The growth of acronyms in the scientific literature.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Barnett A
PROVIDER: S-EPMC7556863 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
The growth of acronyms in the scientific literature.
Barnett Adrian A Doubleday Zoe Z
eLife 20200723
Some acronyms are useful and are widely understood, but many of the acronyms used in scientific papers hinder understanding and contribute to the increasing fragmentation of science. Here we report the results of an analysis of more than 24 million article titles and 18 million article abstracts published between 1950 and 2019. There was at least one acronym in 19% of the titles and 73% of the abstracts. Acronym use has also increased over time, but the re-use of acronyms has declined. We found ...[more]
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