MLA Style Manual
Appendix D: Acronyms and Initialisms
A . B . C . D . E . F . G . H . I . J . K . L . M . N . O . P . Q . R . S . T . U . V . W . X . Y . Z
A
- AAAS American Association for the Advancement of Science
- AACR2 Anglo-American Cataloging Rules, 2nd ed.
- AAHSL Association of Academic Health Sciences Libraries
- AAHSLD Association of Academic Health Sciences Library Directors (historical)
- AAMC Association of American Medical Colleges
- ABMS American Board of Medical Specialties
- ACA Affordable Care Act
- ACC American College of Cardiology
- ACOG American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
- ACRL Association of College and Research Libraries
- AHA American Hospital Association
- AHEC Area Health Education Center
- AHIMA American Health Information Management Association
- AHIP Academy of Health Information Professionals (indicates membership)
- AHRQ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
- AIM Abridged Index Medicus
- ALA American Library Association
- ALCTS Association for Library Collections and Technical Services
- ALISE Association for Library and Information Science Education
- AMA American Medical Association
- AMIA American Medical Informatics Association
- AMPA American Medical Publishers’ Association
- ANSI American National Standards Institute
- ARL Association of Research Libraries
- ASAE American Society of Association Executives
- ASIS American Society for Information Science
- AVLINE Audiovisuals Online
B
- BIOSIS Bioscience Information Service
- BMLA Bulletin of the Medical Library Association (now the Journal of the Medical Library Association)
C
- CAS Chemical Abstracts Service
- CCDA Committee on Cataloging, Description, and Access (ALA)
- CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- CD-ROM compact disc, read-only memory
- CE continuing education (MLA)
- CHAMPUS Civilian Health and Medical Program of the Uniformed Services
- CHIN Community Health Information Network
- CHLA/ABSC Canadian Health Libraries Association/Association des bibliothèques de la santé du Canada
- CINAHL Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (refers to the print version; initialism refers only to the database )
- CIP cataloging in publication
- CLENE Continuing Library Education Network and Exchange
- CLR Council on Library Resources
- CME continuing medical education
- CML clinical medical librarian
- CMS content management system
- CNI Coalition for Networked Information
- CNLIA Council of National Library and Information Associations
- COLT Council on Library Technicians
- CSE Council of Science Editors
- CTSA Clinical and Translational Science Award
D
- DHHS US Department of Health and Human Services
- DRG Diagnostic-Related Group
E
- EAHIL European Association for Health Information and Libraries
- EBM, EBP evidence-based medicine, evidence-based practice
- EHR electronic health record
- EMPIRES Excerpta Medica Physicians Information Retrieval and Education Service
- EMT emergency medical technician
- ERIC Educational Resources Information Bureau
F
- FAQ frequently asked question
- FDA Food and Drug Administration
- FTE full-time equivalent
- ftp file transfer protocol
G
- GPO Government Printing Office
- GPO WINDO Government Printing Office Wide Information Network for Data Online
- GRC Governmental Relations Committee (MLA)
H
- HeSCA Health Sciences Communication Association
- HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996
- HMO health maintenance organization
- HPCC High-Performance Computing and Communications
- HTML hypertext markup language
I
- IAIMS Integrated Advanced Information Management Systems
- IFLA International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions
- IIA Information Industry Association
- ILL interlibrary loan
- ILS integrated library system
- IMLS Institute of Museum and Library Services
- IP Internet protocol
- IPA International Pharmaceutical Abstracts
- IRB institutional review board
- ISI Institute for Scientific Information (initialism is preferred)
- ISP Internet service provider
J
- JAMA Journal of the American Medical Association
- JCAHO Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (historical initialism, now called “Joint Commission”; see Appendix B)
- JCR Journal Citation Reports
- JMLA Journal of the Medical Library Association (formerly the Bulletin of the Medical Library Association)
L
- LAMA Library Administration and Management Association
- LAN local-area network
- LATCH literature attached to the chart
- LC Library of Congress
- LHII local health information infrastructure
- LITA Library and Information Technology Association
- LMS learning management system
- LTA library technical assistant
M
- MEDLARS NLM’s Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System
- MEDLINE NLM’s bibliographic database, Index Medicus online
- MEDOC four-part index to health-related documents
- MeSH Medical Subject Headings
- MHz megahertz
- MLA Medical Library Association
- MLS master’s degree in library science
- MSLIS master of science in library and information science degree
N
- NASIG North American Serials Interest Group
- NCBI National Center for Biotechnology Information (part of NLM)
- NCI National Cancer Institute
- NCLIS National Commission on Libraries and Information Science
- NEJM New England Journal of Medicine
- NIH National Institutes of Health
- NISO National Information Standards Organization
- NLM National Library of Medicine
- NNLM Network of the National Library of Medicine
- NPC National Program Committee (MLA)
- NREN National Research and Education Network
- NSF National Science Foundation
- NSFNET National Science Foundation Network
- NTIS National Technical Information Service
O
- OCLC Online Computer Library Center
- OGE Office of Government Ethics
- OMIM Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man
- OPAC online public access catalog
P
- PC personal computer
- PDF portable document format
- PDQ Physicians’ Data Query
- PDR Physician’s Desk Reference
- PHILSOM serial control system designed at Washington University School of Medicine Library
- PHR personal health record
- PICO problem, intervention, comparison, outcome
- PRO professional review organization
- PSRO professional standards review organization
R
- RAM random-access memory
- RASD Research and Adult Services Division (ALA)
- RFP request for proposal
- RHIO regional health information organization
- RLG Research Libraries Group
- RLIN Research Libraries Information Network
- RML Regional Medical Library
- RN registered nurse
- RSS really simple syndication
S
- SCAMC Symposium on Computer Applications in Medical Care
- SCI Science Citation Index
- SD standard deviation
- SGML standard generalized markup language
- SLA Special Libraries Association
T
- TCP transmission-control protocol (often used with IP above; e.g., TCP/IP)
U
- UMLS Unified Medical Language System
- URL uniform resource locator
V
- VA Department of Veterans Affairs (formerly, Veterans Administration)
- VALNET VA Library Network
W
- WAIS wide-area information server
- WHCLIS White House Conference on Library and Information Services
- WHO World Health Organization
X
- XML extensible markup language