diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/journals/AbbreviationParser.java b/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/journals/AbbreviationParser.java
index 77d0483027fc..4892ea8b51a0 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/journals/AbbreviationParser.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/journals/AbbreviationParser.java
@@ -39,7 +39,8 @@ public void readJournalListFromResource(String resourceFileName) {
     }
 
     public void readJournalListFromFile(File file) throws FileNotFoundException {
-        try (FileReader reader = new FileReader(Objects.requireNonNull(file))) {
+        try (FileInputStream stream = new FileInputStream(Objects.requireNonNull(file));
+             InputStreamReader reader = new InputStreamReader(stream, Objects.requireNonNull(StandardCharsets.UTF_8))) {
             readJournalList(reader);
         } catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
             throw e;
diff --git a/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/journals/JournalAbbreviationLoader.java b/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/journals/JournalAbbreviationLoader.java
index f1cde1f65b22..fce5ccc2b586 100644
--- a/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/journals/JournalAbbreviationLoader.java
+++ b/src/main/java/org/jabref/logic/journals/JournalAbbreviationLoader.java
@@ -11,7 +11,6 @@
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
 public class JournalAbbreviationLoader {
-
     private static final Logger LOGGER = LoggerFactory.getLogger(JournalAbbreviationLoader.class);
 
     // journal initialization