Radiopaedia.org has a list of accepted abbreviations to ensure article text is as standardized as possible to aid in readability. The following abbreviations are to be used where appropriate:
a.k.a. not aka (short for "also known as")
-
c. short for circa, used for dates, when only approximate known
there should be a space between "c." and the date
for example "c. 2024" not "c.2024"
cf. not c.f. (short for "confer", meaning "compare")
e.g. not eg./e.g/eg (short for "exempli gratia", meaning "for example")
et al. not et al or et. al. (short for "et alii", meaning "and others")
-
etc. not e.t.c., et.c., etc, &c. (short for "et cetera", meaning "and so on")
if etc. appears at the end of a sentence, only a single full-stop is needed, i.e. etc., not etc..
-
fl. for years known to be alive/active (short for "floruit", meaning "flourished")
i.e. not ie./i.e/ie (short for "id est", meaning "that is")
NB not n.b. (short for "nota bene", meaning "note well")
-
sp. and spp. (not italicized)
see: naming of organisms
vs not vs. (meaning "versus")
-
x-ray not X-ray or xray or XRAY or any other combination
NB X-ray is allowable when it forms the first word in a sentence or a title or is within the title of a referenced article
NB: Please note that in general these abbreviations should not be capitalized, the only exception being 'NB'.
On this page:
Other accepted abbreviations
There are of course several other acceptable abbreviations but which are often not considered as abbreviations:
chemical elements, e.g. Fe for iron, Gd for gadolinium
-
species genera, e.g. S. for staphylococcus, as in S. aureus
see: naming of organisms
Convenience acronyms
As a general note on abbreviations, please do not use abbreviations that are not widely known and used (convenience acronyms), e.g. UE for "uremic encephalopathy". There is no need to do this, as we don't need to worry about word length or count (as in journal articles). Indeed, some authors would like abbreviations removed from radiology journals entirely 1. Read more about this: How to use acronyms.