As you transition to using the latest 2020 ACS Guide for Scholarly Communication, the links below to the 2006 edition may be helpful to also reference:
When to Use It: Parenthetical numbering is the preferred method in the 2020 ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication. It is used for ACS Style submissions (journals/books) and for the HTML versions of ACS publications because the parenthetical numbers make it easier to click from the an article's full text HTML content to view the full references.
Ex: The mineralization of TCE by a pure culture of a methane-oxidizing organism has been reported (6).
Ex: Equations have been derived to extract kinetic parameters from these voltammomagrams (2,3).
Ex: Other groups have also devised clever ways to utilize this reaction (18-20).
Citation examples are from ACS 4.3.2 Creating References and Chapter 14 of the ACS Style Guide. More examples and specific citation scenarios are also addressed in the ACS 4.3.2 Creating References.
When to Use It: Superscript numbering used to be the most commonly used form of ACS citation so you will still see a lot of articles and examples that use superscript. You may be asked to use superscript numbering to demonstrate that you understand it. It is very similar to parenthetical numbering with a few exceptions.
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Ex: Equations have been derived to extract kinetic parameters from these voltammomagrams.2,3
Ex: Other groups have also devised clever ways to utilize this reaction.18-20
All citation examples are from ACS 4.3.2 Creating References. More examples and specific citation scenarios are also addressed in that section.
When to Use It: Author-date is not very commonly used in the field of Chemistry and is NOT used by ACS Publications. Because it is not commonly used, it is described in more detail in Chapter 14 of the 2006 ACS Style Guide and only referenced in section 4.3.2 of the 2020 ACS Guide to Scholarly Communications.
Ex: The primary structure of this enzyme has also been determined (Finnegan et al., 2004).
Basics:
All citation examples are from Chapter 14 of the 2006 ACS Style Guide. More examples and specific citation scenarios are also addressed in that section. Also refer to the "Mentioning Author Names in the Text" section of 4.3.2 of the 2020 ACS Guide to Scholarly Communications.
References
1. Brus, L. E. Electron−Electron and Electron−Hole Interactions in Small Semiconductor Crystallites: The Size Dependence of the Lowest Excited Electronic State. J. Chem. Phys. 1984, 80 (9), 4403−4409. DOI: 10.1063/1.447218
2. Empedocles, S. A.; Bawendi, M. G. Quantum-Confined Stark Effect in Single CdSe Nanocrystallite Quantum Dots. Science 1997, 278, 2114−2117. DOI: 10.1126/science.278.5346.2114
3. Bennett, A. J.; Patel, R. B.; Skiba-Szymanska, J.; Nicoll, C. A.; Farrer, I.; Ritchie, D. A.; Shields, A. J. Giant Stark Effect in the Emission of Single Semiconductor Quantum Dots. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2010, 97 (3), 031104. DOI: 10.1063/1.3460912
"All of the following are considered plagiarism:
Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided, however, by citing sources. Simply acknowledging that certain material has been borrowed, and providing your audience with the information necessary to find that source, is usually enough to prevent plagiarism."
Source: What is plagiarism? (n.d.) Retrieved from <http://www.plagiarism.org/plagiarism-101/what-is-plagiarism>
ACS Style is unique in that most journal titles are abbreviated in some way. ACS uses an official CASSI list of journal abbreviations for consistency.
While it is best to refer directly to the ACS Guide to Scholarly Communications (2020) for information on how to cite in the ACS style, the following websites provide additional information when citing your sources.
Note: These websites utilize the 2006 ACS style in which hanging indents were common practice. The 2020 style does NOT use hanging indents in the reference list.
Print Citation Manuals located in the Reserve Area.
ACS Style Guide: Effective Communication of Scientific Information (3rd ed 2006)
Reserve QD 8.5 .A25 2006