Q. Hello! CMOS 10.8 says to italicize abbreviations only if the full term would be italicized in the text. How would you handle a term that’s defined in the text with an accompanying abbreviation in parentheses? Would both the term and the abbreviation be in italics? Thank you!
A. If the abbreviation stands for a term that’s in italics only because it’s being introduced as a word or phrase that you are defining in the text, then the abbreviation can usually be presented in regular text:
The term ibidem (ibid.) is one of the few scholarly abbreviations from Latin that remain common in academic texts.
But if the abbreviation itself is used in this way, it should be in italics:
The term ibidem (abbreviated ibid.) . . .
Quotation marks are another option:
The term ibidem (abbreviated “ibid.”) . . .
Rules related to italics for situations like these aren’t etched in granite. In general, our recommendation for key terms and their abbreviations is to use italics (and quotation marks) sparingly but without sacrificing readability. See also CMOS 7.57 (on the use of regular text for common Latin words and abbreviations), 7.58 (on italics or bold for key terms), and 7.66 (on italics or quotation marks for words used as words).