Website
Website Example
American Chemical Society. ACS Style Guide; ACS Publications: Washington, DC, 2024. https://pubs.acs.org/styleguide (accessed March 15, 2024).
ACS Citation Generator
ACS style is published by the American Chemical Society and is used primarily in chemistry and related sciences. This citation generator follows the official ACS Style Guide.
Chemistry
Generate ACS citations in seconds
No account required. Paste a URL, DOI, or ISBN and get an accurate citation.
Open the generatorWhat sources can you cite in ACS format?
- Journal articles
- Books and book chapters
- Websites and online sources
- Patents
- Theses and dissertations
- Conference papers
- Reports and technical documents
- Datasets and supporting information
How to create ACS citations
Reference list citations
ACS citations follow a specific structure: Author(s). Article Title. Journal Abbreviation (italicized) Year, Volume (bold), Page Range. Example: Smith, J. A.; Doe, M. B. Novel catalysts for green synthesis. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2024, 146, 1234-1245. For books, use: Author(s). Book Title (italicized), Edition; Publisher: Location, Year. Example: Brown, C. Organic Chemistry Essentials, 2nd ed.; Wiley: Hoboken, NJ, 2023. Authors are listed as Last name, First Initial. Middle Initial., with semicolons (not 'and') separating multiple authors. Journal names must be abbreviated according to CAS source index conventions - for example, 'J. Am. Chem. Soc.' rather than 'Journal of the American Chemical Society'. Italicize journal and book titles, bold the volume number, and include DOIs at the end of the reference when available.
In-text citations
ACS offers two in-text citation formats: superscript numbers (¹, ², ³) or numbers in parentheses (1), (2), (3). Choose one format and use it consistently throughout your document. Citations are numbered in the order they first appear in the text. When citing multiple sources at once, list them in numerical order: (1-3) or ¹⁻³. A third optional format uses author-date like (Smith, 2024), but this is rare in ACS journal submissions. The reference list is ordered numerically, matching your in-text citations.
ACS Citation Examples
See how to format different source types in ACS.
Journal Article
Journal Article Example
Smith, J. A.; Doe, M. B. Chemical Analysis Methods. J. Chem. Educ. 2024, 45, 123-145.
Book
Book Example
Brown, C. D. Introduction to Chemistry, 3rd ed.; Academic Press: New York, 2023.
Quick ACS Rules
Author Format
Last name, First Initial. Middle Initial. Use semicolons between authors. List all authors or use 'et al.' for 10+ authors.
Title Format
Sentence case for article titles. Journal names are abbreviated.
Date Format
Year in bold or parentheses. Include month and day for web sources.
Journal/Source
Abbreviated journal name (italicized), year, volume, page range. Volume number in bold.
In-text Citations
Use numbered citations in superscript or parentheses: ¹ or (1). Citations numbered in order of appearance.
About this ACS citation generator
This citation generator follows the ACS Style Guide (now officially the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication, updated 2019) published by the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society. ACS style is required across the 70+ journals published by the Society, including the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS), Chemical Reviews, Nano Letters, and ACS Nano. The style allows authors to choose between superscript numbers, numbers in parentheses, or author-date formats - but submissions to ACS journals must use one of the numeric formats. Authors should confirm their target journal's preference in its Author Information page, since formatting details (italics, bold volume, journal abbreviations) are strictly enforced by ACS production editors.
Common ACS citation mistakes
- Using incorrect journal abbreviations - always check the CAS source index
- Forgetting to italicize journal names and book titles
- Not using bold for volume numbers in journal citations
- Mixing superscript and parenthetical citation formats in the same document
- Omitting the accessed date for online sources
- Using periods instead of semicolons between authors
- Writing the year after the volume (ACS is Year, Volume, Pages - not Volume(Year), Pages like AMA)
- Using 'and' instead of semicolons between author names (ACS uses semicolons)
ACS Frequently Asked Questions
What is ACS citation style?
ACS (American Chemical Society) style is used primarily in chemistry and related sciences. It uses numbered citations in superscript or parentheses.
How do I cite a website in ACS?
Include author/organization, page title, website name italicized, location, year, URL, and accessed date in parentheses.
How do I format in-text citations in ACS?
Use numbered citations in superscript (¹) or parentheses (1). Citations are numbered sequentially as they appear.
Does ACS require DOIs?
Yes, ACS style recommends including DOIs for journal articles when available, placed after page numbers.
Maintained by the AllCitations team. Our citation data is reviewed against the latest official style manuals.
Other Citation Styles
Last updated: April 2026 - ACS formatting rules.