Editorial Guidelines

The AUA’s Editorial Style Guide augments the 2022 Associated Press Stylebook. For notes on style not addressed here, please refer to that manual or the quick style guide on TheHub. Where notes on style, usage and punctuation differ, adhere to the AUA Brand Style Guide.
Our official organizational title is the American Urological Association. For all audiences, spell out the complete name of the organization the first time you refer to it. On second reference and in headlines, “AUA” is acceptable.
Correct - the American Urological Association
Incorrect - the American Urologic Association
Incorrect - the American Urological Assoc.
No commas, hyphens or dashes are permitted in the full name of the AUA. Additionally, never use periods in “AUA.”
When “American Urological Association” is followed by a department name, “American Urological Association” may or may not take the possessive form. Example: “The American Urological Association Office of Education” or “The American Urological Association’s Office of Education.”
Capitalize “Association” standing alone when referring to the American Urological Association.
International Use of “American Urological Association”
If you are translating “American Urological Association,” convert it into the respective language and place “(American Urological Association)” in parentheses after the translation.
AUA Acronym
Always define an acronym on first usage — an acronym should not be used unless it is used in subsequent text.
The American Urological Association (AUA)
When referring to the AUA, “the” should precede “AUA” (… and the AUA will …) unless “AUA” is used as an adjective (AUA guidelines are …).
Avoid capitalizing “the” unless it begins a sentence.
Academic Credentials and Suffixes
  • No periods in professional credentials: MD, MBA, PhD, RN, etc.
  • Academic abbreviation is offset by commas: Daniel Moynihan, PhD, spoke.
  • Plural of academic credentials: MDs, MBAs, etc. (no apostrophe).
Academic Credentials Used in a Series
When two or more people with one degree are listed, separate with a comma:
John F. Smith, MD, Bill S. Jones, MD, and Susan B. Jackson, MD, came to the seminar.
When two or more people are listed and at least one has multiple degrees, separate with a semicolon:
John F. Smith, MD, PhD; Bill S. Jones, MD; and Susan B. Jackson, MD, came to the seminar.
Academic Titles/Formal Titles
Capitalize former or future titles but not the qualifying word.
For example:
former President Ford
Attorney General-designate Griffin B. Bell
Capitalize titles before a person’s name BUT use lowercase, offset with commas, when titles are used after a name.
For example:
Executive Director Michael T. Sheppard BUT Michael T. Sheppard, executive director
AUA Committees
When using the full name of the committee and in the first reference, capitalize “Committee.”
For example:
The AUA International Relations Committee will meet on May 5, 2013.
When using it in a second reference, lowercase “committee.”
For example:
The AUA International Relations committee will discuss four main points of interest. The committee will meet twice a year from this point forward.
AUA Publications
The Journal of Urology ®
Official Journal of the AUA.
  • Always italicize and use registered trademark.
  • “JU” and “the Journal” are acceptable second references.
  • Always have ‘The’ before ‘Journal of Urology’ and have it capitalized.
Urology Practice ®
Official Journal of the AUA.
  • Always italicize and use registered trademark.
  • “UPJ” is an acceptable second reference.
JU Open Plus
Official Journal of the AUA.
  • Always italicize.
  • “JUOP” is an acceptable second reference.
AUANews
Official AUANews magazine.
  • Always italicize.
  • There is no space between AUA & News (AUANews).
AUA NetNews
Semimonthly electronic newsletter from the AUA.
  • Always italicize.
  • “NetNews” is an acceptable second reference.
  • There is no space between Net & News (NetNews).
UrologyHealth extra
Quarterly magazine of the Urology Care Foundation.
  • Always italicize.
  • There is no space between Urology & Health (UrologyHealth extra).
  • E is always lowercase (UrologyHealth extra).
AUA Daily Scope
Daily email communication highlighting the leading urology-related stories from newspapers, TV, radio and the Journals.
  • Always italicize.
  • “Daily Scope” is an acceptable second reference.
AUA Website
AUAnet.org: official website of the AUA.
  • AUAnet.org or AUAnet: Acceptable references to the AUA website.
  • Correct - AUAnet.org
  • Incorrect - www.auanet.org
UrologyHealth.org: official website of the Urology Care Foundation.
UrologicHistory.Museum: official website of the William P. Didusch Center for Urologic History.
Follow these guidelines for presenting AUA website URLs:
  • Avoid adding punctuation to an AUA Internet address or email. If an AUA Web address or email will not fit on one line, we recommend moving it down so it fits on one line.
  • It usually is not necessary to use boldface or italic type for URLs (although these are acceptable options). Treat them as you would phone numbers.
  • If the URL seems awkwardly stuck in the middle of a sentence, try rewriting the sentence to allow for placement at the end.
  • It is not necessary to include the http:// at the beginning of URLs or the forward slashes at the end. Most browsers automatically insert these for you. For URLs starting with something other than www, use your judgment as to whether your audience will understand the absence of http://.
AUA social media
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube are utilized to share or promote AUA news, announcements, services, events, courses and product offerings.
AUA
www.facebook.com/AmerUrological
www.twitter.com/AmerUrological
@AmerUrological is an acceptable reference.
www.instagram.com/AmerUrological
@AmerUrological is an acceptable reference.
www.linkedin.com/company/American-Urological-Association
www.youtube.com/AmerUrological
Urology Care Foundation
www.facebook.com/UrologyCareFoundation
www.twitter.com/UrologyCareFdn
@UrologyCareFdn is an acceptable reference.
www.instagram.com/UrologyCareFdn
@UrologyCareFdn is an acceptable reference.
www.youtube.com/AUAFoundationVids
The Journal of Urology ®
www.facebook.com/TheJournalofUrology
www.twitter.com/JUrology
@JUrology is an acceptable reference.
www.instagram.com/JournalofUrology
@JournalofUrology is an acceptable reference.
Urology Practice ®
www.facebook.com/UrologyPracticeJournal
www.twitter.com/UrologyPractice
@UrologyPractice is an acceptable reference.
www.instagram.com/UrologyPracticeJournal
@UrologyPracticeJournal is an acceptable reference.
JU Open Plus
www.facebook.com/JUOpenPlus
www.twitter.com/JUOpenPlus
@JUOpenPlus is an acceptable reference.
www.instagram.com/JU_OpenPlus
@JU_OpenPlus is an acceptable reference.
AUAUniversity
www.youtube.com/AUAUniversity
AUA Membership
www.youtube.com/AUAMembership
Punctuation and Usage
One space follows all punctuation, including periods and colons.
Periods and commas are always placed inside quotation marks; all other punctuation is placed outside quotation marks, unless part of the material being quoted.
Italicize the titles of books, newspapers, magazines, films and programs. Enclose in quotation marks the titles of essays, book chapters or course chapters.
The AUA does not use the serial comma (the comma following the second-to-last item in a series), in accordance with Associated Press (AP) guidelines. When the absence of a serial comma compromises clarity, use the comma – even though it has not been used throughout.
Place a comma after all dates, including the year.
For example:
According to your April 15, 2023, letter….
However, commas do not separate seasons and months (without dates) from their years.
For example:
The report will be released in spring 2023.
She expected the letter in May 2023.
(Note: Seasons – fall, winter, spring and summer – are lowercased.)
Place a comma after all cities when followed by their states.
For example:
She talked to the Baltimore, Maryland, reporter.
He found the release had a Baltimore, Md., dateline.
(Note: AP style is used in abbreviating state names.)
“i.e.” means “that is”; “e.g.” means “for example.” The two abbreviations are not interchangeable. Both are lowercased; neither is italicized.
Times and Dates
  • Use a lower case a.m. and p.m. and separate using periods.
  • Use a colon to separate hours from minutes: 11:30 p.m., 4:15 a.m.
  • Do not include “:00” in times: 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m.
  • Do not put “12” before noon or midnight: Noon-4 p.m., 10 p.m.-midnight; do not capitalize noon or midnight unless it is at the beginning of a range.
  • Use a hyphen to separate times and dates. Do not put a space on both sides of the hyphen.
  • When the beginning and end time of an event both occur within a.m. or p.m., use a.m. or p.m. only after the last time: 9-11:15 a.m.
  • Time Zones: (March - Nov) Reference EDT (Eastern Daylight Time), CDT (Central Daylight Time), MDT (Mountain Daylight Time) and PDT (Pacific Daylight Time)
Tone and Voice
Use an active voice.
While it is not always possible or appropriate, active voice should be the rule, not the exception.
For example:
Instead of the passive “You will be given a set of guidelines,” use the more active “We will give you a set of guidelines.”
Notice by making this active — NOT passive — it warms up the message and includes both “we” and “you.”
Speak to benefits.
Whenever possible and appropriate, speak more to benefits than a course or product’s features. Benefits help our members more than just features, and show we care.
For example:
Instead of the feature-focused “This hands-on skills course includes a student guide,” the right approach would be to say, “With each hands-on skills course, participants receive a student guide, which allows them to follow along with the instructor during class, record notes and review course materials once the course has ended.” Longer? Sure. Better for our members? Definitely.
Use bulleted lists. They’re easier to read.
Put a block of text next to a bulleted list, and a person will read the bullets first.
For example:
The AUA is:
A leader in providing quality, evidence-based urologic education.
Committed to supporting urologic research through funding, advocacy and scholarly exchange.
A leading advocate for the specialty of urology.
It is important to always keep in mind, writing in the AUA tone and voice does not mean everything we write should sound the same—not at all. Most important is to write for the audience while weaving our brand personality traits into the copy. Do it often enough, and you’ll see how easily it becomes second nature.
FREQUENTLY USED WORDS
Annual Meeting
Capitalize only when referencing the AUA Annual Meeting unless it’s a proper name.
Correct - AUA2024
AUA followed by the year (no spaces) is an acceptable reference to the AUA’s Annual Meeting.
Correct - 2024 AUA Annual Meeting
Incorrect - AUA2024 Annual Meeting
Other Words:
  • email
  • Facebook
  • hands-on
  • health care
  • Internet (always upper case “I”)
  • more than - Use “more than” rather than “over” before numerals
  • nonprofit
  • online
  • on-site
  • tweet
  • X (no longer Twitter)
  • Urological vs. urologic- The term “urological” is used, except for the term “urologic oncology” and in cases where “urologic” is part of a company, organization, or departmental name.
  • Web - When “Web” is used as a stand-alone word, “W” is capitalized.
  • Web page
  • webcast
  • website