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ACS style

07 September 2023

This basic introduction to the ACS referencing style is based on the ACS Style Quick Guide, which is part of The ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication. Learn more about ACS style.

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ACS style

This basic introduction to the ACS referencing style is based on the ACS Style Quick Guide, part of the The ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication. Some ACS journals use different variations, so if submitting to a journal check its guidelines. Generally the ACS style includes

  • A superscript number in your document (starting at 1 and increasing through the document)
  • A reference list for all numbered citations (at the end of the document)

Referencing sources correctly is important to

  • Give credit to the person who came up with the original idea
  • Direct readers to the original source for more information
  • Prove that you are basing your work on solid research
  • Avoid plagiarism and losing marks
Sample references
 

Book without editors

 

The edition number is placed after the title of the work. This is unnecessary if it is the first edition.

1.   Gomer, R.; Bauer, E. Interactions on Metal Surfaces; Springer-Verlag, 1975.
2.   Bauer, E. L. A Statistical Manual for Chemists, 2nd ed.; Academic Press, 1971.
3.   Hammond, C. The Basics of Crystallography and Diffraction, 4th ed.; International Union of Crystallography Texts on Crystallography, Vol. 21; Oxford University Press, 2015. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198738671.001.0001

 

Book with editors
 

Separate editor names by commas

1.   Molecular Complexes; Foster, R., Ed.; Elek Science, 1973.
2.   Chemical Information Systems; Ash, J. E., Hyde, E., Eds.; Ellis Horwood, 1975.
3.   Mom the Chemistry Professor: Personal Accounts and Advice from Chemistry Professors Who Are Mothers, 2nd ed.; Wozniak, K., Charlebois, A., Cole, R. S., Marzabadi, C. H., Webster, G., Eds.; Springer, 2018. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-78972-9

 

Chapter in a book
 

Include editor names if the chapter is in a book with editors

1.   Bard, A. J.; Faulkner, L. R. Double-Layer Structure and Absorption. In Electrochemical Methods: Fundamentals and Applications, 2nd ed.; John Wiley & Sons, 2001; pp 534−579.
2.   Maeder, M.; Neuhold, Y.-M. Kinetic Modeling of Multivariate Measurements with Nonlinear Regression. In Practical Guide to Chemometrics, 2nd ed.; Gemperline, P., Ed.; Taylor & Francis, 2006; pp 217–262.
3.   Hongbo, S.; Liye, C.; Gang, X.; Kun, Y.; Lihua, Z.; Junna, S. Progress in Phytoremediating Heavy-Metal Contaminated Soils. In Detoxification of Heavy Metals; Sherameti, I., Varma, A., Eds.; Soil Biology, Vol. 30; Springer, 2011; pp 73–90. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-21408-0_4

 
Entering books in EndNote
 

For details on how to add book references in EndNote, click here

Papers presented at a conference
 

Citations to an unpublished conference paper include the name, location and date of the conference at which it was presented.

1.   Shapter, J.; Gooding, J. J.; Losic, D. Application of flat gold in STM imaging and biosensors. Presented at RACI/NZIC Conference on Physical Chemistry, Christchurch, New Zealand, February 3–7, 2002.

 

Papers in proceedings
 

The reference to a conference paper collected in a proceedings includes the name, location and date of the conference as well as the publication details of the proceedings.

1.   Nilsson, A.; Petersson, F.; Persson, H. W.; Jönsson, H.; Laurell, T. Manipulation of Suspended Particles in a Laminar Flow. In Micro Total Analysis Systems 2002, Proceedings of the μTAS 2002 Symposium, Nara, Japan, November 3–7, 2002; Baba, Y., Shoji, S., van den Berg, A., Eds.; Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, The Netherlands, 2002; Vol. 2, pp 751–753. DOI: 10.1007/978-94-010-0504-3_50

It may also be acceptable for a reference to omit the title of the presentation.

1.   Meredith, G. R.; Hsiung, H.; Stevenson, S. H.; Vanherzeele, H.; Zumsteg, F. C. In Organic Materials for Non-linear Optics, Proceedings of OMNO88, Oxford, June 29–30, 1988; Hann, R. A., Bloor, D., Eds.; Royal Society of Chemistry: London, 1989; pp 97–111.

 

Entering conference papers in EndNote
 

For details on how to add conference papers in EndNote, click here

Template
 

Authors. Article title. Journal AbbreviationYearVolume (Issue), page range. DOI: DOI number

  • Authors: Surname, Initials. Separate authors by semicolons
  • Article title: follow the capitalisation on the article itself
    • Some ACS journals omit the article title from the reference
  • Journal title abbreviations can be found at:
  • The DOI number often appears on the article itself and on the article webpage. DOIs can also be found on the Crossref Metadata Search.

 

Examples

1.   Schöne, B. R.; Zhang, Z.; Jacob, D.; Gillikin, D. P.; Tütken, T.; Garbe-Schönberg, D.; McConnaughey, T.; Soldati, A. Effect of organic matrices on the determination of the trace element chemistry (Mg, Sr, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca) of aragonitic bivalve shells (Arctica islandica)—Comparison of ICP-OES and LA-ICP-MS data. Geochem. J. 201044 (1), 23–37. DOI: 10.2343/geochemj.1.0045

2.   Çolak, A. T.; Çolak, F.; Yeşilel, O. Z.; Büyükgüngör, O. Synthesis, spectroscopic, thermal, voltammetric studies and biological activity of crystalline complexes of pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic acid and 8-hydroxyquinoline. J. Mol. Struct. 2009936 (1–3), 67–74. DOI: 10.1016/j.molstruc.2009.07.026

3.   Ruangsang, P.; Tewtrakul, S.; Reanmongkol, W. Evaluation of the analgesic and anti-inflammatory activities of Curcuma mangga Val and Zijp rhizomes. J. Nat. Med. 201064 (1), 36–41. DOI: 10.1007/s11418-009-0365-1

4.   Yoshimi, Y.; Hayashi, S.; Nishikawa, K.; Haga, Y.; Maeda, K.; Morita, T.; Itou, T.; Okada, Y.; Ichinose, N.; Hatanaka, M. Influence of Solvent, Electron Acceptors and Arenes on Photochemical Decarboxylation of Free Carboxylic Acids via Single Electron Transfer (SET). Molecules201015 (4), 2623–2630. DOI: 10.3390/molecules15042623

5.   Oliveira, J. M.; Sousa, R. A.; Kotobuki, N.; Tadokoro, M.; Hirose, M.; Mano, J. F.; Reis, R. L.; Ohgushi, H. The osteogenic differentiation of rat bone marrow stromal cells cultured with dexamethasone-loaded carboxymethylchitosan/poly(amidoamine) dendrimer nanoparticles. Biomaterials200930 (5), 804–813. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2008.10.024

 

How to enter references in EndNote
 

Encyclopedias
 

Treat encyclopedia articles like chapters in a book or ebook.

1.   Dye Carriers. In Van Nostrand’s Encyclopedia of Chemistry, 5th ed.; Wiley & Sons, 1993; pp 511–512.
2.   Amino Acids. In Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry; Wiley & Sons, 2007. DOI: 10.1002/14356007.a02_057.pub2
3.   Bioremediation. In Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology; Wiley & Sons, 2009. DOI: 10.1002/0471238961.0209151816180914.a01.pub2

 

Patents
 

Patent citations require the inventors, the title (if known), the patent number and the date.

1.   Barbera-Guillem, E.; Castro, S. Fluorescent nanocrystal-labeled microspheres for fluorescence analyses. PCT Int. Appl. WO 2001089585, November 29, 2001.
2.   Lois-Caballe, C.; Baltimore, D.; Qin, X.-F. Method for Expression of Small RNA Molecules within a Cell. US 7,732,193 B2, 2010.

 

Preprints
 

Authors. Article Title. Name of Preprint Server (Section), Submission date, record number, version number. DOI/URL (accessed YYYY-MM-DD).

1.   Pérez-Guardiola, A.; Sancho-Garcia, J.-C.; Muccioli, L.; Jimenez, A. J. P. Structure and Charge Transport Properties of CycloParaPhenylene Monolayers on Graphite. ChemRxiv, February 26, 2019, ver. 3. DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv.7411553.v3 (accessed 2019-03-01).

  • Many preprint servers give URLs for the items; however, a few (e.g., ChemRxiv) give DOIs. Use whichever is present, but be aware that in some cases the DOI may link to the final published paper rather than to the preprint/eprint. Include the date that the preprint was accessed in parentheses after the URL or DOI. End the citation with a full stop.

 

Safety Data Sheets (SDSs)
 

1.   Hydrochloric Acid 7m solution; MSDS No. 4518-89; ChemWatch: Christchurch, March 30, 2006. https://jr.chemwatch.net/ (accessed 2020-10-07).

  • The publisher is the organisation or company that provides the SDS. Use the URL for the individual article where possible.

 

Theses
 

1.   Little, G. R. Studies in Carbonium Ion Chemistry. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1971. DOI: 10.26021/6899 (accessed 2021-02-19).
2.   Hickford, S. J. H. Studies in the Chemistry of Marine Natural Products. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2007. DOI: 10.26021/7600 (accessed 2021-02-19).

 

Websites

 

Where possible include: author, title of page, date published, title of larger site, URL and access date. Often not all of this information can be found, but at minimum provide: title, URL and access date.

1.   Mascini, M. Aptamer-based Assays, 2008. SciTopics. http://www.scitopics.com/Aptamer_based_Assays.html (accessed 2010-04016).
2.   ACS Publications Home Page. https://pubs.acs.org/ (accessed 2019-02-21).

 

How to enter other types of references in EndNote

 

Basic rules
 

Write names in inverted form: surname, then initials.

  • Rosenberg, L.

Two or more authors

List all authors. Separate author names with a semicolon.

  • Warren, J. J.; Mayer, J. M.
  • Verney-Carron, A.; Gin, S.; Frugier, P.; Libourel, G.
  • Stone, V.; Nowack, B.; Baun, A.; van den Brink, N.; von der Kammer, F.; Dusinska, M.; Handy, R.; Hankin, S.; Hassellov, M.; Joner, E.; Fernandes, T. F.

Editors

Identify editors with the abbreviation Ed. or Eds. following their name. Separate editor names with a comma.

  • Foster, R., Ed.
  • Ash, J. E., Hyde, E., Eds.

Corporate authors

  • Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker; International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. Plenary and main section lectures. Butterworths: London, 1974.

If the same organisation both authored and published the item, it only needs to be named in the author field.

  • Association of Official Analytical Chemists. Handbook of the AOAC, 3rd ed.; Washington, 1971.

Make sure that the author field ends in a full stop. If you are using EndNote, enter the name of the organisation followed by a comma (e.g. Association of Official Analytical Chemists,) so that EndNote knows to treat it as a phrase instead of breaking it up into surname and initials.

Sample reference list
 

 (1) Chemical Information Systems; Ash, J. E.; Hyde, E., Eds. Ellis Horwood, 1975.
 (2) Maeder, M.; Neuhold, Y.-M. Kinetic Modeling of Multivariate Measurements with Nonlinear Regression. In Practical Guide to Chemometrics, 2nd ed.; Gemperline, P., Ed.; Taylor & Francis, 2006; pp 217–262.
 (3) Meredith, G. R.; Hsiung, H.; Stevenson, S. H.; Vanherzeele, H.; Zumsteg, F. C. In Organic Materials for Non-linear Optics, Proceedings of OMNO88, Oxford, June 29-30, 1988; Hann, R. A., Bloor, D., Eds. Royal Society of Chemistry: London, 1989; pp 97–111.
 (4) Schöne, B. R.; Zhang, Z.; Jacob, D.; Gillikin, D. P.; Tütken, T.; Garbe-Schönberg, D.; McConnaughey, T.; Soldati, A. Effect of organic matrices on the determination of the trace element chemistry (Mg, Sr, Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca) of aragonitic bivalve shells (Arctica islandica)—Comparison of ICP-OES and LA-ICP-MS data. Geochem. J. 201044 (1), 23–37. DOI: 10.2343/geochemj.1.0045
 (5) Yoshimi, Y.; Hayashi, S.; Nishikawa, K.; Haga, Y.; Maeda, K.; Morita, T.; Itou, T.; Okada, Y.; Ichinose, N.; Hatanaka, M. Influence of Solvent, Electron Acceptors and Arenes on Photochemical Decarboxylation of Free Carboxylic Acids via Single Electron Transfer (SET). Molecules201015 (4), 2623–2630. DOI: 10.3390/molecules15042623
 (6) Amino Acids. In Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry; Wiley & Sons, 2007. DOI: 10.1002/14356007.a02_057.pub2
 (7) Hydrochloric Acid 7m solution; MSDS No. 4518-89; ChemWatch: Christchurch, March 30, 2006. https://jr.chemwatch.net/ (accessed 2020-10-07).
 (8) Barbera-Guillem, E.; Castro, S. Fluorescent nanocrystal-labeled microspheres for fluorescence analyses. PCT Int. Appl. WO 2001089585, November 29, 2001.
 (9) Hickford, S. J. H. Studies in the Chemistry of Marine Natural Products. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand, 2007. DOI: 10.26021/7600 (accessed 2021-02-19).
 (10) ACS Publications Home Page. https://pubs.acs.org/ (accessed 2019-02-21).

The official ACS Style Quick Guide is available online.

  • See also the ACS Inclusivity Style Guide.
  • NB: UC Library does not have access to the full guide, The ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication.
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