Listed here are exceptions to AP Stylebook or Merriam-Webster online and house style for new and sometimes confusing terms
Updated May 2024
Alzheimer’s disease
African American, Asian American (no hyphens)
American Indian or Native American (conform to usage in cited research or source preference)
amid, among preferred (amidst, amongst in M-W as less common)
anesthesia, not anaesthesia (except in faculty titles or British spelling)
anti- close up in most cases; look in M-W and AP for exceptions and consider clarity for the reader
anticancer
Asians, Asian Americans, and Pacific Islanders (AAPI second reference)
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
B cell (noun); B-cell (adjective)
Black, but white, brown
brainstem
CAR T-cell therapy, but CAR T cells
cesarean section, but C-section
COVID-19; COVID (all caps)
COVID terms: Default to long COVID. Other terms: post-COVID conditions, long-haul COVID, post-acute COVID-19, post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC), long-term effects of COVID, chronic COVID, post-COVID conditions (PCC)
CRISPR/Cas9
dataset
decision-making (in all uses)
Democratic senator, not Democrat senator
dengue, but Zika
DACA recipients; use Dreamers sparingly
dox, doxed, doxing
eastern equine encephalitis (EEE); eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEE virus)
email, online, website
extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (not extremely)
fundraising
germline
google (verb); Google (company name)
health care, but childcare, eldercare
herpesvirus
house officer
Huntington’s disease
ID as abbreviated form of identify/identified/identifies in heads and decks
ID'd, but IDs
Immigrate to the U.S. [or other country]; emigrate from [country] to the U.S. [or other country]
LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer/questioning, plus); plus = other gender/sexual identities, such as intersex, asexual. OK to use a variant if a source requests it, in quoted material, or when writing about research that uses a different initialism
lifespan; health span; time span
Listserv (trademark of L-Soft International); use email list unless the software being used is Listserv
livestream; livestreaming
long-term; in the long term
Lyme disease
machine learning (n.); machine-learning (adj.)
Mother's Day (AP)
mpox (monkeypox)
non- close up in most cases; look in M-W and AP for exceptions and consider clarity for the reader: nonprofit
OB-GYN (obstetrician-gynecologist)
obesity/overweight (conform to usage in cited research or source preference)
older adult, older person/people; do not use elderly, senior citizen
opioid addiction, opioid use (not abuse), opioid crisis
organs-on-a-chip; [cervix]-on-a-chip
orthopedics, not orthopaedics (except in academic titles or British usage)
Patriots’ Day; Presidents Day (AP)
pediatrics, not paediatrics (except in academic titles, journal titles, or British English usage)
percent, not % (there may be exceptions for charts and the like)
phase 1, 2, 3 clinical trial (lowercase, Arabic numeral)
postdoctoral
preclerkship
pregnant woman/women; pregnant person/people; people who may become pregnant (conform to usage in cited research or source preference)
pre-pandemic
rainforest
reaccredit
rhabdovirus
RNA sequencing, but RNA-sequencing technique
sickle cell disease
standalone
State of the School Address
stem cell gene
subspecialist
suicide: do not use committed suicide; instead: died by suicide/took their own life
T cell (noun); T-cell (adjective)
television, not TV
they (singular, plural pronoun)
timeline
trans fat (no italics)
type 1/2 diabetes (lowercase, Arabic numeral)
underresourced
URiM (underrepresented in medicine)
U.S. for United States when preceding what it modifies: U.S. economy, but economy of the United States
versus; vs. in short expressions (guns vs. butter )
Veterans Day (AP)
vice chair, vice president
webpage
white, but Black
X-ray (adjective, noun, verb)
zebrafish
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