ISO 4 (Information and documentation — Rules for the abbreviation of title words and titles of publications) is aninternational standard which defines a uniform system for the abbreviation ofserial publication titles, i.e., titles of publications such asscientific journals that are published in regular installments.[1]
It was initially published in 1972 (ISO 4:1972),[2] with a second edition published in 1984 (ISO 4:1984),[3] and the third edition in 1997 (ISO 4:1997).[4][5]
TheInternational Organization for Standardization (ISO) has appointed theISSN International Centre as theregistration authority for ISO 4. It maintains theList of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA), which contains standard abbreviations for words commonly found in serial titles. The most recent LTWA was updated on 26 February 2024.[6]
A major use of ISO 4 is to abbreviate the names of scientific journals using the LTWA. For instance, under ISO 4 standards, theJournal of Biological Chemistry is cited asJ. Biol. Chem., and theJournal of Polymer Science Part A should be cited asJ. Polym. Sci. A (capitalization is not specified by the standard). The standard notes that "Full stops shall only be used to indicate an abbreviation. Full stops may be omitted from abbreviated words in applications that require limited use of punctuation" (section 4.6).
| Preceded by ISO 3 | Lists of ISOs ISO 4 | Succeeded by ISO 5 |
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