How to Cite a Journal Article in CSE Style

Quick Answer

CSE journal article format (Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name):

Author(s). Article title. Journal Abbrev. Year;Volume(Issue):Pages.

CSE journal article format (Name-Year):

Author(s). Year. Article title. Journal Abbrev. Volume(Issue):Pages.

Worked example (Name-Year):

Smith JA, Doe MB. 2024. Photosynthesis in extremophiles. J Exp Bot. 75(3):512-528.

In-text citation in each system:

• Citation-Sequence: ¹ or (1), numbered in order of first appearance.
• Citation-Name: ¹² or (12), numbered by alphabetical order in the reference list.
• Name-Year: (Smith and Doe 2024) or "Smith and Doe (2024) showed..."

Three rules that catch most people out:

• No periods between abbreviated journal words. "J Exp Bot" not "J. Exp. Bot." CSE follows the NLM abbreviation list.
• Sentence case for article titles. Capitalise only the first word and proper nouns.
• List every author by default. CSE does not use "et al." in the reference list. The exception is in-text Name-Year, where three or more authors collapse to "Smith et al. 2024".

Need to format dozens of references? Paste any DOI or PubMed URL into the AllCitations CSE generator and get a correctly formatted reference in any of the three CSE systems in seconds.

What is CSE Style?

CSE refers to the citation guidelines published by the Council of Science Editors in Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (8th ed., 2014). It is the dominant citation style in biology, ecology, genetics, botany, and many physical sciences, and it is the ancestor of related styles such as AMA (medicine), Vancouver (biomedicine), Nature, and ASM. If you are submitting to a journal whose instructions reference "CSE", "CBE" (the previous name of the society), or simply "scientific style", these are the rules you need.

Unlike APA or MLA, CSE supports three different documentation systems. Different journals prefer different ones, so the first step is always to check your target journal's instructions for authors. If the journal does not specify, this guide will help you choose between them.

The Three CSE Systems

CSE journal article references look slightly different depending on which of the three systems you are using. The components are the same; only the punctuation and the position of the year change.

Citation-Sequence

Numbered references in the order they first appear in the text. Used by Nature, Science, and many high-impact biology journals because it saves space.

1. Smith JA, Doe MB. Photosynthesis in extremophiles. J Exp Bot. 2024;75(3):512-528.

In text: "...as recently shown.¹"

Citation-Name

References alphabetised by author surname, then numbered. Numbers in the text correspond to alphabetical position in the reference list, not order of appearance.

12. Smith JA, Doe MB. Photosynthesis in extremophiles. J Exp Bot. 2024;75(3):512-528.

In text: "...as recently shown.¹²"

Name-Year

Author-date in the text, like APA. References alphabetised by author surname; no numbers.

Smith JA, Doe MB. 2024. Photosynthesis in extremophiles. J Exp Bot. 75(3):512-528.

In text: "...as recently shown (Smith and Doe 2024)."

Notice that under Name-Year, the year moves up to right after the author. That single move changes how the rest of the entry is punctuated, and is the most frequent source of accidental mixing between systems. Choose one and use it consistently.

For a deeper comparison and a decision table that maps situations to recommended systems, see the CSE generator overview.

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Worked Examples

The eight examples below cover the most common journal article scenarios. Each shows the reference list entry in the most common system (Citation-Sequence) and the matching in-text citation in all three.

1. Article with One Author

1. Harmon TR. Cognitive load and decision fatigue in clinical settings. J Appl Psychol. 2021;106(3):412-428.

In-text:

• Citation-Sequence: (1)
• Citation-Name: (3) (alphabetical position)
• Name-Year: (Harmon 2021) or "Harmon (2021) showed..."

Notice how the author's initials follow the surname with no commas and no periods. "Harmon TR" is correct; "Harmon, T. R." is not.

2. Article with Two Authors

2. Nguyen PL, Castellano RJ. Social media use and self-esteem among emerging adults: a longitudinal analysis. Dev Psychol. 2023;59(1):88-101.

In-text:

• Citation-Sequence: (2)
• Citation-Name: (10)
• Name-Year: (Nguyen and Castellano 2023)

CSE uses "and" between authors in Name-Year in-text citations, not "&" the way APA does.

3. Article with Three or More Authors

3. Whitfield KD, Okonkwo AM, Vasquez LR, Park SH. The role of sleep quality in academic performance among college students. Health Psychol. 2022;41(5):334-346.

In-text:

• Citation-Sequence: (3)
• Citation-Name: (15)
• Name-Year: (Whitfield et al. 2022)

In CSE Name-Year, "et al." kicks in at three or more authors for the in-text citation. The reference list still lists every author. This is opposite to Vancouver, which truncates the reference list at six authors but lists three before "et al." in-text.

4. Article with Many Authors (Long Author Lists)

CSE lists every author by default, even when there are 30 or more. Some publishers truncate at 10, so always check your target journal's instructions for authors.

4. Garcia M, Liu T, Andersson K, Patel R, Wong K, Reynolds P, Murphy K, Hernandez A, Kim J, Park HJ, Lee S, Carter L, Brown C, Smith JA, Doe MB. Genomic markers in fish populations across temperate and tropical zones. Mol Ecol. 2023;32(8):1842-1865.

In-text (all systems):

• Citation-Sequence: (4)
• Citation-Name: (6)
• Name-Year: (Garcia et al. 2023)

If you genuinely need to truncate (because your journal's instructions require it), CSE allows listing the first 10 authors followed by "et al." in the reference list, but only when explicitly required.

5. Article with a DOI

CSE recommends including DOIs whenever they are available. Place the DOI at the end of the entry. The format uses "doi:" with no space or "https://doi.org/" prefix in the canonical CSE Manual format, although many journals accept the URL form.

5. Ellison MA. Implicit bias in hiring decisions: an experimental audit study. J Organ Behav. 2020;41(7):615-632. doi:10.1002/job.2460.

In-text:

• Citation-Sequence: (5)
• Citation-Name: (4)
• Name-Year: (Ellison 2020)

For the Name-Year version of the same entry:

Ellison MA. 2020. Implicit bias in hiring decisions: an experimental audit study. J Organ Behav. 41(7):615-632. doi:10.1002/job.2460.

6. Online-Only Journal Article

For online-only articles, append "[Internet]" after the journal name and add the cited date in brackets, followed by the URL.

6. Torres RA, Kim JY. Open-access publishing and citation equity in the social sciences. PLoS One [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2026 May 7];19(2):e0298451. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0298451

In-text:

• Citation-Sequence: (6)
• Citation-Name: (14)
• Name-Year: (Torres and Kim 2024)

The "[Internet]" tag and the "[cited Year Month Day]" date in brackets are mandatory in CSE for online sources. Many students copy APA habits and omit them.

7. Article with No Volume or Issue (Advance Online)

When an article has been published online ahead of print and does not yet have volume, issue, and page numbers, use the article identifier or DOI.

7. Okafor NB. Emotion regulation strategies in bilingual individuals. Cogn Emot. 2026. doi:10.1080/02699931.2026.1234567.

In-text:

• Citation-Sequence: (7)
• Citation-Name: (11)
• Name-Year: (Okafor 2026)

Once the article receives its final volume, issue, and page numbers, update the reference accordingly. This is one of the few situations where CSE allows an entry to look incomplete.

8. Article in a Non-English Journal

Provide the original title followed by an English translation in square brackets. Do not translate the journal name.

8. Morales FJ. Efectos del bilingualismo en la memoria de trabajo [Effects of bilingualism on working memory]. Rev Psicol. 2020;38(2):45-62. doi:10.18800/psico.202002.003.

In-text:

• Citation-Sequence: (8)
• Citation-Name: (8)
• Name-Year: (Morales 2020)

If the article is in a non-Roman script, transliterate the title and provide the English translation in brackets.

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Special Cases

Retracted Articles

When citing a retracted article, indicate the retraction in the entry with "Retraction in:" followed by the retraction notice.

9. Lee S, Park HJ. Cellular respiration in marine algae. J Cell Biol. 2023;220(4):e202301045. doi:10.1083/jcb.202301045. Retraction in: J Cell Biol. 2024;221(2):e202401012.

If you want to cite the retraction notice itself, swap the order. Always check whether an article has been retracted before relying on its findings; PubMed flags retractions in the abstract header.

Articles with Article Numbers Instead of Page Ranges

Many open-access biology journals (PLoS One, Frontiers, Scientific Reports) assign article numbers rather than page ranges. Use the article number where the page range would normally go.

10. Carter L. Mitochondrial DNA inheritance patterns in zebrafish. Sci Rep. 2022;12:e2298451.

The "e" prefix indicates an electronic article number; some journals omit it.

Supplemental Materials

If you are citing supplemental materials specifically (rather than the main article), add "[supplement]" or the type of supplement in brackets after the title.

11. Patel R, Wong K. Aquifer recharge modeling under projected drought scenarios [supplement]. Water Resour Res. 2024;60(3):S1-S14. doi:10.1029/2024WR036712.

If you are citing the main article and supplements are simply available alongside it, you do not need a separate reference; cite the main article.

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NLM Journal Abbreviations

CSE follows the NLM (National Library of Medicine) abbreviation list. Three rules cover most situations:

1. No periods between abbreviated words. "J Exp Bot" not "J. Exp. Bot."
2. Single-word titles are not abbreviated. "Nature" stays "Nature"; "Cell" stays "Cell".
3. Drop articles and prepositions. "Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences" becomes "Ann N Y Acad Sci".

The full list is searchable through the NLM Catalog. When in doubt, look it up rather than guess. Common examples:

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Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Putting periods between abbreviated journal words. This is the single most common CSE error. Write "J Exp Bot" not "J. Exp. Bot." The NLM convention drops periods.

Using title case for article titles. Article titles in CSE use sentence case (capitalise only the first word and proper nouns). "Photosynthesis in extremophiles" is correct; "Photosynthesis in Extremophiles" is title case and applies to book titles, not journal articles.

Mixing systems within a single document. Pick Citation-Sequence, Citation-Name, or Name-Year and use it consistently. The most common slip is moving the year (Name-Year position vs Citation-Sequence position) midway through the reference list.

Using "et al." in the reference list. CSE lists every author by default. "Et al." appears only in Name-Year in-text citations when there are three or more authors. The reference list itself includes the full author roster.

Adding commas or periods between author surname and initials. CSE writes "Smith JK" with no punctuation. Not "Smith, J. K." (APA) or "Smith, J.K." (Harvard).

Forgetting the [cited] date for online sources. Web pages and online-only articles require a "[cited Year Month Day]" date in brackets. Skipping it is a frequent error among students who default to APA habits.

Confusing the position of issue and pages. In Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name, the format is "Year;Volume(Issue):Pages" with a semicolon between the year and volume and a colon before pages. In Name-Year, the year moves up next to the author and the rest becomes "Volume(Issue):Pages" with no semicolon. Watch the punctuation.

Treating CSE like Vancouver. Vancouver descended from CSE and the two look similar at a glance, but Vancouver truncates the author list at six and CSE does not. Vancouver also uses square brackets [1] for in-text numbers; CSE allows superscripts or parentheses but rarely brackets.

For a deeper dive into how CSE compares to its descendants, see our guide on How to Cite in Vancouver Style and the AMA generator.

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Quick-Reference Table

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Tools and Resources

• AllCitations CSE Generator: Paste a DOI or PubMed URL and generate a correctly formatted reference in any of the three CSE systems. Exports BibTeX or RIS for use in Zotero, Mendeley, or EndNote.
• NLM Catalog: The authoritative source for CSE journal abbreviations. If your generator produces an abbreviation that does not match the NLM Catalog entry, use the catalog.
• Council of Science Editors: The publisher of the CSE Manual. Their style FAQ page resolves edge cases not covered in the Manual itself.
• CrossRef: Search any article title to find its DOI. Adding a DOI to a CSE reference takes 30 seconds and locks the citation to the exact article version.

You can explore all the citation styles supported by AllCitations on our citation styles page.

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Related Citation Guides

• How to Cite in Vancouver Style
• How to Cite in IEEE Style
• How to Cite a Journal Article in APA 7
• How to Cite a Journal Article in MLA 9