Effective communication in science requires accurate and precise internationally acceptable terminology and procedures. The Abridged Version of the International Stratigraphic Guide, like the Guide itself, was developed to promote international agreement on principles of stratigraphic classification and to develop an internationally acceptable stratigraphic terminology and rules of procedure in the interest of improved accuracy and precision in international communication, coordination, and understanding. It is not a revision of the Guide but a short version that omits history, explanatory text, and exemplification, the glossaries and the bibliography.

(A concise guide in the german language of the abridged Stratigraphic Guide is: Steiniger, F.F. & Piller, W.E., 1999. Empfehlungen (Richtlinien) zur Handhabung der stratigraphischen Nomenklatur. Courier Forschungsinstitutt Senckenberg 209, 20 p.)