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Learn more about the LTWA

What does LTWA stand for?

LTWA stands for “List of Title Word Abbreviations.”

What is the LTWA?

It is a list that contains all the standardised abbreviations used for words in scientific citations. It is based on ISO 4.

ISO 4 is an international standard which defines a uniform system for the abbreviation of serial titles, i.e., titles of publications such as scientific journals. The ISSN International Centre, which the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has appointed as the registration authority for ISO 4, maintains the “List of Title Word Abbreviations”, which are standard abbreviations for words commonly found in serial titles.

One major use of ISO 4 is to abbreviate the names of scientific journals in citations. For instance, when citing a paper from the European Physical Journal, the ISO 4 standard prescribes the abbreviation “Eur. Phys. J.”

LTWA includes more than 56,000 words and their abbreviations in 65 languages.

These abbreviated words serve as the basis for constituting  “abbreviated key titles” published in the ISSN Register.

The List of title word abbreviations contains:

• the title words of periodicals identified by the ISSN Network, and
• the corresponding abbreviations.

What purpose does it serve?

The use of standardized abbreviations is essential to obtain correct and validated scientific and technical citations.

Who is the author of this list?

The ISSN Network creates the abbreviations in the List of Title Word Abbreviations. The ISSN National Centres abbreviate the words in their country’s languages.

The ISSN International Centre also maintains the List of Title Word Abbreviations, checking the validity of abbreviations with the help of linguists.

In accordance with the scope of this standard, the abbreviations can also be used for titles of non-serial publications.

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