Acronym list in a work of collected papers

Factual Questions
1

I’m working on a publication that is largely made up of shorter papers. If it makes a difference, there are about twelve to fifteen papers, each approximately ten pages each, and a volume-wide introduction and conclusion. There is a house style, but for things not included it defaults to Chicago. The publication style is formal.

Each paper has short citations with a full bibliographic list for each paper appearing at the end of each paper. Many of these references contain an acronym for the publishing agency/organization. The acronyms appear in the text within the short cites, but nowhere else. So, for example, one paper may have:

In this example, neither the Board nor its acronym is part of the text body—they exist solely in the reference. Further, no other paper refers to the Board.

In addition to the acronyms used within citations, there are also acronyms that are used within the body of the papers. Given the common theme to the volume, several papers use the same acronym.

How would you handle an acronym list for the overall publication?[ol]
[li]One list at the front of the entire volume that contains every single acronym in the entire book (both those used as part of the text and those used only in citations)?[/li][li]One list at the front of the book that includes every acronym that is used within the body text (but not those used only as part of a citation)?[/li][li]Multiple lists—one at the front of each paper that lists every acronym (body and references) used in that individual paper?[/li][li]Multiple lists—one at the front of each paper that lists only those acronyms used within the body?[/li][/ol]

I would prefer to include a list at the front that includes only those acronyms used within the body of the paper. Including acronyms that only appear within citations would clutter it up—expanding the list from ten to fifteen to about fifty. But this type of thing is a bit ancillary to why I was brought in to the book—so before I say anything to the team, I figured the smarty thing to do would be to pose it to the TM.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Rhythm

2

I think a list of acronyms for all articles at the beginning is a good idea, but I don’t think acronyms from the refs lists should be included. How often does each acronym appear? If fewer than 3 times, could you just spell them out?

3

From a style point of view, I have always seen acronymns defined the first time they are used, within the body of the document or footnote, whichever comes first, and just the acronym used thereafter. No lists.

4

A lot of the telcom standards documents I read have an acronym list in the front.

5

These publications generally have an acronym list at beginning. In general, the list only contains those acronyms used in the text itself. You’re correct about the general treatment–define once, then use it from then on. Similarly, most documents have the acronym list printed right after the table of contents (ToC includes main sections, lists of tables, figures, boxes, annexes, etc.).

In this instance, I’ve got a team working on various aspects of the document, and for political reasons I can’t just say “we’re going to do it this way because I said so!” So while I agree with 11811, I’m hoping to have some sort of authoritative rationale behind it–particularly before I go to the client.