The ACS Style Guide:
Citing and Documenting Sources in Chemistry

Introduction

This web guide is based on the second edition of The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors (1997). The web guide is divided into two sections: Citing Within the Text of Your Research Paper and The Reference List for Your Research Paper. For other examples, please refer to The ACS Style Guide which is located in the Davis Centre Library's Reference Collection at call number QD8.5.A25 1997. This book also provides information on how to write a scientific paper, how to deliver an effective oral presentation, and includes a discussion of copyright issues.

The Reference List for Your Research Paper

• Collating References
• Books
• Journal Articles
• Newspapers
• Meetings and Conferences
• Theses
• Patents
• Technical Reports and Bulletins
• Unpublished Materials
  (Emails, Personal Communications, ...)
• Websites
• Electronic Lists and Newsgroups

Collating References

1. For the numerical citation formats:

• Collate all of the references at the end of your research paper in numerical order.

2. For the name-year citation format:

• Collate all of the references at the end of your research paper in alphabetical order. Alphabetize in order of the initial authors' last names.
  
  
• When the same first author is common to numerous references:
  
  1. Group the single author references first; list them chronologically*.
     
     
  2. Group the two author references next; list them chronologically*.
     
     
  3. Group the multiple author references last; list them chronologically*.

* Add a lower case letter (a, b, c, etc.) to the year to distinguish among references that have the same publication year.

Chong, J. Michael. Tetrahedron 1989, 45, 623-628.

Chong, J. Michael. Tetrahedron Lett. 1992, 33, 33-36.

Chong, J. Michael; Wong, Susanna. J. Org. Chem. 1987, 52, 2596-2598.

Chong, J. Michael; Park, Sheldon B. J. Org. Chem. 1993a, 58, 523-527.

Chong, J. Michael; Park, Sheldon B. J. Org. Chem. 1993b, 58, 7300-7303.

Chong, J. Michael; Heuft, Matthew A. Tetrahedron 1999, 55, 14243-14250.

Chong, J. Michael; MacDonald, Gordon K.; Park, Sheldon B.; Wilkinson, Scott H. J. Org. Chem. 1993, 58, 1266-1268.

Chong, J. Michael; Heuft, Matthew A.; Rabbat, Phil. J. Org. Chem. 2000a, 65, 5837-5838.

Chong, J. Michael; Shen, Lixin; Taylor, Nicholas J. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2000b, 122, 1822-1823.

Specific Examples

Books

1. Books Without Editors

Crabtree, Robert H. The Organometallic Chemistry of the Transition Metals, 3rd ed.; Wiley & Sons: New York, 2001.

Binkley, Edith R.; Binkley, Roger W. Carbohydrate Photochemistry; ACS Monograph 191; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1998.

• Chapter titles are not required in your citations but they are considered to be desirable.

McQuarrie, Donald A.; Simon, John D. Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach; University Science Books: Sausalito, CA, 1997; pp 963-1009.

McQuarrie, Donald A.; Simon, John D. Chemical Equilibrium. Physical Chemistry: A Molecular Approach; University Science Books: Sausalito, CA, 1997; pp 963-1009.

2. Books With Editors

Brudvig, Gary W. Structure and Function of Manganese in Photosystem II. In Mechanistic Bioinorganic Chemistry; Thorp, H. Holden; Pecoraro, Vincent L., Eds.; Advances in Chemistry Series 246; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 1995; pp 249-263.

• Chapter titles are not required in your citations but they are considered to be desirable.

Decker, C.; Elzaouk, B. Laser Curing of Photopolymers. In Current Trends in Polymer Photochemistry; Allen, Norman S.; Edge, Michele; Bellobono, Ignazio Renato; Selli, Elena, Eds.; Ellis Horwood: New York, 1995; pp 130-148.

Decker, C.; Elzaouk, B. In Current Trends in Polymer Photochemistry; Allen, Norman S.; Journal of Organic ChemistryEdge, Michele; Bellobono, Ignazio Renato; Selli, Elena, Eds.; Ellis Horwood: New York, 1995; pp 130-148.

• If you reference the whole book then author names do not appear in your citation.

Current Trends in Polymer Photochemistry; Allen, Norman S.; Edge, Michele; Bellobono, Ignazio Renato; Selli, Elena, Eds.; Ellis Horwood: New York, 1995.

3. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology

• Include the article title for citations to articles in the Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology.

Tin Compounds. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 4th ed.; Wiley & Sons: New York, 1997; Vol. 24, pp 122-161.

Journal Articles

1. Journal Title Abbreviations

• The 2nd edition of The ACS Style Guide: A Manual for Authors and Editors (1997) provides a list of journal title abbreviations on pp 215-229.
  
  
• One word journal names, such as Nature, Science, and Biochemistry, are not abbreviated.
  
  
• For more examples of chemistry journal titles and abbreviations, see the list maintained by the University of British Columbia Library.

Journal Name	Journal Abbreviation
Accounts of Chemical Research	Acc. Chem. Res.
Analytical Chemistry	Anal. Chem.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition	Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
Chemical & Engineering News	Chem. Eng. News
Chemical Reviews	Chem. Rev.
Journal of Organic Chemistry	J. Org. Chem.
Journal of Organometallic Chemistry	J. Organomet. Chem.
Journal of the American Chemical Society	J. Am. Chem. Soc.
Macromolecules	Macromolecules
Organic Letters	Org. Lett.

2. Article Titles

• Article titles are not required in your citations but they are considered to be desirable.

Burchat, Andrew F.; Chong, J. Michael; Nielsen, Nathan. Titration of Alkyllithiums with a Simple Reagent to a Blue Endpoint. J. Organomet. Chem. 1997, 542, 281-283.

Burchat, Andrew F.; Chong, J. Michael; Nielsen, Nathan. J. Organomet. Chem. 1997, 542, 281-283.

3. Page Numbering

• If a journal starts each issue with a page 1 (individual pagination) then include the issue number in parenthesis () following the volume number.

Jacoby, Mitch. Chem. Eng. News 2003, 81 (14), 37-38.

Aieta, E. Marco; Berg, James D. J. Am. Water Works Assoc. 1986, 78 (6), 62-72.

• If a journal's page numbering continues from issue to issue (continuous pagination) then only include the volume number. For example, if one issue ends on page 503 then the next issue starts on page 504.

Emons, Theo T.; Li, Jianquan; Nazar, Linda F. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2002, 124, 8516-8517.

4. Online Periodicals / Electronic Journals

Ditty, Michael J.T.; Power, William P. Can. J. Chem. [Online] 1999, 77, 1951-1961.

Newspapers

Nikiforuk, Andrew. The New World Biological Order. The National Post, April 9, 2003, p A18.

Meetings and Conferences

Jakeman, David L.; Withers, Stephen G. Engineering Glycosidases for Constructive Purposes. In Carbohydrate Bioengineering: Interdisciplinary Approaches, Proceedings of the 4th Carbohydrate Bioengineering Meeting, Stockholm, Sweden, June 10-13, 2001; Teeri, Tuula T.; Svensson, Birte; Gilbert, Harry J.; Feizi, Ten, Eds.; Royal Society of Chemistry: Cambridge, UK, 2002; pp 3-8.

• For abstracts, the word "In" is not used before the book title; include the abstract number.

Nabholz, J.V.; Lynch, D.G.; Rodier, D.J. Accessing the Ecological Risks of a New Chemical Under the Toxic Substances Control Act. Abstract Book: Ecological Risk Assessment: Lessons Learned?, 14th Annual Meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, Houston, Texas, Nov 14-18, 1993; Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry: Pensacola, FL, 1993; E103, p 1.

Theses

Kirby, Christopher William. Solid-State NMR Studies of Cobalamins. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, 2000.

Kirby, Christopher William. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Waterloo, 2000.

Patents

• Indicate the patent stage (Patent, Patent Application, etc.) and follow the pattern of the number in the original patent document.

Roy, Reynald. Insect Repellent. U.S. Patent 6,441,034, August 27, 2002.

Roy, Reynald. U.S. Patent 6,441,034, 2002.

Technical Reports and Bulletins

• Include the report or bulletin number.

Clifford, Stephen M.; Greeley, Ronald; Haberle, Robert M. Scientific Results of the NASA-Sponsored Study Project on Mars: Evolution of its Climate and Atmosphere; LPI Technical Report No. 88-09; Lunar and Planetary Institute: Houston, TX, 1988.

Unpublished Materials (including Emails and Personal Communications)

1. Emails and Personal Communications

• Messages sent by email are considered to be personal communications and are referred to as such.
  
  
• Include the professional affiliation (name of university, company, etc.) of the author.

Briggs, Laura. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. Personal communication, 2003.

2. Materials Not Intended for Publication

• Include the professional affiliation (name of university, company, etc.) of the author.

Briggs, Laura. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON. Unpublished work, 2003.

3. Materials Intended for Publication

• Use phrases to indicate the various stages of publication.

Baines, Kim M. Organometallics, in press.

Baines, Kim M. J. Am. Chem. Soc., submitted for publication, 2003.

Websites

• Use the title of the website and add the words "Home Page", "database", etc. for clarity.
  
  
• The date of access is important because websites are constantly being changed and updated.

University of Waterloo Library Home Page. http://www.lib.uwaterloo.ca/ (accessed April 15, 2003).

Electronic Lists and Newsgroups

Chemical Information Sources Discussion List, comments in archived messages of March 2003, CHMINF-L@indiana.edu.

See also Citing Within the Text of Your Research Paper

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