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A quick guide to ACS (American Chemical Society) citation style

ACS citation style was developed by the American Chemical Society, the world’s largest scientific society, to advance research in the field of chemistry. ACS citation style is particularly adopted for referencing the publications for the journals in the field of chemistry such as Catalysis, Chemical reviews, JACS, etc. The style recommended by ACS is adapted from the established authoritative sources, such as The Chicago Manual of Style, Words into Type, and the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual.

Citing References in Text

In ACS publications, in-text citations are carried in the following three ways:
1. By superscript numbers: Reference is cited by a superscript appearing outside the punctuation mark.
   
2. By italic numbers: Italicised number is placed in parentheses inside the punctuation mark.
3. By author name and year in parentheses: Places inside the punctuation mark.
 

 

In ACS publications, all of these three formats are used depending on subject matter and series.

The style for Reference lists

Journal Articles

Author Name Field

Include the name of all the authors. In the case of multiple authors, separate the names of authors by semicolons (;). First, write the author’s last name followed by a comma, then first initial, middle initial, and qualifier (Jr., II) preceded by a comma.
Example: Cotton, F.A., Jr.; Levine, S.M.

Article Title field

Article titles are not essential in ACS referencing. However, some journals include article titles. The article title is always followed by a full stop. 
Example: Cotton, F.A., Jr.; Levine, S.M. Influence of Pre-treatment in sodium powder.

Journal Abbreviation Field

The Journal name is abbreviated according to Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI) and is italicized.
Example: Cotton, F.A., Jr.; Levine, S.M. Influence of Pre-treatment in sodium powder. Chem. Mater.

Year of Publication field

The year is set in boldface type followed by a comma in boldface type. 
Example: Cotton, F.A., Jr.; Levine, S.M. Influence of Pre-treatment in sodium powder. Chem. Mater. 2005,

Publication Volume field

The volume number is set in italics type followed by issue information (either date or issue number) in parentheses and is separated from pagination information by a comma.
Example: Cotton, F.A., Jr.; Levine, S.M. Influence of Pre-treatment in sodium powder. Chem. Mater. 2005, 83(42),7.

Patents

Patent owner1; Patent owner 2; etc. Title of the Patent. Patent number, Date.
Example: Sheem, S. K. Low-Cost Fibre Optics Pressure Sensor. U.S. Patent 6,738,537, May 18, 2004.

Material Safety Data Sheets

Title; MSDS number; Manufacturing Company: Location of the company, Date. 
Title; MSDS number [online]; Manufacturing Company: Location of the company, Date. URL (accessed Month Day, Year)
Example: Titanium oxide; MSDS No. T3627;Mallinckrodt Baker: Phillipsburg, Nov 12, 2003.
 

 

 
 
 

References to Books without editors

Author name. Book Title; Series Information (if any);Publisher: Place of publication, Year; Volume number, Pagination.
Example: Morris, R.The Last sorcerers: The path from Alchemy to Periodic Table; Joseph Henry Press:Wahington, DC,2003; pp 145-158.

References to Books with Editors

When a book has editors, it means different authors have written various parts of book. 
 
 Author name. Chapter Title. In Book Title, Edition number; Name of the Editor, Eds.; Series Information (if any); Publisher: Place of publication, Year; Volume number, Pagination.
Example: Almof, J.; Gropen, O. Relativistic effects in Chemistry. In Reviews in Computational Chemistry; Lipkowitz, .KB., Boyd, D.B., Eds,; VCH: New York, 1996; Vol. 8, pp 206-210.
 

 

To reference the book as a whole, the author’s names and chapter title are removed from the above citation rule. Book Titles are always written in Italics.

References to Theses

Author. Title of theses. Level of Thesis, Degree-granting University, Location of University, Date of completion.
Example: Maekel, H. Capturing the spectra of silicon solar cells. Ph.D. Thesis, The Australian National University, December 2004.
 

 

 
 
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