Automatic Journal abbreviations for BibTeX databases
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This package includes three main files:
1. abbreviate_journals.pl
Perl script for replacing (full) journal names in given BibTeX .bib database, based on external abbreviation list. See script header for more information and usage.

2. JournalAbbreviations
An (incomplete) list of Journal abbreviations (Start Case capitalization, with and without dots), mainly from the biosciences, medicine and mathematics. Feel free to extend it. See the list's header for more info on its structure and syntax. To be used with `abbreviate_journals.pl'.

3. swap_abbreviations.pl
Perl script for swapping 2nd and 3rd data column in an abbreviation list. This script might be useful if you download a Journal abbreviation list online and find out that the order of the two abbreviation styles (with and without dots) is not as you want them.

Note that the replacement algorithm tries hard to figure out possible variations of full Journal titles in order to find an abbreviation match. The bigger your abbreviation list, the higher the success rate will be.


Example usage
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Your .bib file is assumed to list the full Journal names. Place your .bib file and your abbreviation list (e.g. 'JournalAbbreviations') next to the 'abbreviate_journals.pl' script. Run the script by calling

  abbreviate_journals.pl <your .bib file> <your abbreviation list>

This will leave your original database unchanged, and will create two new BibTeX files, one for each abbreviation style (with and without dots). Journal titles not found in the abbreviation list are left unchanged. The script also creates a log file listing all changed journal names.

Stilianos Louca, May 09, 2013.


Disclaimer
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There's no warranty on any of these files and I do not guarantee the correctness of the abbreviation list. Use at your own responsibility.