List of style guide abbreviations

This list of style guide abbreviations provides the meanings of the abbreviations that are commonly used as short ways to refer to major style guides. They are used especially by editors communicating with other editors in manuscript queries, proof queries, marginalia, emails, message boards, and so on.

Abbreviation	Style guide	Organization	Field/subject	Principal national variety	Reference
ACS	ACS style	American Chemical Society	chemistry, chemical engineering	American	pubs.acs.org
ASG	Apple Style Guide	Apple Inc.	general	American	apple.com
AHD	The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language	Houghton Mifflin Harcourt	general	American	ahdictionary.com
AMA	AMA Manual of Style	American Medical Association	medicine, health care	American	www.amamanualofstyle.com
AP	AP Stylebook	Associated Press	journalism, wire service	American	www.apstylebook.com
APA	APA style	American Psychological Association	psychology, social sciences	American	www.apastyle.org
BCE	Butcher’s Copy-editing	Cambridge University Press	general; publishing	British
BSH	The Business Style Handbook	McGraw-Hill	business writing	American
CBE	Scientific Style and Format: The CBE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers, 6th edition, now called Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers	Council of Science Editors back when it was called the Council of Biology Editors	science, especially life sciences	American
CGEL	Cambridge Grammar of the English Language	Cambridge University Press	grammar and usage	British
CGEU	Cambridge Guide to English Usage	Cambridge University Press	grammar and usage	British
CMOS	The Chicago Manual of Style	University of Chicago Press	general use, publishing	American	www.chicagomanualofstyle.org
CMS (less commonly used than CMOS)	The Chicago Manual of Style	University of Chicago Press	general use, publishing	American	www.chicagomanualofstyle.org
CSE	Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers	Council of Science Editors	science, especially life sciences	American
GMAU	Garner's Modern American Usage	Oxford University Press	grammar and usage	American
GPO	U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual	United States Government Publishing Office	government publishing	American	www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GPO-STYLEMANUAL-2008
GRM	The Gregg Reference Manual	McGraw-Hill Higher Education	business records and correspondence	American, Canadian	mhhe.com/business/buscom/gregg/
ISNAD	The ISNAD Citation Style		general use, publishing	Turkish	https://www.isnadsistemi.org
ISO 690	ISO 690	International Organization for Standardization	general	American
MAU	Modern American Usage by Follett, often called Follett's Modern American Usage		grammar and usage	American
MEUB	Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Burchfield edition		grammar and usage	British
MEUF	Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Fowler edition		grammar and usage	British
MEUG	Fowler’s Modern English Usage, Gowers edition		grammar and usage	British
MHRA	MHRA Style Guide	Modern Humanities Research Association	humanities	British
MLA	MLA Style Manual and Guide to Scholarly Publishing	Modern Language Association	humanities	American	www.mla.org/store/CID25/PID341
MLAH	The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers	Modern Language Association	humanities	American	www.mlahandbook.org
MSTP	Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications	Microsoft	technical writing on IT topics	American
MWC	Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary	Merriam-Webster	general	American	unabridged.merriam-webster.com/collegiate
MWCD	Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary	Merriam-Webster	general	American	unabridged.merriam-webster.com/collegiate
MWDS	Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Synonyms	Merriam-Webster	general	American
MWDEU	Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage	Merriam-Webster	grammar and usage	American
MWEU	Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage	Merriam-Webster	grammar and usage	American
MWG	Merriam-Webster’s Guide to Punctuation and Style	Merriam-Webster	general	American
MWM	Merriam-Webster’s Manual for Writers and Editors (2nd ed. of MWSM)	Merriam-Webster	general	American
MWNI2	Merriam-Webster’s New International Dictionary (Unabridged, 2nd ed.)	Merriam-Webster	general	American
MWI3	Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary (Unabridged)	Merriam-Webster	general	American
MWSM	Merriam-Webster’s Standard American Style Manual	Merriam-Webster	general	American
NHR	New Hart’s Rules	Oxford University Press	general use, publishing	British	www.oxforddictionaries.com > New Hart's Rules search filter
NYT	New York Times Manual of Style and Usage	The New York Times	journalism	American
ODSWE	Oxford Dictionary for Scientific Writers and Editors	Oxford University Press	science writing, technical writing	British
ODWE	Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors	Oxford University Press	general	British
OED	Oxford English Dictionary	Oxford University Press	general	British
OSM	Oxford Style Manual (combines ODWE and a fuller predecessor of NHR)	Oxford University Press	general	British
RILM	The RILM Manual of Style	Répertoire International de Littérature Musicale	writing on music	American
S&W	Elements of Style (Strunk and White)		general	American
TKE	The King's English (Fowler and Fowler)		grammar and usage	British
Tur	A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations by Kate L. Turabian	general, especially academic papers		American
URM	Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals, now called the ICMJE recommendations	International Committee of Medical Journal Editors	scientific journals, especially life sciences and medical journals	International
WIT	Words into Type	Prentice Hall	general use, publishing	American