Use when looking up journal or magazine name abbreviations, converting between full names and ISO 4/MEDLINE abbreviations, processing BibTeX files for journal name standardization, or answering questions about 期刊缩写/杂志缩写. Triggers on "journal abbreviation", "abbreviate journal", "journal name", "期刊缩写", "杂志缩写", "ISO 4", "LTWA", "BibTeX journal". PROACTIVELY USE when user mentions citation formatting, reference list preparation, or manuscript submission to specific journals.
Look up journal/magazine name abbreviations using a multi-source cascade: JabRef database (~25K journals) → AbbrevISO API (ISO 4) → NLM Catalog (MEDLINE).
Critical rule: Always use jabbrv.py for lookups. Never guess abbreviations — even common journals have non-obvious abbreviations.
| User wants... | Command |
|---|---|
| Abbreviate a journal name | python3 jabbrv.py abbrev "Nature Medicine" |
| Expand an abbreviation | python3 jabbrv.py expand "Nat. Med." |
| Auto-detect direction | python3 jabbrv.py lookup "J. Am. Chem. Soc." |
| Fuzzy search (paginated) | python3 jabbrv.py search "biolog chem" --limit 10 --offset 0 |
| Process a .bib file | python3 jabbrv.py bib refs.bib |
| Preview .bib changes (no write) | python3 jabbrv.py bib refs.bib --dry-run |
| Explicit .bib output path |
python3 jabbrv.py bib refs.bib --output out.bib |
| Expand .bib abbreviations | python3 jabbrv.py bib refs.bib --expand |
| Batch text list | python3 jabbrv.py batch journals.txt |
| Batch as NDJSON stream | python3 jabbrv.py batch journals.txt --stream |
| Inspect cache state | python3 jabbrv.py cache status |
| Download missing cache files | python3 jabbrv.py cache update |
| Rebuild cache from scratch | python3 jabbrv.py cache rebuild |
| Machine-readable CLI contract | python3 jabbrv.py schema |
| Schema for one subcommand | python3 jabbrv.py schema lookup |
Stdout is a stable JSON envelope when the CLI is not attached to a terminal
(piped or captured by an agent), and a human table/indented view when run on a
TTY. To force a format: --format json|table|human|auto. --json remains as a
back-compat alias for --format json. Flags may appear before or after the
subcommand.
Envelope shape (always the same fields for every subcommand):
{ "ok": true, "data": ..., "meta": { "schema_version", "cli_version", "cache", "latency_ms" } }{ "ok": "partial", "data": { "succeeded": [...], "failed": [...] }, "meta": {...} }{ "ok": false, "error": { "code", "message", "retryable", ... }, "meta": {...} }| Code | Meaning |
|---|---|
0 | success (including partial success) |
1 | runtime / upstream error |
2 | validation / bad input (missing file, bad flag) |
3 | not found (the looked-up journal does not exist) |
error.code)not_found, file_not_found, validation_error, runtime_error. Each carries
a retryable: bool so agents can branch retry logic.
| Intent | Action |
|---|---|
| Single journal name/abbreviation | Use lookup (auto-detect) or abbrev/expand (explicit direction) |
| "What's the abbreviation for X?" | Use abbrev |
| "What journal is X?" | Use expand |
| Partial or uncertain name | Use search for fuzzy matching |
| Fix journal names in .bib file | Use bib |
| List of journals to process | Use batch |
Run the appropriate jabbrv.py command. The script handles:
First run downloads JabRef CSV cache files automatically (~2-5 MB).
Two common abbreviation standards exist:
| Standard | Periods | Example | Used by |
|---|---|---|---|
| ISO 4 | Yes | Nat. Med. | Most publishers, BibTeX |
| MEDLINE | No | Nat Med | PubMed, NLM databases |
JabRef provides ISO 4 style. NLM Catalog provides MEDLINE style. AbbrevISO computes ISO 4 algorithmically from LTWA (List of Title Word Abbreviations).
| Word | Abbreviation | Word | Abbreviation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Journal | J. | International | Int. |
| American | Am. | European | Eur. |
| Science/Sciences | Sci. | Medicine/Medical | Med. |
| Biology/Biological | Biol. | Chemistry/Chemical | Chem. |
| Physics/Physical | Phys. | Engineering | Eng. |
| Research | Res. | Review/Reviews | Rev. |
| Society | Soc. | National | Natl. |
| Proceedings | Proc. | Transactions | Trans. |
| Letters | Lett. | Communications | Commun. |
| Applied | Appl. | Computational | Comput. |
Note: Single-word titles (e.g., "Nature", "Science", "Cell") are NOT abbreviated per ISO 4 rules.
# Export BibTeX from Zotero, then standardize journal names
zot export COLLECTION_KEY --format bibtex > refs.bib
python3 jabbrv.py bib refs.bib
# Before compiling, ensure all journal names are abbreviated
python3 jabbrv.py bib references.bib
# Use the output file (references_abbrev.bib) in your LaTeX document
Create a text file with one journal name per line:
Nature Medicine
Journal of Biological Chemistry
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Then run:
python3 jabbrv.py batch journals.txt
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| "No result found" | Try search with partial name for fuzzy matching |
| Cache download fails | Check network connection, retry with update-cache |
| Wrong abbreviation style | JabRef = ISO 4 (with dots), NLM = MEDLINE (no dots) |
| BibTeX field not detected | Ensure format is journal = {Name} (curly braces) |