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EndNote

Abbreviation Sources

EndNote has many, but it is not complete.  There are many sources to find abbreviations, depending upon your discipline. Here are some of the most common.

How to Get Endnote to Abbreviate Journal Names: Journal Term List

Some citation formats use abbreviations for journal name rather than the full journal name.
Endnote uses Journal Term Lists to substitute abbreviated journal titles for full journal titles.
 
EndNote provides a number of term lists (chemistry, medical, biology, etc.)  to make sure that the journal names in your bibliography are either the full name or abbreviation as your style requires. To set up your terms list, first make a backup of your library.  Then, please follow the steps below. 
 
Watch the video below for a useful 4 1/2 minute explanation.
 

Part 1-- Import and Edit the Journal Term List
  1. In EndNote, go to "Library> Open Term Lists > Journal Terms List".
  2. Highlight the first journal, and press [Ctrl]+A on the keyboard to highlight all the terms (on a Macintosh, this would be [Command]+A). Note: If the Journal Terms List is empty, skip to step 4.
  3. Next, press the "Delete Term" button to the right to empty the list of old terms.
  4. Go to the "Lists" tab at the top, and click on the "Import List" button.
  5. Browse to the Term Lists folder within the EndNote folder, and choose to open the Medical text file (assuming you want to use the Index Medicus abbreviations).  Note:  The Chemical Term List is from CAS.

    If you are on a Windows machine, this folder should default to:
    C:\Program Files\EndNote (EndNote Version Number)\Term Lists

    If you are on a 64-bit Windows machine, this folder should default to:
    C:\Program Files (X86)\EndNote (EndNote Version Number)\Term Lists

    If you are on a Mac, this folder should default to:
    Hard Drive: Applications: EndNote (EndNote Version Number): Terms 
  6. This will import the correct abbreviations into your library's term list. Note: The list you imported may not have all the journals you want.  
          You can update the list to add journal titles from the citations in your library
          You can edit the list to add or modify journal names/abbreviations 

Part 2--Modify The Output Style So The Abbreviated Journal Name Is Used:

  1. Next, to make sure the style is using the correct substitution, go to "Edit > Output Styles > Open Style Manager".
  2. In the list of styles, highlight the style you are using and click the "Edit" button.
  3. Click on "Journal Names" on the left.
  4. Make sure the style is using the Full Name or one of the Abbreviations as needed. 
ADDITIONAL TROUBLESHOOTING STEPS
If after following the steps above you are still having difficulties getting your journals to abbreviate or show the full name, please see the additional suggestions below.  
  • If  the journal name in your reference within the library doesn't match up exactly with the full name or one of the abbreviations in the terms list, the substitution will not take place. Compare the journal name in your reference to the terms in the term manager and make sure you have an exact match. If the journal name is not in the terms list it will show in red. A single space or the inclusion of a period at the end of the name is enough for it to not be considered a match.
  • A corrupted library can also cause EndNote not to be able to make the proper substitutions. In that case it is necessary to run the recover library command from the Tools menu in EndNote. In most cases the term list will automatically work in the new library, however if it does not please try following the steps above in the new, recovered library.
  • If none of the above steps resolve the problem, take a closer look at the journals terms list. Make sure that the full journal names and abbreviated names are in distinct columns as shown in the video below. If the journal list was accidentally removed and then recreated as a standard term list instead of a journal list, the full journal name and abbreviated names for each term will appear on the same line separated by boxes. To correct this, go to the Lists tab and highlight the existing journal list. Click the Delete List button. Then, click Create List. Name the new list Journals and check the Journal List checkbox. On the Lists tab, highlight journals and then click on Link Lists. Look for Journal/Secondary Title column under the EndNote field column. On the right, under the Term List column, select Journals and click on OK
  • Only use 1 term list at a time to avoid the problems associated with duplicate titles.

Journal Names: How to Set Up a Journals Term List

Last Updated: Feb 1, 2024 3:54 PM