Minimize Use of Abbreviations/Acronyms

Consider if an abbreviation or acronym is really necessary. Use them to replace lengthy terms that appear repeatedly, and define an acronym on its first appearance. Commonly known acronyms do not need to be defined. However, be aware that failing to explain an acronym that is commonly used in your field will restrict your potential audience to that field.

Terms like DNA, PCR and GFP are universally understood by molecular biologists, but terms like CNV and SNP will already limit your audience further.

Terms that only appear once in the manuscript do not need to be shortened.

Avoid using too many acronyms in a short space and, in general, try to limit the number of acronyms per paper to 5.

Note that some acronyms, such as PCR, can have different meanings depending on the field: - Polymerase chain reaction - Pathological complete response - Principal component regression - Periodic current reversal

Even within a field, some acronyms have more than one meaning, such as RT:

Avoid Acronym Overload

The following sentence is overloaded with acronyms, making the text unreadable. As a solution, some unnecessary acronyms can be expanded.

GRBs consist of CNEs containing TFBS’s for GR detected using a PWM.

This rewrite might be appropriate for a journal targeting a computational biology audience:

Genomic Regulatory Blocks consist of CNEs containing transcription factor binding sites for GR detected using a PWM.

The following rewrite might be appropriate for a journal targeting a broader biological audience:

Genomic Regulatory Blocks consist of conserved non-coding elements containing transcription factor binding sites for glucocorticoid receptor. These binding sites were detected using a positional weight matrix.