literature, plus intuition and the proverbial grain of skepticism to produce the desired results.

Selected Bibliography of References on Journal Citations (1) Abstracting Services Consultative Committee, "List of Periodicals and Bulletins Containing Abstracts Published in Great Britain," London, Royal Society, 1949. (2) Allen, E. F., "Dictionary of Abbreviations and Symbols," New York, Coward-McCann, 1946. (3) Anon., "Editors: Relax, Please," Am. Scientist, 35, 306, 308, 310, 312-14, 316, 318 (1947). (4) Barrows, F. E., "Investigations of the Chemical Literature," Chem. Met. Eng., 24, 423-8, 477-9, 517-21 (1921). (5) Bernier, C. L., private communication, April 29, 1950. (6) Bureau of Abstracts, London, "Principles of Abstracts," 1949. (7) Cameron, G. R., "Manual of the Literature of Chemistry," Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press, 1940. (8) Chemical Abstracts, " L i s t of Periodicals Abstracted by Chemical Abstracts," 1946.

(9) Clapp, V. W., "International Conference on Science Abstracting, Paris, June 20 to 25, 1949," Library of Congress Information Bulletin, Appendix, pp. 1-3 (July 12-18, 1949). (10) Crane, E. J., "Periodical List of Publications," Chem. Eng. News, 25, 2075 (1947). (11) Crane, E. J., "Twenty-eight Hundred Periodicals of Chemical Interest," Ind. Eng. Chem., News Ed., 14, 447 (1936). (12) Crane, E. J., and Patterson, A. M., "Guide to the Literature of Chemistry," New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1927. (13) Davidson, Α., "Periodica Technica Abbreviata," Series Tekniska Litteratursällskapets, Hand bok Nr. 1, Stockholm, Victor Pettersons Bokindustriaktiebolag, 1946. (14) Dyson, G. M., "Searching the Older Chemical Literature," ADVANCES IN CHEM. SERIES, No. 4, 96 (1950). (15) Ellis, Α., "Application of Scientific Principles to Scientific Publications," Sci. Monthly, 66, 427-30 (1948).



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16) Frank, O., "Normung und Dokumentation in Deutschland," Intern. Fed. Doc., Trans., 14, C111-13 (1938). (17) Grivet, T., "Present State of Science Abstracting Services and Possible Improvements," U N E S C O / N S / S A C / 1, Paris (April 15, 1949). (18) Heilbron, I. M., "Dictionary of Organic Compounds," New York, Oxford University Press, 1934-38. (19) Heinrich, Α., "Aküschlü, Abkürzüngsschüssel herausgegeben und bearbeitet vom Verlag," Berlin, Brunnen, 1935. (20) Hollmann, W., " D i e Zeitschriften der exakten Naturwissenschaften in Deutschland," Series Zeitung und Leben, Bd. 39, Munich, Zeitungswissenschaftliche Vereinigung, 1937. (21) International Council, "International Catalogue of Scientific Literature, List of Journals with Abbreviations Used in the Catalogue as References," London, Royal Society, 1903; Supple ment, 1904. (22) International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, "International Code of Abbreviations for Titles of Periodicals," International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation, Paris, 1930; Supplement, 1932. (23) John Crerar Library, Chicago, "Abbreviations by Initial Letters," Ref. List 39-42 (1938). (24) Lange, Ν. Α., "Handbook of Chemistry," pp. 1762-5, Sandusky, Ohio, Handbook Publishers, 1946. (25) Little, E. L., "Citations of Botanical References," Science, 110, 666-8 (1949). (26) Mellon, M. G., "Chemical Publications, Their Nature and Use," New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1940. (27) Merril, E. D., "Appeal for Simplified Literature Citations," Science, 62, 419-20 (1925). (28) Mummendey, R., "Bibliographie der Gesamt-Zeitschriften-Verzeichnisse" Series Kölner Bibliographieche Arbeiten, Bd. 4, Köln, Baldwin Pick, 1939. (29) Pflücke, M., "Normierung der chemisch-wissenschaftlichen Literatur," Z. angew. Chem., 42, 1053-5 (1929). (30) Pflücke, M., "Normungsfragen der deutschen chemischen Literatur," Z. angew. Chem., 48, 25-8 (1935). (31) Pflücke, M., "Verzeichnis der im Chemischen Zentralblatt gehaltenen und erschöpfend re ferierten Zeitschriften mit dem dazugehöringen genormten Zeitschriftenabkürzungen," Berlin, Verlag Chemie, 1933. (32) Prinzhorn, F . , "Nationale und Internationale Normen auf dem Gebiet des Bibliothek-, Buch -undZeitschriftenwesens," Intern. Fed. Doc., Trans., 14, C108-10 (1938). (33) Prinzhorn, F., "Normung für Bibliothek-, Buch- und Zeitschriftenwesen," Zentr. Bibliothek., 45, 522-33 (1928). (34) Royal Society, "Royal Society Scientific Information Conference, 21 June-2 July 1948, Report and Papers Submitted," London, 1948. (35) Rust, W., "Regelung der Zitierformen von Wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften," Intern. Fed. Doc., Trans., 14, C110-11 (1938). (36) Rust, W., "Verzeichnis von unklaren Titelkürzungen deutscher und ausländischer Zeitschrif ten," Leipzig, Harrassowitz, 1927. (37) Rust, W., "Vorschlag zur Regelung der Zitierform," Zentr. Bibliothek., 44, 503-14 (1927). (38) Serralach, M., "Bibliografía Química," Barcelona, Claraso, 1946. (39) Shankle, G. E., "Current Abbreviations," New York, H. W. Wilson Co., 1945. (40) Shull, C. Α., "Erroneous Citations and Titles of Scientific Papers," Science, 73, 363-4 (1931). (41) Singer, T. E. R., "Current Abstract and Index Periodicals of Interest to Chemists," News Ed. (Am. Chem. Soc.), 18, 541-2 (1940). (42) Soule, Β. Α., "Library Guide for the Chemist," New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1938. (43) Stephenson, H. J., "Abbrevs. (a Dictionary of Abbreviations)," New York, Macmillan Co., 1943. (44) World List of Scientific Periodicals Published in the Years 1900-1921, Vol. 1, Abbreviated Titles and Location of Sets, 1925; Vol. 2, 1927, London, Oxford University Press. (45) World List of Scientific Periodicals Published in the Years 1900-1933, London, Oxford Uni versity Press, 1934. (46) Zimmerman, O. T . , and Lavine, I., "Scientific and Technical Abbreviations, Signs and Sym bols," Dover, Ν. H., Industrial Research Service, 1948. RECEIVED

J u l y 6, 1950.

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