Is it Ph.D or Ph. D. ?
Michael Shell
Hi folks,
I am writing some guidelines for my fellow graduate students and would
like some opinions on the following:
The abbreviation for "Doctor of Philosophy" (Philosophiae Doctor) is
commonly (almost always) given as Ph.D. However, some older dictionaries
list it as Ph. D. (with a space between the h and D)
There was a discussion about this at:
http://www.tulips.tsukuba.ac.jp/ml/catml/archive/msg00416.html
Unfortunately, it is written in Japanese which I cannot read.
However, I was able to ascertain that they are discussing the
Library of Congress Rule of Interpretation #22.1B
http://www.tlcdelivers.com/tlc/crs/LCRI1071.htm
which recommends "Ph. D.".
The IEEE bibliography LaTeX style, ieeetr.bst, uses Ph. D. However, actual
IEEE publications use Ph.D.
What the heck?!
Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated! ;)
Mike Shell
Andrew E. Schulman
> like some opinions on the following:
>
> The abbreviation for "Doctor of Philosophy" (Philosophiae Doctor) is
> commonly (almost always) given as Ph.D. However, some older dictionaries
> list it as Ph. D. (with a space between the h and D)
Not sure about any official sources, but it seems to me that B.A., M.A.,
etc. are written without spaces.
I write Ph.D. (no space) and am happy with it. My preference is to
minimize extra elements and I think that space in the middle qualifies.
Also when writing Ph.D. after someone's name, an extra space lengthens the
name, and breaks up the title, adding ambiguity about whether Ph. D. is one
element or two.
Just my 2 cents.
Graham Douglas
My copy of "The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and
Editors" gives it as
Ph.D.
No space between "Ph." and "D."
I'd go for that.
Regards
Graham
Alp Aker
Michael Shell wrote:
> The abbreviation for "Doctor of Philosophy" (Philosophiae Doctor) is
> commonly (almost always) given as Ph.D. However, some older dictionaries
> list it as Ph. D. (with a space between the h and D)
The _Chicago Manual of Style_ (14.11) recommends "Ph.D.". The current
edition
of Fowler's (see entry Full Stop 2) allows either "Ph.D." or "PhD". In
neither case do you have a medial space.
Alp Aker
Anthony Goreham
> "Michael Shell" wrote:
> > The abbreviation for "Doctor of Philosophy" (Philosophiae Doctor) is
> > commonly (almost always) given as Ph.D. However, some older dictionaries
> > list it as Ph. D. (with a space between the h and D)
> Not sure about any official sources, but it seems to me that B.A., M.A.,
> etc. are written without spaces. I write Ph.D. (no space) and am happy
> with it.
Personally I'd prefer to write D.Phil. ;-)
Perhaps this is more a question for alt.english.usage (or whatever the
group is called)? I mean, there's a whole can of worms here:
PhD USA Mr MB Smith
Ph.D. U.S.A. Mr. M.B. Smith
Ph. D. U. S. A. Mr. M. B. Smith
Myself I should be inclined go for the middle row, but that's not always
what I see in the newspapers...
--
``In my opinion a mathematician, in so far as he is a mathematician,
need not preoccupy himself with philosophy---an opinion, moreover,
which has been expressed by many philosophers.'' (Henri Lebesgue)
Anthony Goreham The Queen's College, Oxford OX1 4AW, UK
sal...@my-deja.com
So does my copy of "The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary".
- Stew
Sent via Deja.com
http://www.deja.com/
Sven Utcke
> PhD USA Mr MB Smith
> Ph.D. U.S.A. Mr. M.B. Smith
> Ph. D. U. S. A. Mr. M. B. Smith
Personally I would prefer
Ph.\,D. USA Mr.\ M.\ B.\ Smith
Reasons:
Ph.\,D. : This is an abbreviation made up of two distinguished words.
The small space honours this fact, but at the same time
makes it clear that we are dealing with two words.
Mr.\ M.\ B.\ Smith : Here we are dealing with 3 seperate
abbreviations, so each gets its own space.
USA : Following my own explanation, this should of course be
U.\,S.\,A., but in my opinion USA has developed so much live
on its own that it is really more of a new word than an
abbreviation.
But of course this is just my opinion as a German (where abbreviations
are handled this way) and might not be at all applicable to the US or
UK.
Sven
--
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Thierry Bouche
> Personally I would prefer
>
> Ph.\,D. USA Mr.\ M.\ B.\ Smith
In France it would be Ph.~D., U.S.A. and Mr~M.~B.~Smith. Well this is
the old-fashionned style, because now, due to ignorance about
unbreakable spaces, people tend to suppress spaces rather than key the
proper ones. the above assumes also \frenchspacing, you'd have to do
somethnig like Ph\@.~D\@. if you go for the absurd after-period
space...
Personnally, I'd go for something like Ph.\;D. or Mr.~M.\;B.~Smith, as
a matter of taste.
--
Thierry Bouche
Andrew Schulman
> The _Chicago Manual of Style_ (14.11) recommends "Ph.D.". The current
> edition
> of Fowler's (see entry Full Stop 2) allows either "Ph.D." or "PhD".
In
> neither case do you have a medial space.
It's good to know what the experts say, even if they are a bunch of old
farts.
MShe...@compuserve.com
<mike...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>I am writing some guidelines for my fellow graduate students and would
>like some opinions on the following:
>
>The abbreviation for "Doctor of Philosophy" (Philosophiae Doctor) is
>commonly (almost always) given as Ph.D. However, some older dictionaries
>list it as Ph. D. (with a space between the h and D)
This is a matter of style, not a matter of typography. (This seems to
be about the only contribution I'm able to make to this newsgroup.)
The form you're supposed to use is determined by the style guide
you're supposed to use.
If you're supposed to use Associated Press style, for example, you
would use Ph.D. (singular) or Ph.D.s (plural) in a pinch. (This is
the form required by all the style guides I have.) But AP style
prefers "holds a doctorate" to the abbreviation. Newspapers and
popular magazines think calling someone a Ph.D. puts the reader off a
bit.
--
Mike Sherrill
Information Management Systems
Andrew E. Schulman
> popular magazines think calling someone a Ph.D. puts the reader off a
> bit.
I agree. To call someone "a Ph.D." is informal and figurative. It doesn't
belong in print. But writing Ph.D. after a person's name is correct,
though usually unnecessary.
John Harper
>commonly (almost always) given as Ph.D. However, some older dictionaries
>list it as Ph. D. (with a space between the h and D)
The Cambridge web pages say Ph.D. in
http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud/faq.html#sect5
the Oxford ones say DPhil in
http://www.admin.ox.ac.uk/gsp/study/types.htm#dphil
but D.Phil. in
http://www.maths.ox.ac.uk/ociam/Grad/DPhil/
and my own university's Calendars said Ph.D. until 1988 but PhD from
1989 onwards.
So it all depends on which publications of which university you look up,
and when.
John Harper, School of Mathematical and Computing Sciences,
Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
e-mail john....@vuw.ac.nz phone (+64)(4)463 5341 fax (+64)(4)463 5045