ACS citation style is the referencing system recommended by the American Chemical Society for chemistry and related sciences. It governs how you list sources in a reference list and how you cite them in the body of a paper.
Unlike APA or MLA, ACS style has distinctive formatting rules —most notably bold publication years and italic volume numbers in journal citations. These details signal to readers that you are writing within the conventions of chemical literature.
Who uses ACS style?
Undergraduate and graduate chemistry students use ACS style for lab reports, theses, and course papers. Researchers submitting to ACS journals such as JACS, Organic Letters, and Analytical Chemistry must follow the ACS Style Guide.
Even if you are not publishing in an ACS journal, your instructor may require ACS format for any chemistry-related writing assignment.
Key formatting rules
Author names appear as Last name, First initial. Middle initial., separated by semicolons. Journal names are abbreviated. The publication year is bold in journal article references. Volume numbers are italic.
When a DOI is available, ACS style prefers a full https://doi.org/ link at the end of the reference. In-text citations use numbered references —either superscript (¹) or in parentheses ((1)).
How to get started
The fastest way to create an ACS citation is to paste a DOI into a citation generator, verify the metadata, and copy the formatted reference. Always double-check abbreviations and punctuation before submitting your work.