Jargon has always been a major limiting factor in efficient communication of science. If jargon is being explained with numerous acronyms - will it provide clarity or leads to more confusion?
Which one of these three sentences makes an immediate sense?
"It's almost an HR since POL went AWOL. Now, what DNA? PCD?" or "It's almost an hr since polymerase went absent without leave. Now, what DNA? Programmed Cell Death?" or "'It's almost an hr since polymerase went AWOL. Now, what DNA? Programmed Cell Death?" Acronyms should help in a quick read, and provide ease in understanding, rather than leaving you with an impression, "What did I just read?"
Researchers Adrian Barnett and Zoe Doubleday (eLife, 2020) elaborate in their meta-research paper how acronyms "hinder understanding and contribute to the increasing fragmentation of science."
With an indigenous acronym-finding algorithm, the duo scanned 42 million research articles published in PubMed between 1950 and 2019. English word having "half or more of the characters in upper case letters" got considered as an acronym.
The team found close to 1.1 million unique acronyms, which is an underestimate, considering the algorithm scanned: (i) only titles and abstracts (ii) didn't considerer acronyms that included symbols, punctuation, and lower cases.
A few of their findings are inferred here:
New acronyms are getting invented regularly; however, the majority of acronyms, once used.
Three-letter abbreviations are the most common.
With increasing acronyms, titles and abstracts were getting longer, taking readers more time to work around the words to comprehend.
Inventing new acronyms is becoming an acceptable practice in the science community, despite strict journal guidelines on limited usage of acronyms
Researchers should adhere to the journal guidelines; impart in sharing knowledge by elaborating on the concept than inventing acronyms.
Use abbreviations, but sparingly in your research article- OK!
Extra-dose
An abbreviation is the short version of a term/word/phrase to pronounce and communicate easily. Listed below is a table that will help in understanding and differentiating types of abbreviations.
Question-dose
Overuse of acronyms in research may not be a crime, but is this becoming a habit?
What is your take on Acronyms- do they provide information-overdose or knowledge-sharing?.
Are acronyms the new jargon?
Author's take on Reserch Dose
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