The more you use the journals, the more familiar you will find the journal titles and their abbreviations. It is important for you to become familiar with journal titles and their abbreviations as soon as possible, otherwise you will struggle with the language of the literature, just as you would with medical terminology.
Note in the example on the left, the abbreviation for the South African Medical Journal can be either SAMJ or S Afr Med J. If you are unsure which to use, ask your librarians or your tutors, or use the full journal title until you become accustomed to which abbreviation to use.
The more you practise using the journals, the quicker you will become familiar with journal titles and journal title abbreviations. There are some conventions which you can learn right now.
Journal in the title is usually abbreviated to J; International is generally Int;Annals generally becomes Ann; Archives is generally abbreviated to Arch; while Medicine is generally Med.
Very Important: Journal title spelling is extremely important, so note that Paediatrics can also be spelled Pediatrics, Gynaecology as Gynecology, etc. The spelling will alert you to whether the journal is a British, European or American publication, as sometimes journals have the same or similar titles, but are published by different publishers from different countries.
