ACS citation generator
The American Chemical Society style: semicolons between authors, an abbreviated italic journal name, a bold year and an italic volume. Used across ACS journals and most chemistry courses.
Watson, J. D.; Crick, F. H. C. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature 1953, 171 (4356), 737–738. DOI: 10.1038/171737a0.
¹ or (1)Anatomy of an ACS reference
Pick an example, then tap any part of the reference to see the rule behind it.
. , (), . DOI: .
Choose an element above.
ACS rules at a glance
| Order | Numbered in order of first citation. |
|---|---|
| In-text | Superscript numbers (ACS journals) or italic numbers in parentheses (1) — check your journal. |
| Authors | Surname, I. I.; separated by semicolons. |
| Journal article | Author; Author. Title. J. Abbr. Year, Volume (Issue), pages. |
| Typography | Journal italic, year bold, volume italic. |
| Book | Author. Title, edition; Publisher: Place, Year. |
| Chapter | In Book Title; Editor, Ed.; Publisher: Place, Year; pp 12–40. |
| Web | Title. Site. URL (accessed Mon DD, YYYY). |
ACS in-text citations
- Superscript numbers after the punctuation: …was confirmed.³
- Or italic numbers in parentheses: (3) — some ACS journals prefer this.
- Or author-date: (Watson and Crick, 1953) — used by a few ACS publications; choose one method and stay consistent.
- Several sources: ¹⁻³,⁵.
Ask about ACS
Answers are AI-generated from the published style rules and can be wrong. Check your journal’s or school’s author guidelines for house variations.
ACS examples
Real works, formatted by the generator above.
Journal article
Watson, J. D.; Crick, F. H. C. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature 1953, 171 (4356), 737–738. DOI: 10.1038/171737a0.
Many authors
Novoselov, K. S.; Geim, A. K.; Morozov, S. V.; Jiang, D.; Zhang, Y.; Dubonos, S. V.; Grigorieva, I. V.; Firsov, A. A. Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films. Science 2004, 306 (5696), 666–669. DOI: 10.1126/science.1102896.
Textbook
Atkins, P.; de Paula, J.; Keeler, J. Atkins' Physical Chemistry, 11th ed.; Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2018.
Web page
World Health Organization. Hypertension. World Health Organization. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension (accessed Sep 20, 2026).
Report / standard
IEEE Computer Society. IEEE Standard for Floating-Point Arithmetic; IEEE Std 754-2019; IEEE: Piscataway, NJ, USA, 2019. DOI: 10.1109/IEEESTD.2019.8766229.
Source types supported here: Journal article, Book, Book chapter, Conference paper, Web page, Report / standard, Thesis.
ACS citation questions
What does an ACS journal citation look like?
Watson, J. D.; Crick, F. H. C. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature 1953, 171 (4356), 737–738. DOI: 10.1038/171737a0 — with Nature in italics, 1953 in bold and 171 in italics.
Does ACS use et al.?
In the reference list ACS recommends listing every author. Some journals cap the list at ten authors followed by “et al.” In the text you can write “Novoselov et al. showed…”
Where do I find ACS journal abbreviations?
Use CAS Source Index (CASSI). Common ones: J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem., Int. Ed., Chem. Rev., J. Phys. Chem. A.
Is the issue number required in ACS?
It is optional; include it consistently if you use it. ScholarCite includes it when you fill the field.