How to format your references using the ACS Nano citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for ACS Nano. For a complete guide how to prepare your manuscript refer to the journal's instructions to authors.

Using reference management software

Typically you don't format your citations and bibliography by hand. The easiest way is to use a reference manager:

Paperpile	The citation style is built in and you can choose it in Settings > Citation Style or Paperpile > Citation Style in Google Docs.
EndNote	Download the output style file
Mendeley, Zotero, Papers, and others	The style is either built in or you can download a CSL file that is supported by most references management programs.
BibTeX	BibTeX syles are usually part of a LaTeX template. Check the instructions to authors if the publisher offers a LaTeX template for this journal.

Journal articles

Those examples are references to articles in scholarly journals and how they are supposed to appear in your bibliography.

Not all journals organize their published articles in volumes and issues, so these fields are optional. Some electronic journals do not provide a page range, but instead list an article identifier. In a case like this it's safe to use the article identifier instead of the page range.

A journal article with 1 author

(1)

Guessoum, N. Astrophysics: Time for an Arab Astronomy Renaissance. Nature 2013, 498 (7453), 161–164.

A journal article with 2 authors

(1)

Douvris, C.; Ozerov, O. V. Hydrodefluorination of Perfluoroalkyl Groups Using Silylium-Carborane Catalysts. Science 2008, 321 (5893), 1188–1190.

A journal article with 3 authors

(1)

Burkle, L. A.; Marlin, J. C.; Knight, T. M. Plant-Pollinator Interactions over 120 Years: Loss of Species, Co-Occurrence, and Function. Science 2013, 339 (6127), 1611–1615.

A journal article with 11 or more authors

(1)

Schaefer, C. B.; Ooi, S. K. T.; Bestor, T. H.; Bourc’his, D. Epigenetic Decisions in Mammalian Germ Cells. Science 2007, 316 (5823), 398–399.

Books and book chapters

Here are examples of references for authored and edited books as well as book chapters.

An authored book

(1)

Wu, Z. Software VNA and Microwave Network Design and Characterisation; John Wiley & Sons, Ltd: Chichester, UK, 2007.

An edited book

(1)

Sagheb Talebi, K. Forests of Iran: A Treasure from the Past, a Hope for the Future; Sajedi, T., Pourhashemi, M., Eds.; Plant and Vegetation; Springer Netherlands: Dordrecht, 2014; Vol. 10.

A chapter in an edited book

(1)

Tepylo, D. H.; Moss, J. Examining Change in Teacher Mathematical Knowledge Through Lesson Study. In Lesson Study Research and Practice in Mathematics Education: Learning Together; Hart, L. C., Alston, A. S., Murata, A., Eds.; Springer Netherlands: Dordrecht, 2011; pp 59–77.

Web sites

Sometimes references to web sites should appear directly in the text rather than in the bibliography. Refer to the Instructions to authors for ACS Nano.

Blog post

(1)

Luntz, S. Hidden Brain Activity Distinguishes Between Vegetative Patients. IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/brain/hidden-brain-activity-distinguishes-between-vegetative-patients/ (accessed 2018-10-30).

Reports

This example shows the general structure used for government reports, technical reports, and scientific reports. If you can't locate the report number then it might be better to cite the report as a book. For reports it is usually not individual people that are credited as authors, but a governmental department or agency like "U. S. Food and Drug Administration" or "National Cancer Institute".

Government report

(1)

Government Accountability Office. University Research: Most Federal Agencies Need to Better Protect against Financial Conflicts of Interest; GAO-04-31; U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 2003.

Theses and dissertations

Theses including Ph.D. dissertations, Master's theses or Bachelor theses follow the basic format outlined below.

Doctoral dissertation

(1)

Bono, S. Perceptions of Psychological Abuse and the Impact of Blame and Gender Role Beliefs. Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, IL, 2013.

News paper articles

Unlike scholarly journals, news papers do not usually have a volume and issue number. Instead, the full date and page number is required for a correct reference.

New York Times article

(1)

Longman, J. For the World’s Best Players, Italy Isn’t the Lure It Once Was. New York Times. June 12, 2009, p B10.

In-text citations

References should be cited in the text by sequential numbers in superscript:

This sentence cites one reference ¹.
This sentence cites two references ^1,2.
This sentence cites four references ^1–4.

About the journal

Full journal title	ACS Nano
Abbreviation	ACS Nano
ISSN (print)	1936-0851
ISSN (online)	1936-086X
Scope	General Engineering General Materials Science General Physics and Astronomy