In the 10th edition of the AMA Manual of Style, writers and editors were instructed to remove US fellowship designations and honorary degrees (PhD[Hon]) but to keep non-US designations, such as the British FRCP or FRCS and the Canadian FRCPC. The idea was that many of these non-US designations were attained through a series of qualifying examinations.

For me, following this rule usually meant copying and pasting the designation into an online search engine to find the associated country and then explaining to the authors in a query why some designations were removed while others were allowed to remain.

With the 11th edition, fellowship designations will be removed altogether from the byline. The emphasis will now be placed on academic degrees (which means even honorific addresses like knighthood won’t appear in the byline).

Like the 10th edition, we will continue to publish academic degrees (eg, MD, MBBS, PhD, MS) in bylines as well as licensing and certifications (eg, RN, ELS). We hope this updated style rule will keep byline presentations fair and consistent. –Iris Y. Lo