journal-abbrev — Claude Code skill: journal name abbreviations
Looks up journal name abbreviations and expands them back, using ISO 4 and MEDLINE. Handy when you prepare a reference list or clean up BibTeX.
npx skills add Agents365-ai/365-skills --skill journal-abbrev -a claude-codeWhat journal-abbrev does
The skill does one narrow job: get a journal name into the right form. Lookups run through a cascade — a local JabRef database first, then the AbbrevISO API for ISO 4, then the NLM Catalog for MEDLINE. It works both ways: a full title becomes an abbreviation, an abbreviation becomes the full title.
Behind it sits jabbrv.py, called through python3. There are abbrev, expand and lookup modes, with lookup detecting the direction on its own. Fuzzy matching lives in search, and batch handles a list of names at once. A separate bib command rewrites journal names inside a .bib file, while --dry-run previews the changes without writing. For retries, --idempotency-key returns the stored result instead of rewriting again.
You need python3 on the machine. With JABBRV_OFFLINE set, the external sources are skipped and a miss becomes a final not_found — worth knowing if you run this in a sandbox without network access. cache rebuild replaces the cache atomically, but it does delete the old files, so check --dry-run first. The author's advice is blunt: don't guess abbreviations by hand, since even well-known journals abbreviate in non-obvious ways.
What it helps with
- abbreviate a journal title to ISO 4 for a reference list
- expand an abbreviation from someone else's paper back to the full title
- standardize journal names across a
.bibfile - find a journal from a partial or misspelled name
- process a list of titles in one batch and get JSON back
Example prompts for the agent
- Abbreviate the journal name Nature Medicine to ISO 4
- What journal is Nat. Med. short for?
- Standardize the journal names in refs.bib, show me a dry run first
How to install journal-abbrev
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add Agents365-ai/365-skills --skill journal-abbrev -a claude-code2Manually: put the files in place
~/.claude/skills/journal-abbrev/SKILL.mdCopy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/journal-abbrev/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add Agents365-ai/365-skills --skill journal-abbrev -a codex2Manually: put the files in place
.agents/skills/journal-abbrev/SKILL.mdFor all projects use ~/.agents/skills/
1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add Agents365-ai/365-skills --skill journal-abbrev -a cursor2Manually: put the files in place
.cursor/skills/journal-abbrev/SKILL.mdCursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/
1GitHub CLI
gh skill install Agents365-ai/365-skills journal-abbrev2Manually: put the files in place
.github/skills/journal-abbrev/SKILL.md1Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add Agents365-ai/365-skills --skill journal-abbrev -a gemini-cli2Platform CLI
gemini skills install https://github.com/Agents365-ai/365-skills --path plugins/journal-abbrev/skills/journal-abbrevManually: put the files in place
.devin/skills/journal-abbrev/SKILL.mdThe legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works
Skills CLI (Vercel)
npx skills add Agents365-ai/365-skills --skill journal-abbrev -a opencodeClaude.ai
Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills
Step by step, with commands for each platform: How to install skills in Claude Code: five ways
Questions about journal-abbrev
How do I install journal-abbrev in Claude?
Run npx skills add Agents365-ai/365-skills --skill journal-abbrev -a claude-code. The skill lands at ~/.claude/skills/journal-abbrev/SKILL.md.
What does journal-abbrev do?
It looks up journal name abbreviations and expands them back. Sources are tried in order: the JabRef database, AbbrevISO for ISO 4, and the NLM Catalog for MEDLINE.
What do I need for it to work?
python3 has to be available, since jabbrv.py runs through it. With JABBRV_OFFLINE set, only the local cache is consulted and misses are no longer retried against the upstream APIs.
