<abbrev>

Abbreviation or Acronym

Abbreviation, acronym, or emoticon used in the text of a document, possibly including an expansion of the acronym.

Remarks

Usage: Although an abbreviation is typically a few capitalized letters (“NIH”, “WHO”, “UN”, or “GAO”), emoticons (“;-)”) can also be tagged as abbreviations (“smile-wink”).
Linking: The linking attributes (with the standard XLink attributes) may be used to provide a live link to an expansion, definition, or additional explanation.
Accessibility: Sometimes an <abbrev> needs to be pronounced in a way that is not reflected in its content or its tagging. The @alt attribute can be used to record the pronunciation for screen readers and other accessibility devices. For example, the abbreviation “WHO” might be better pronounced as “World Health Organization” or as “W.H.O.” than as “who”. The @alt attribute can also be used to provide the textual interpretation of a symbol such as an emoticon (for “;-)” use “alt="smile-wink"”).

Related Elements

The <def> may be used within an <abbrev> to contain, for example, the expansion of the acronym, for example, with “NIH” as the acronym and “National Institutes of Health” as the expansion.

Attributes

alt Alternative Text
content-type Type of Content
id Document Internal Identifier
specific-use Specific Use
xlink:actuate Actuating the Link
xlink:href Href (Linking Mechanism)
xlink:role Role of the Link
xlink:show Showing the Link
xlink:title Title of the Link
xlink:type Type of Link
xml:base Base
xml:lang Language
xmlns:xlink XLink Namespace Declaration

Content Model

<!ELEMENT  abbrev       (#PCDATA %abbrev-elements;)*                 >

Expanded Content Model

(#PCDATA | email | ext-link | uri | inline-supplementary-material | related-article | related-object | hr | bold | fixed-case | italic | monospace | overline | overline-start | overline-end | roman | sans-serif | sc | serif | strike | underline | underline-start | underline-end | ruby | alternatives | inline-graphic | private-char | chem-struct | inline-formula | tex-math | mml:math | abbrev | index-term | index-term-range-end | milestone-end | milestone-start | named-content | styled-content | fn | target | xref | sub | sup | x | def)*

Description

Any combination of:

This element may be contained in:

<abbrev>, <addr-line>, <aff>, <alt-title>, <anonymous>, <article-title>, <attrib>, <award-id>, <bold>, <book-title>, <book-volume-id>, <book-volume-number>, <chapter-title>, <chem-struct>, <code>, <collab>, <comment>, <compound-kwd-part>, <conf-acronym>, <conf-loc>, <conf-name>, <conf-num>, <conf-sponsor>, <conf-theme>, <copyright-statement>, <corresp>, <def-head>, <degrees>, <disp-formula>, <edition>, <element-citation>, <email>, <etal>, <ext-link>, <fax>, <fixed-case>, <funding-source>, <funding-statement>, <given-names>, <gov>, <inline-formula>, <inline-supplementary-material>, <institution>, <issue>, <issue-part>, <issue-title>, <italic>, <kwd>, <label>, <license-p>, <meta-name>, <meta-value>, <mixed-citation>, <monospace>, <named-content>, <nav-pointer>, <on-behalf-of>, <overline>, <p>, <part-title>, <patent>, <phone>, <prefix>, <preformat>, <product>, <publisher-loc>, <publisher-name>, <rb>, <related-article>, <related-object>, <role>, <roman>, <sans-serif>, <sc>, <see>, <see-also>, <see-also-entry>, <see-entry>, <self-uri>, <series>, <serif>, <sig>, <sig-block>, <source>, <speaker>, <std-organization>, <strike>, <string-conf>, <string-date>, <string-name>, <styled-content>, <sub>, <subject>, <subtitle>, <suffix>, <sup>, <supplement>, <surname>, <target>, <td>, <term>, <term-head>, <th>, <title>, <trans-source>, <trans-subtitle>, <trans-title>, <underline>, <unstructured-kwd-group>, <uri>, <verse-line>, <version>, <volume>, <volume-id>, <volume-series>, <volume-title>, <xref>

Example 1

Abbreviations shown with and without alternate text (@alt) attribute indicating pronunciation:
    ...
<p>The Gene Expression Omnibus (<abbrev alt="G.E.O.">GEO</abbrev>) 
project was initiated at NCBI in 1999 in response to the growing
demand for a public repository for data generated from
high-throughput microarray experiments. <abbrev alt="G.E.O.">GEO</abbrev>
has a flexible and open design that allows the submission, storage, 
and retrieval of many types of data sets, such as those from 
high-throughput gene expression, genomic hybridization, and 
antibody array experiments. <abbrev alt="G.E.O.">GEO</abbrev> was 
never intended to replace lab-specific gene expression databases or 
laboratory information management systems (<abbrev>LIMS</abbrev>),
both of which usually cater to a particular type of data set and 
analytical method. ...</p>
...

Example 2

An emoticon, using the alternate text (@alt) attribute for explanation:
    ...
<p>And I can say without fear of contradiction
<abbrev alt="Wink smile">;)</abbrev> that this
political process is without flaw.</p>
...

Book Interchange Tag Suite (BITS) Version 2.0 Tag Library

Version of February 2016

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