An inordinate fondness for abbreviation

[Paul Selden]

Dear All

I don't think there are really rules about this; journals will vary. From
an editor's point of view, having to keep papers as short as possible and
easy to read without losing the sense, I would abbreviate genus names after
the first _in the text_ (NOT the abstract), but then be aware of when the
next mention is made. It makes sense to re-use the long name again if
starting a new section or if the next mention is a long way from the
previous. But it does not make sense to have genera in full throughout,
especially when dealing with ecological lists or paragraphs dense with the
same names repeated for comparison of phenology, etc.

Paul Selden


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Dr Paul A. Selden
Department of Earth Sciences
University of Manchester
Manchester M13 9PL
United Kingdom
Phone: ## (44) 161 275 3296 /1625 582758
Fax: ## (44) 161 275 3947 /1625 582758
Web site: http://quercus.ge.man.ac.uk

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