American Chemical Society: ACS Books Reference Style Guidelines

Reference Style Guidelines

Citing References in Text

Indicate references in text by a number in parentheses on line in the text. Print the reference numbers in italic and number them sequentially as they occur in the chapter text. Do not combine references. Each reference number should refer to a single source, except where a Chemical Abstracts reference is included.

Reference Style

Collect references in a list under the heading Literature Cited at the end of the paper. The Literature Cited section should consist of a numbered list of references, single-spaced. Do not begin the Literature Cited section on a new page unless the previous page is full. Do not leave blank lines between references. Please see the ACS sample references, below.

ACS Sample References

The following are examples of ACS Books standard forms for various types of literature citations. (For more examples and a thorough discussion of reference style, consult The ACS Style Guide.)

Journal

Author, A. B.; Author, C. D. J. Abbrev. 19XX, vol, xx-yy.
NOTE: No punctuation in journal abbreviations except periods. No conjunctions, articles, or prepositions in journal abbreviations. No comma or semicolon before or after journal titles.

Magazine with dates instead of volume numbers

Author, A. B.; Author, C. D. Magazine Abbrev. October 26, 1995, p. 20.

Book without editors:

Author, A. B.; Author, C. D. Book Title; Series Name and number; Publisher: City, STATE (2 letters), year; Vol. 1, pp xx-yy.

Book with editors, no authors named:

Book Title; Editor, A. B.; Editor, C. D., Eds.; Series Name and number; Publisher: City, STATE (2 letters), year; Vol. 2, pp xx-yy.

Book with editors and authors named:

Author, A. B. In Book Title; Editor, C. D.; Ed.; Series Name and number; Publisher: City, STATE (2 letters), year; Vol. 3, pp xx-yy.

Patent

Author, A. B. U.S. Patent 3,123,456, year.

Thesis

Author, A. B. Ph.D. thesis, Institution Name, City, STATE, year.
NOTE: Do not include the title of the thesis.

An example of an electronic reference is: About the Commercial Internet eXchange, URL http://www.acs.org. Use Chemical Abstracts abbreviations for journal names. For books, edition follows title: Book Title, 2nd ed.;

The punctuation retains the style (e.g., roman, bold, or italic) of the character to which it is attached. Include the state name for all U.S. cities except New York. Include the country name for all non-U.S. cities except London and Paris.

For unpublished results, give author names and affiliations. Describe submitted material as unpublished. Unless an article has been published, it is either unpublished or accepted, in which case it is in press. Include the journal name and year.

When citing M.S. or Ph.D. theses, include the name of the school, city, and state (or city and country). Certain journals that have duplicate titles should be cited along with the city of publication. For example:

Science (Washington, D.C.)
Nature (London)
Nature (London) New Biol.
Nature (London) Phys. Sci.

Certain journals do not have volume numbers:

Chem. Ind. (London)
Chem Lett.
J. Chem. Soc.
J. Chem. Soc. Chem. Commun.
J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 1 or 2
J. Chem. Soc. Perkin Trans. 1 or 2
Proc. Chem. Soc. London
Tetrahedron Lett.

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