Imagine a journal with the title, International Journal of Manufacturing and Production Systems . But imagine that another title is considered for inclusion within the database with a very similar title, the International Journal of Manufacturing and Production Services . It would be easy for the latter to be abbreviated in an identical fashion as the first title. Such handling might not perfectly meet ISO standards for such material but it would still eliminate a great many of the variant citations. In another case, the Journal of General Microbiology changed title to Microbiology which brought it into conflict with the translation journal for the Russian Mikrobiologiya .
Users have a role in our unification process as well.
We are also appreciative when publishers consult us on title changes they may be considering. Such title changes may adversely affect JCR production by creating an unusual situation or by causing a conflict with other journal title abbreviations. By working with our users and with publishers, we can maintain the high level of precision and quality in our citation databases and in the data analysis that appears in the JCR .