What strategies are used for ensuring consistency in terminology across pharmaceutical documents in DITA?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

Ensuring consistency in terminology across pharmaceutical documents in DITA is crucial to avoid misunderstandings, maintain compliance with industry standards, and enhance communication within the pharmaceutical domain. Several strategies are employed to achieve this consistency:

Glossaries and Terminology Databases

Pharmaceutical organizations create comprehensive glossaries and terminology databases within DITA. These repositories store approved terms, abbreviations, and definitions. Each term entry includes usage guidelines, translations, and references to industry standards. By referencing these glossaries, content creators ensure that the same terminology is consistently used throughout their documents.

Structured Authoring

Structured authoring practices in DITA encourage content creators to adhere to predefined terminology rules. DITA enforces a consistent structure for documents, which includes using predefined terms and phrases. Authors are guided by the DITA structure, ensuring that they employ the approved terminology consistently in their content.

Validation and Review

Before publishing, pharmaceutical documents in DITA undergo validation and review processes. This involves automated checks and human reviews to verify terminology consistency. Automated scripts can flag instances where non-standard or conflicting terminology is used. Subject matter experts review the content to ensure that the correct terminology is employed according to industry guidelines.

Example:

Here’s an example of how DITA helps enforce terminology consistency:


<task id="pharma_process">
  <title>Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Process</title>
  <body>
    <p>Ensure that the <term id="API">Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient</term> is added to the mixture.</p>
    <p>Verify the <term id="FDA">Food and Drug Administration</term> regulations for compliance.</p>
  </body>

In this example, DITA tags “” are used to reference specific terms from the pharmaceutical glossary. This ensures consistent usage of terms like “API” and “FDA” throughout the document.