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Chemistry Research Guide

Getting Started with ACS Style: Quick Guide

The ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication provides students, researchers, educators, and librarians with the instruction and advice they need to master the art of scholarly communication. The new Guide covers all instructions from previous editions of The ACS Style Guide - completely updated and modernized - as well as a wealth of brand new chapters covering everything from preprints, Open Access, machine-readable data, and much more.

Always up to date: digital-first, updated and expanded biannually

Given the rapidly changing publishing landscape, the new ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication is a digital publication which will be regularly updated. New topics will be added to:

  1. Expand scientific communication beyond the scientific journal, including patents, communicating science to the public, and communicating science to decision-makers;
  2. Expand data conventions beyond chemistry; and
  3. Broaden our reach beyond ethics in scientific publications to ethics in scientific research.

How to Format In-Text Citations

Select one of the three methods below to cite in-text references:

Superscript numbers

At the end of the cited information: 
Fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization.¹

Within the cited information: 
Rakita¹ states that fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization.

Italic numbers

At the end of the cited information:
 Fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization (1). 

Within the cited information:
 Rakita (1) states that fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization.

Author name and year of publication

At the end of the cited information:
 Fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization (Rakita, 2004).

Within the cited information:
 Rakita states that fluoridated water as well as various fluoride products such as toothpaste provide fluoride ions necessary for remineralization (2004).

Note: for two authors use "and": Rakita and Smith. For more than two authors use "et al.": Rakita et al.

Reference List: Journal Articles

Quick Note: 

The minimum required information for a journal: author, abbreviated journal title, year, and DOI. Include article title, volume/issue numbers, and pagination if available.

Journal abbreviation and volume are italicized. Year of publication is bolded.

Use CASSI (Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index) to find standard journal abbreviations.

Article in a scientific journal

Mawhinney, R. C.; Muchall, H. M.; Peslherbe, G.H. A Computational Study of the 1,3-Dipolar Cycloaddition Reaction Mechanism for Nitrilimines. Can. J. Chem. 2005, 35, 1615-1625.

Article in a popular/non-scientific magazine

Manning, R. Super Organics. Wired, May 2004, pp 176-181.

Article from an online journal 

Peacock-Lopez, E. Exact Solutions of the Quantum Double Square-Well Potential. Chem. Ed. [Online] 200711, 383-393 http://chemeducator.org/bibs/0011006/11060380lb.htm (accessed Aug 23, 2007).

Reference List: Books

Book (without editor)

Lehman, J. W. Operational organic chemistry: a problem-solving approach to the laboratory course, 4th ed.; Pearson Prentice Hall: Upper Saddle River, N.J., 2009; p 57.

Book Chapter (from an edited book)

Nishiyama, H.; Shiomi, T. Reductive Aldol, Michael, and Mannich Reactions. In Metal Catalyzed Reductive C-C Bond Formation: A Departure from Preformed Organometallic Reagents; Krische, M. J., Ed.; Springer: Berlin, 2007; pp 105-138.

E-book

Dyall, K. G.; Faegri, K. Introduction to relativistic quantum chemistry [Online]; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, 2007; p 15. http://0-lib.myilibrary.com.mercury.concordia.ca/browse/open.asp?id=115882&loc= (accessed Jun 14, 2010).

Encyclopedias

Print

Diagnostic Reagents. Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, 5th ed.; VCH: Weinheim, Germany, 1985; Vol. A8, pp 455-491.

Online

Alkanolamines from Nitro Alcohols. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology [Online]; Wiley & Sons, Posted March 14, 2003. http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/kirk/articles/alkaboll.a01/frame.html (accessed Nov 7, 2004).

Handbooks

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 89th ed.; Lide, D.R., Ed.; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2008; Section 3, No. 339.

The Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals, 12th ed.; Budavari, S.; O'Neal, M.J.; Smith, A.; Heckelman, P. E.; Kinneary, J. F., Eds.; Merck & Co.: Whitehouse Station, NJ, 1996; entry 4857.

Reference List: SciFinder snd Other Databases

References to data retrieved from a database should be cited like a web site and include the CAS Registry Number (RN) or chemical name and the date the database was accessed. If the data are calculated data, also cite the software used for the calculation.

SciFinder

SciFinder; Chemical Abstracts Service: Columbus, OH; carbon-13 NMR spectrum; spectrum ID CC-03-C_SPC-3734; RN 50-52-2; https://scifinder.cas.org (accessed June 9, 2010).

SciFinder; Chemical Abstracts Service: Columbus, OH; Density; RN 50-52-2; https://scifinder.cas.org (accessed June 9, 2010); calculated using ACD/Labs software, version 8.14; ACD/Labs 1994-2007. 

Other databases

Spectral Database for Organic Compounds (SDBS); mass spectrum; SDBS No.: 4778; RN 87-86-5; http://riodb01.ibase.aist.go.jp/sdbs/ (accessed June 14, 2010).

Reference List: Spectra and Other Data

References to data retrieved from a database should be cited like a web site and include the CAS Registry Number (RN) or chemical name and the date the database was accessed. If the data are calculated data, also cite the software used for the calculation.

SciFinder: If the spectrum or data was found in SciFinder, cite it in the following way: 

SciFinder; Chemical Abstracts Service: Columbus, OH; carbon-13 NMR spectrum; spectrum ID CC-03-C_SPC-3734; RN 50-52-2; https://scifinder.cas.org (accessed June 9, 2010).

SciFinder; Chemical Abstracts Service: Columbus, OH; Density; RN 50-52-2; https://scifinder.cas.org (accessed June 9, 2010); calculated using ACD/Labs software, version 8.14; ACD/Labs 1994-2007. 

Online: If the spectrum or data was found in an online database or web site, cite it in the following way:

Spectral Database for Organic Compounds (SDBS); mass spectrum; SDBS No.: 4778; RN 87-86-5; http://riodb01.ibase.aist.go.jp/sdbs/ (accessed June 14, 2010). 

Journal Articles: If the spectrum was found in a journal, cite the article: 

Kartashov, V. S.; Shorshnev, S. V.; Arzamastsev, A. P. Use of carbon-13 NMR spectroscopy to identify 10-alkyl derivatives of phenothiazine. Khimiko-Farmatsevticheskii Zhurnal 1991, 25, 85-8. 

Print (data set compilation): If the spectrum or data was found in a book or handbook, cite it in the following way:

The Sadtler Standard Spectra: 300 MHz Proton NMR Standards; Bio-Rad, Sadlter Div.: Philadelphia, PA, 1994; no. 7640 (1-Chloropentane). 

The Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals, 12th ed.; Budavari, S.; O'Neal, M.J.; Smith, A.; Heckelman, P. E.; Kinneary, J. F., Eds.; Merck & Co.: Whitehouse Station, NJ, 1996; entry 4857.

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