ACS (American Chemical Society) Style – Quick Guide

This web guide is based on the second edition of  The ACS Style Guide: A  Manual for Authors and Editors (1997).  For a more thorough discussion refer to The ACS Style Guide which is available at both the Chemistry and Engineering Libraries (Call number QD8.5.A25 1997 Reference Section). 

• By number (italics)  

The synthesis of the compound has been described previously (1). 
• By superscript 

The synthesis of the compound has been described previously.¹
• By author name and date 

The synthesis of the compound has been described previously (Johnson, 1902). 

With author name citations, use both names if a reference has two authors (Jones and Smith, 2002).  If there are more than two authors, use the first name followed by “et al.” (Harris et al., 2001). 

Creating a Bibliography

• Arrange the references in your bibliography based on the method used for in-text citations.  If numerical citations were used, then arrange references at the end of the paper numerically.  If author names were used, arrange alphabetically. 
•  All references end with a period. 
•  Do not leave blank lines between references. 
•  Journal article titles and book chapter titles are not essential, but they are considered desirable. 
•  If a book as a whole is used, pagination is not necessary. 

Book with Author(s)
Basic Format:
Author, A. A.; Author, B. B. Book Title (italics), Edition (if any);  Publisher: Place of  Publication, Year;  Page numbers. 

Examples:

Dill, K. A.; Bromberg, S. Molecular Driving Forces: Statistical Thermodynamics in Chemistry and Biology;  Garland Science: New York, 2003. 
Engel, R; Cohen, J. I. Synthesis of Carbon-Phosphorus Bonds: New Methods of Exploration; CRC Press: Boca  Raton, FL, 2004; pp 54-56. 
Zumdahl, S. S. Chemical Principles, 4th ed.; Houghton Mifflin: Boston, MA, 2002;  p 7. 

Book  with Editor(s), and Entire Book  is Referenced
Basic Format: 
Editor, A. A., Editor, B. B., Editor, C. C., Eds. Book Title (italics);  Series Information (if any, including series number); Publisher: Place of Publication, Year. 

Examples:

Lin, Q., Pearson, R. A., Hedrick, J. C., Eds. Polymers for Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics;  ACS Symposium Series 874; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2004. 
Zaikov, G. E., Jimenez, A., Eds. Quantitative Level of Chemical Reactions; Nova Science Publishers: New York, 2003. 

Authored Chapters in a Book with Editor(s)
Basic Format: 
Author, A. A.; Author, B. B. Chapter Title. In Book Title (italics);  Editor, A. A., Editor, B. B., Eds.; Series Information (if any, including series number); Publisher: Place of  Publication, Year; Volume number (if any),  Page numbers. 

Examples:

Downs, G. M.; Barnard, J. M. Clustering Methods and Their Uses in Computational Chemistry. In  Reviews in Computational Chemistry; Wiley: Hoboken, NJ, 2002; Vol. 18, p 11. 
Lenhart, J. L.; Fischer, D. A.; Sambasivan, S.; Lin, E. K.; Soles, M. A. Utilizing Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure to Probe Interfacial Issues in Photolithography. In Polymers for Microelectronics and Nanoelectronics; Lin, Q., Pearson, R. A., Hedrick, J. C., Eds.; ACS Symposium Series 874; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2004; pp 98-117. 

Encyclopedia Article
Basic Format: 
Article Title. Encyclopedia Name (italics), Edition number [Online if online]; Publisher: Place of Publication, Year; Volume Number, Page numbers. 

Example:

Psychopharmacological Agents. Kirk-Othmer Encyclopedia of Chemical Technology, 4th ed.; Wiley: New York, 1996; Vol. 20,  pp 455-457.

Stalactites and Stalagmites. AccessScience@McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology, 9th ed.[Online]; McGraw-Hill: New York; Last Modified: February 26, 2001.

Handbooks 
Basic Format: 
Editor, A. A., Editor, B. B., Eds. Handbook Title (italics), Edition number [Online if online];  Publisher: Place of Publication, Year;  Page numbers or other identifying information. 

Examples:

Budavari, S., O’Neil, M. J.,  Smith. A., Heckelman, P. E., Kinneary, J. F., Eds. The Merck Index: An Encyclopedia of Chemicals, Drugs, and Biologicals, 13th ed.; Merck & Company: Whitehouse Station, NJ, 2001; entry 5066. 
Lide, D. R., Ed. CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 84th ed. [Online]; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2003; p 83. 

Journal Articles
Basic Format: 
Author, A. A; Author, B. B; Author, C. C. Title of Article. Journal Abbreviation (italics) [Online if online] Year (boldface), Volume (italics), Page numbers. 

Examples:

Borman, S. Protein Sequencing For The Masses. Chem. Eng. News [Online] 2004, 82, pp 22-23. 
Slunt, K. M.; Giancarlo, L. C. Student-Centered Learning: A Comparison of Two Different Methods of Instruction. J. Chem. Educ. 2004, 81, pp 985-988. 
Takahaski, T. The Fate of Industrial Carbon Dioxide. Science [Online] 2004, 305, 352-353. 

There is no need to include the URL of journal sites. The standard list of journal abbreviations is published in CASSI, the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index.  A copy is kept at the Chemistry Library circulation/reference desk. This is an online source that has many of the journal abbreviations in CASSI. 

Newspapers 
Basic Format: 
Last name, First Name; Last Name, First Name. Article Title. Newspaper Title (italics), Complete Date, Page numbers. 

Example:

Jones, Margot. Panel Urges NASA to Save Hubble Space Telescope. New York Times, July 16, 2004, p A1. 

Websites
Basic Format: 
Author, A. A. (if any). Title of Site. URL (accessed date), other identifying information. 

Example:

ChemFinder.Com.  http://chemfinder.cambridgesoft.com (accessed July 14, 2004). 
The Combined Chemical Dictionary database, web version 2004 (1); CRC Press: Boca Raton: FL (accessed  July 16, 2004).