I am currently doing a small editing job for my department and was wondering if there is a list of the most common journal name abbreviations. I am in the social sciences where it is not common to abbreviate names but it seems to be more the norm in the sciences. While I can guess some of the full titles, some mean nothing to me at all!

Any help most appreciated :-)

======= Date Modified 10 Jul 2012 13:22:23 =======
If there's only a few, you could search for the papers on an appropriate database and sometimes the listings have the standard abbreviation. Certainly that's the case for PubMed for (bio)medical sciences.

If you do find a list via other means, do share it cos I think someone had a similar request before and I don't know if any of us had the answer!

Edited to add...
Alternatively, if you're trying to translate back from the abbreviations, you could always post a few here and we could have a guessing game :)

======= Date Modified 10 Jul 2012 13:39:20 =======
I use this list:

http://images.webofknowledge.com/WOK46/help/WOS/A_abrvjt.html

Doesn't have absolutely everything and a bit hard work to navigate (especially working backwards from the abbreviation to the full title!) but I found it pretty useful.

Many thanks both of you, really helpful. Smoobles, I think you just earned yourself a 3rd star! HazyJane, looks like I have voted for you in the past.

There are a few hundred entries altogether, across roughly 40 bibliographies - not all of them are abbreviated but many are. Some are stretching back donkey's years so some journals may not even exist any more. I may take you up on your offer HazyJane and post a few teasers here if I get stuck!

Woohoo! 3 stars!!

Thanks Ady, here's a present in return (and a sprout, just because): (gift)(sprout)