AVMA Journals Style Standard Abbreviations
The following is a list of abbreviations that may be used without expansion in abstracts, main text, figures and figure legends, appendices, and tables and table titles.
| 2-D | 2-dimensional or 2 dimensions | HIV | Human immunodeficiency virus |
| 3-D | 3-dimensional or 3 dimensions | hpf | High-power field or high-power fields |
| HU | Hounsfield unit or Hounsfield units | ||
| ACTH | Adrenocorticotropic hormone | ||
| ADP | Adenosine diphosphate | ie* | Latin for "that is" |
| AMDUCA | Animal Medicinal Drug Use Clarification Act | ||
| ANCOVA | Analysis of covariance | JAVMA | Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association |
| ANOVA | Analysis of variance | ||
| APHIS | Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service | ||
| approx* | Approximately | kVp | Kilovolt peak |
| ATCC | American Type Culture Collection | ||
| ATP | Adenosine triphosphate | LD50 | Median lethal dose |
| ATPase | Adenosine triphosphatase | ||
| AVMA | American Veterinary Medical Association | MRI§ | Magnetic resonance imaging |
| mRNA | Messenger ribonucleic acid | ||
| BCG | Bacille Calmette-Guerin | m/z | Mass-to-charge ratio |
| bp‡ | Base pairs | ||
| BUN | Blood urea nitrogen | NIH | National Institutes of Health |
| NSAID | Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug | ||
| cAMP | Cyclic adenosine monophosphate | ||
| CBC | Complete blood count | OR | Odds ratio |
| CDC | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention | ||
| cDNA | Complementary deoxyribonucleic acid | PAGE | Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis |
| CFU‡ | Colony-forming unit | PBS | Phosphate-buffered saline |
| CI | Confidence interval | PBSS║ | Phosphate-buffered saline solution |
| CNS | Central nervous system | PCR | Polymerase chain reaction |
| CPR | Cardiopulmonary resuscitation | PCV | Packed cell volume |
| CSF | Cerebrospinal fluid | ||
| CT | Computed tomography or computed tomographic | RBC | Red blood cell |
| RNA | Ribonucleic acid | ||
| DICOM | Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine | RPMI | Roswell Park Memorial Institute |
| DMSO | Dimethyl sulfoxide | rRNA | Ribosomal ribonucleic acid |
| DNA | Deoxyribonucleic acid | ||
| dNTP | Deoxyribonucleotide triphosphate | SD | Standard deviation |
| SDS | Sodium dodecyl sulfate | ||
| ECG | Electrocardiogram or electrocardiographic | SE | Standard error |
| EDTA | Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid | SEM | Standard error of the mean |
| eg* | Latin for “for example” | STIR | Short tau inversion recovery |
| ELISA | Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay | SUN | Serum urea nitrogen |
| FDA | Food and Drug Administration | TCID50 | Median tissue culture infective dose |
| FeLV | Feline leukemia virus | tRNA | Transfer ribonucleic acid |
| FIV | Feline immunodeficiency virus | ||
| FLAIR | Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery | US† | United States |
| USDA | United States Department of Agriculture | ||
| H&E | Hematoxylin and eosin | UV | Ultraviolet |
| Hct | Hematocrit | ||
| HEPES | N-2-Hydroxyethylpiperazine-N'-2-ethanesulfonic acid | WBC | White blood cell |
*Use only in parenthetical expressions.
†The abbreviation US may be used without expansion at first mention or inclusion in the abbreviations list only when it is used as a modifier and only when it directly precedes the word it modifies. In other instances, United States should be used.
‡Abbreviate on first mention in AJVR only. In JAVMA, expand this term on first mention and include it in the abbreviations list if used at least 3 times, if the authors desire.
§Although this abbreviation can be an adjective or a noun, it cannot be used to mean magnetic resonance image. The term MRI image is acceptable.
║In AJVR, PBSS may be used without expansion on first mention, or it may be expanded to PBS solution and used as such throughout the report; it is the authors’ choice. In JAVMA, PBSS should be expanded on first mention and included in the abbreviations list if used at least 3 times.
Divisions of time
Use the following abbreviations for divisions of time in virgule constructions, figures, and tables:
| Millisecond | ms |
| Second | s |
| Minute | min |
| Hour | h |
| Day | d |
| Week | wk |
| Month | mo |
| Year | y |
Exceptions: a division of time appearing in a table column heading should be spelled out, unless the division is in parentheses. Similarly, a division of time should be spelled out when used in a figure axis label, unless the division is in parentheses. In such parenthetical expressions, the abbreviation should be used.
Routes of administration
The following commonly used administration routes can be abbreviated on first mention:
| IA | Intra-articular |
| ID | Intradermal |
| IM | Intramuscular |
| IP | Intraperitoneal |
| IV | Intravenous |
| PO | Per os |
| SC | Subcutaneous |
