18.1. The table t_journal_words

This table holds a list with unabbreviated journal words. These are words in the names of journals which are not an abbreviation of something else. Many online sources of bibliographic information provide the journal information without periods so it is not clear whether a word in a journal name is complete by itself or whether it is an abbreviation. Some bibliographic formats ask for periods after abbreviated words, so we have to get these periods from somewhere. refdb adds the periods if necessary when a reference is added to the database. This way you have the additional information that the periods provide always at your hands. If you don't need it, it is trivial to strip the periods away.