Nature citation style
How Nature and the Nature Portfolio journals format references: up to five authors, an ampersand before the last, the journal in italics, the volume in bold and the year last in brackets.
Jumper, J. et al. Highly Accurate Protein Structure Prediction with AlphaFold. Nature 596, 583–589 (2021).
¹Anatomy of a Nature reference
Pick an example, then tap any part of the reference to see the rule behind it.
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Nature rules at a glance
| Order | Numbered in order of first citation. |
|---|---|
| In-text | Superscript numbers: …as reported previously³. |
| Authors | Up to five, then first author et al.; & before the last. |
| Article | Author, A. B. & Author, C. D. Title. J. Abbr. Vol, pages (Year). |
| Book | Author, A. Title (Publisher, Year). |
| DOI | Not required in Nature’s printed list, but helpful for readers; add it if your target journal asks. |
Nature in-text citations
- Superscript numbers placed after punctuation in Nature’s house style.
- Ranges with an en dash: ²–⁵.
- Only one publication per number; don’t combine references.
Ask about Nature
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.
Nature examples
Real works, formatted by the generator above.
Journal article (6+ authors)
Jumper, J. et al. Highly accurate protein structure prediction with AlphaFold. Nature 596, 583–589 (2021).
Two authors
Watson, J. D. & Crick, F. H. C. Molecular structure of nucleic acids: A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid. Nature 171, 737–738 (1953).
Book
Atkins, P., de Paula, J. & Keeler, J. Atkins' physical chemistry (11th ed., Oxford University Press, 2018).
Multi-volume book
Knuth, D. E. The art of computer programming, vol. 1: Fundamental algorithms (3rd ed., Addison-Wesley, 1997).
Web page
World Health Organization. Hypertension. World Health Organization https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/hypertension (2023).
Source types supported here: Journal article, Book, Book chapter, Conference paper, Web page, Report / standard, Thesis.
Nature citation questions
How many authors does Nature list?
Nature lists up to five authors. With six or more, give the first author followed by “et al.”
Is the volume bold in Nature style?
Yes. The journal name is italic and the volume number bold: Nature 596, 583–589 (2021).
Do other journals use Nature style?
All Nature Portfolio titles (Nature Communications, Scientific Reports and others) use the same pattern, and many physics and biology journals follow something close to it.