ASM Citation Generator

ASM style is published by the American Society for Microbiology and is used primarily in microbiology journals. This citation generator follows the ASM Journals guidelines.

Microbiology

Generate ASM citations in seconds

No account required. Paste a URL, DOI, or ISBN and get an accurate citation.

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What sources can you cite in ASM format?

Journal articles
Books and book chapters
Websites and databases
Conference abstracts
Patents
Theses and dissertations
Government publications
Unpublished data

How to create ASM citations

Reference list citations

ASM references use a numbered format: Number. Authors. Year. Title. Journal Volume:Pages. For journal articles, list all authors by last name and initials (no periods): Smith JA, Doe MB. Use sentence case for titles. Abbreviate journal names according to NLM standards. Include DOI when available. For books: Number. Author(s). Year. Title, edition. Publisher, City, State. All authors must be listed in the reference-never use 'et al.' in the reference list.

In-text citations

ASM uses numbered citations in parentheses: (1), (2), (3). Numbers are assigned in order of first appearance in the text. For multiple citations, list in numerical order: (1, 3, 5) or (1-3) for consecutive numbers. You may use 'et al.' in the text when citing works with multiple authors, but the full author list must appear in the reference. References are numbered sequentially, not alphabetized.

ASM Citation Examples

See how to format different source types in ASM.

Website

Website Example

ASM

1. American Society for Microbiology. 2024. ASM style guide. https://journals.asm.org/writing-your-paper. Accessed 15 March 2024.

Journal Article

Journal Article Example

ASM

2. Smith JA, Doe MB, Brown CD. 2024. Microbial research methods. J Microbiol 45:123-145.

Book

Book Example

ASM

3. Brown CD. 2023. Introduction to microbiology, 3rd ed. Academic Press, New York, NY.

Quick ASM Rules

Author Format

Last name Initial(s). List all authors. Use commas between authors. No 'et al.' in reference list.

Title Format

Sentence case for article titles. Journal names are abbreviated according to standard abbreviations.

Date Format

Year after author list. Include full dates for online sources with specific publication dates.

Journal/Source

Abbreviated journal name. Volume:Page range.

In-text Citations

Use numbered citations in parentheses: (1), (2), etc. Numbers correspond to the order of first appearance in the text.

About this ASM citation generator

This citation generator formats references according to the guidelines used by American Society for Microbiology (ASM) journals. It follows the citation-sequence system where references are numbered in order of first appearance. The tool supports journal articles, books, websites, and other source types used in microbiology research. For journal-specific variations, check the target journal's author guidelines.

Common ASM citation mistakes

Using 'et al.' in the reference list (list all authors instead)
Adding periods after author initials (use JA, not J.A.)
Using title case instead of sentence case for article titles
Forgetting to include the accessed date for online sources
Not using standard NLM journal abbreviations
Alphabetizing references instead of numbering by appearance

ASM Frequently Asked Questions

What is ASM citation style?

ASM (American Society for Microbiology) style is used primarily in microbiology journals. It uses a citation-sequence numbering system where references are numbered in the order they appear in the text.

How do I cite a website in ASM?

Include the numbered reference, author/organization, year, page title, URL, and accessed date. Format: [Number]. Author. Year. Title. URL. Accessed date.

Do I use 'et al.' in ASM citations?

You can use 'et al.' in the text for citations with multiple authors, but all authors must be listed in the full reference list entry. No 'et al.' in references.

Does ASM use DOIs?

Yes, ASM style recommends including DOIs for journal articles when available. Include the DOI after the page range in the reference.

Related citation generators

Some styles are direct descendants of broader ones. If your context does not match this style exactly, the generators below are usually the right alternative.

CSE

ASM is essentially CSE Citation-Sequence with publisher-specific tweaks. If your target journal is outside microbiology, CSE is the more general reference.

Maintained by the AllCitations team. Our citation data is reviewed against the latest official style manuals.