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Guide

ACS citation format with examples

ACS style is the citation format of the American Chemical Society, used by chemistry journals and many lab courses. Here is how each common type of reference is built, with an example for each.

Journal article

The most common reference in chemistry. The journal name is abbreviated and italic, the year is bold, the volume is italic.

Author, A. A.; Author, B. B. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation Year, Volume, First Page–Last Page. DOI.

Mandal, A.; Patel, R. Ligand Design for Cross-Coupling. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 1234–1240. DOI: 10.1021/jacs.0c00000

  • Authors are written surname first, then initials with periods: Smith, J. A.
  • Authors are separated by semicolons.
  • If there are more than 10 authors, list the first 10 followed by et al.
  • Article titles are in title case and not italic. The ACS guide allows omitting them in some journals; most courses want them.
  • The DOI goes at the end, written as DOI: 10.xxxx/... or as a https://doi.org/ link.

Book

Author, A. A.; Author, B. B. Book Title, Edition; Publisher: City, Year.

Atkins, P.; de Paula, J. Physical Chemistry, 9th ed.; Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2010.

Chapter in an edited book

Author, A. A. Chapter Title. In Book Title; Editor, E. E., Ed.; Publisher: City, Year; Pages.

Web page

Author (if known). Title of Page. Website Name. URL (accessed Month Day, Year).

Always add the access date for web pages, because their content can change.

Patent

Inventor, A. A. Title of Patent. Patent Number, Date.

In-text citations

ACS allows three ways to point to a reference in the text. Use one consistently, as your journal or instructor asks:

  • Superscript numbers: …as shown previously.¹
  • Italic numbers in parentheses: …as shown previously (1).
  • Author name and year: …as shown previously (Smith, 2020).

With numbers, references are listed in the order they are first cited. With author–year, the list is alphabetical.

Common mistakes

  • Full journal names instead of the official abbreviation (CASSI).
  • Missing periods after initials or after abbreviated journal words (Chem. Rev., not Chem Rev).
  • Year not bold or volume not italic in journal references.
  • Commas instead of semicolons between authors.

Sources