Citing & Referencing

ACS Style of Citing and Referencing

American Chemical Society (ACS) referencing is used primarily in chemistry writing. In ACS style in-text citations are highlighted in one of three ways. Whichever format is required is used consistently throughout the document.

In-text citations may be highlighted as:

1. Superscript numbers
In this format superscript numbers1 are used to denote the work of another. These numbers appear outside the punctuation if the citation applies to a whole sentence or clause.

2. Numbers in parentheses
In this format italic numbers in curved brackets (parentheses) (1) are used on the line of text, inside the punctuation.

3. Author-Date
In this format author surname and year of publication in curved brackets are used on the line of text, inside the punctuation.

References are collated at the end of the document in one of two ways:

1. In numerical order for superscript numbers and numbers in parentheses formats of the ACS style.

2. In alphabetical order for the author-date format of ACS.

Adapted from The ACS Style Guide, 3rd edition  (see “helpful resources” below)

 

Note that in the reference list, journal titles are abbreviated when using ACS style. If you need to check the correct abbreviation of the title of a journal that you are referencing you can do so on the American Chemical Society’s CAS Source Index (CASSI). Click on the image or link below to access CASSI.

 

© 2024 American Chemical Society All Rights Reserved

Click here to access American Chemical Society’s CAS Source Index (CASSI)

 

 

If you are not sure which of the formats of ACS referencing to use, check with your lecturer. If you are publishing work, check with the publisher as to their requirements for the book or journal in question. It is more common for journals to use one of the numeric citation formats.

The following resources can help you when citing and referencing using the ACS Style of citing and referencing.

The ACS Style Guide, 3rd edition, Anne M. Coghill and Lorrin R. Garson (eds)

Coghill, A.M. and Garson, L. R. eds. (2006) The ACS style guide: effective communication of scientific information, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

This guide provides comprehensive information on the ACS style. Chapter 14 clearly lays out the requirements for citing and referencing in the style.

Click here or on the image above to find this book in print in the Library.

ACS Style Quick Guide

This webpage gives an overview of the structure of references in ACS style for some commonly used sources. Click on the link below to access.

Click here to access the webpage “ACS Style Quick Guide” via the Library Catalogue

Click here to access the webpage “ACS Style Quick Guide” directly (available open access)

 

 

 

Licence

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Research Skills for Students Copyright © by Academic Skills in the Library is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book