Journal Abbreviation Resources
Listed below are resources that will help you decipher the full title of a journal, when you only have the abbreviation for the journal. It's a bit more problematic to come up with the "approved" abbreviation for a journal, when you have the full title.
List of Journals indexed in Agricola
Lists the full title and abbreviated title for journals indexed in Agricola.Serials indexed in Biological Sciences
From Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, a list of nearly 6000 journals that are indexed in their database, Biological Sciences. Alphabetical by title; includes abbreviations.Journals indexed in Medline
- PubMed's Journal Browser
Enter the journal name, MEDLINE abbreviation, a word from the title, or ISSN. - Biomedical Journal Title Search
Over 8000 titles currently indexed in Medline. Search by title word(s) or abbreviation. Comes back with the full title, abbreviation used in Medline, and ISSN.
CASSI (Chemical Abstracts Serials Source Index)
This resource lists full titles and abbreviated titles for all journals indexed in Chemical Abstracts. There are some pretty obscure titles here!
Still can't find what you need? Try these...
All that JAS
A collection of Web-based resources for translating journal titles. Lots of specialized listings, such as a list that has the BIOSIS information for Entomology journals.
WorldCat
If a journal has ever been catalogued by a library, you'll probably find it here. WorldCat has the cataloguing records for thousands of libraries -- books, journal titles, etc. WorldCat won't give the abbreviation for the journal, but is useful if you're trying to decipher the full title of a journal. For instance, if the abbreviation is Senckenb. Lethaea, you could search: Senckenb* Lethaea*, and you'd find the full title is: Senckenbergiana lethaea! It's important that you guess as much as the word as possible. For example, don't search for J* Biol* Chem*, when you know that "J" stands for "journal", etc.
Libraries Catalog
If you have an abbreviation, and need to know if Purdue has the journal, you can use the "assisted" search mode to enter parts of the title! Again, it's important that you guess as much of the word as possible. For example, don't search for J? Biol? Chem?, when you know that "J" stands for "journal", etc.
Here's how to find the full title of the title Ann Rev Phytopath:
- At the Libraries Classic Catalog: https://www1.lib.purdue.edu/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First
- Click on "Assisted Search"
- Type in: Ann? Review? Phytopath? Note: type in as much of the title as you are sure. For example, don't search for "J?" when you know the word is "journal". On the otherhand, if the abbreviation is "Sci", search for Science? since it may be Science or Sciences! A good rule of thumb: don't truncate words to stems of less than 3 letters...too many words match and the system will not find them all!
- Choose to search "as a phrase" or "all the words"
- Search....you'll find it's the Annual Review of Phytopathology. We not only have the full run of it in paper, but you'll also find that we have the full-text online version, as well!
...Still can't find what you need?
Contact the Life Sciences Reference Department! We'll be very glad to help you. Phone: 765-494-2910.
