Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery

ACS Style Guide

ACS - American Chemical Society

• ACS Style Guide from the American Chemical Society
• ACS Style Guidelines from University of Wisconsin-Madison

Citing References in Text

By superscript numbers:
Oscillation in the reaction of benzaldehyde with oxygen was reported previously.¹

By italic numbers on the line and in parentheses:
The mineralization of TCE by a pure culture of a methane-oxidizing organism has been reported (2).

By author name and year of publication in parentheses:
The primary structure of this enzyme has also been determined (Finnegan et al., 1996).

Literature Cited – Examples

References should be collected in a numerical list (for numbered citations) or an alphabetical list (for author-date citations) titled Literature Cited at the end of the paper.
Do not include items that were not cited in the paper.
Use full journal titles or abbreviated journal titles from the Chemical Abstracts Service source index (CASSI).
Journal article titles, book chapter titles and thesis or dissertation titles are not necessary, but are desirable.
Single-space all entries and between entries.

PRINT SOURCES

Journal Articles

Hill, M.; Fott, P. Kinetics of gasification of
     Czech brown coals. Fuel 1993, 
     72, 525-529.

References to Chemical Abstracts

Tamura, T.; Sakaedmani, N.; Matsumoto, T.
     Isolation of Dihydrositosterol Ferulate
     from Corngerm Oil. Nippon Kagaku Zasshi
     1958, 79, 1011-1014; Chem. Abstr.
     1960, 54, 24857m.

Non-scientific Magazines & Newspapers

Suplee, Curt. Infinitesimal Carbon Structures
     May Hold Gigantic Potential. The
     Washington Post, Dec 2, 1996, p A3.

Book with Editors - including Handbooks and Encyclopedias

Bioorganic Chemistry:  Nucleic Acids; Hecht, 
     S. M., Ed. Oxford University Press: New York,
     1996.

CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics
     59th ed.; Weast, R. C., Ed. CRC Press:
     Boca Raton, FL, 1978; p E39-41.

Almlof, J.; Gropen, O. Relativistic Effects in
     Chemistry. In  Reviews in Computational
     Chemistry; Lipkowitz, K. B., Boyd, D. B.,
     VCH: New York, 1996; Vol. 8, pp 206-210.

Eyring, E. M. Chemical Dynamics.  In 
    McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science &
     Technology 8th ed. McGraw-Hill: New York,
     1997; Vol. 3, pp 553-560.

Books without editors

Bersuker, I. B. Electronics Structure and
     Properties of Transition Metal Compounds:
     Introduction to the Theory; Wiley & Sons:
     New York, 1996; Chapter 6.

Theses or Dissertations

Chandrakanth, J. S. Effects of Ozone on the
     Colloidal Stabillity of Particles
     Coated with Natural Organic Matter.
     PhD. Dissertation, University of Colorado,
     Boulder, CO, 1994.

Patents

Gordon, A. Z.; Rossof, A. H. Methods for
     Treating Leukopenia with Tertiary Amines
     or Quarternary Ammonium Salts. U.S.
     Patent 5,466,509, 1987.

Fritzberg, A. R. Metal Radionuclide Labeled
     Proteins for Diagnosis and Therapy.
     Eur. Pat. Appl. 188256, Jan 13, 1986.

Technical Reports and Bulletins
ACS does not specifically cover MSDS, but they can be considered technical reports

Schneider, A. B. Expert Systems in Analytical
     Chemistry; Technical Report No. 1234-56;
     ABC Co.: New York, 1985.

Titanium Dioxide; MSDS No. T3627;
     Mallinckrodt-Baker: Phillipsburg, NJ, 2003.

Government Publications

Sherma, J.; Beroza, M. Manual of Analytical
     Quality Control for Pesticides and Related
     Compounds; EPA-600/1-79/008; U.S.
     Environmental Protection Agency. U.S.
     Government Printing Office: Washington,
     DC, 1979.

ELECTRONIC OR INTERNET SOURCES

Internet Sources

ChemExper Home Page. http://chemexper.com/
     (accessed Feb 2006).

Online Journals
Include other identifying information (database name, date accessed) after the page numbers.

Craw, J. S.; Hinchliffe, A. Quadruplet
     Polarizabilites of Alkali-halide Clusters.
     Electron. J. Theor. Chem. [Online] 1995,
     1, 8-10.

Yeung, E. S.; Dynamics of Single Biomolecules in
     Free Solution. Annu. Rev. Phys. Chem.
     [Online] 2004, 55, 97-C-2. Available from
     Academic Search Premier http://search.epnet.
     com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&an=
     14393556 (accessed Feb 2006).

Examples taken / modified from:

The ACS Style Guide, 2nd ed.; Dodd, J. S.,
     Ed. American Chemical Society: Washington, DC,
     1997.