How to format your references using the ACS Synthetic Biology citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for ACS Synthetic Biology. 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	Find the style here: output styles overview
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)

RajBhandary, U. L. Har Gobind Khorana (1922-2011). Nature 2011, 480 (7377), 322.

A journal article with 2 authors

(1)

van Putten, M. H. P. M.; Levinson, A. Detecting Energy Emissions from a Rotating Black Hole. Science 2002, 295 (5561), 1874–1877.

A journal article with 3 authors

(1)

Cacace, F.; de Petris, G.; Troiani, A. Experimental Detection of Tetranitrogen. Science 2002, 295 (5554), 480–481.

A journal article with 11 or more authors

(1)

Zhang, G.; Wu, H.; Li, G.; Huang, Q.; Yang, C.; Huang, F.; Liao, F.; Lin, J. New High T(c) Multiferroics KBiFe₂O₅ with Narrow Band Gap and Promising Photovoltaic Effect. Sci. Rep. 2013, 3, 1265.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

(1)

Rowlinson, M. A Practical Guide to the NEC3 Engineering and Construction Contract; Wiley-Blackwell: Oxford, UK, 2010.

An edited book

(1)

The Geography of Networks and R&D Collaborations; Scherngell, T., Ed.; Advances in Spatial Science, The Regional Science Series; Springer International Publishing: Cham, 2013.

A chapter in an edited book

(1)

Deeg, K.-H. Doppler Sonography of the Abdominal Vessels. In Doppler Sonography in Infancy and Childhood; Rupprecht, T., Hofbeck, M., Eds.; Springer International Publishing: Cham, 2015; pp 273–309.

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 Synthetic Biology.

Blog post

(1)

Taub, B. Italy Calls In Its Army To Help Grow Medical Marijuana. IFLScience. https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/italy-calls-in-army-help-grow-medical-marijuana/ (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. Aviation Competition: Effects on Consumers from Domestic Airline Alliances Vary; RCED-99-37; U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1999.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

(1)

Marquez, R. A. Examining Coping Skills Used to Deal with Daily Stressors of Law Enforcement. Doctoral dissertation, California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach, CA, 2009.

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)

Nir, S. M.; Rosenberg, E. Recreation and Commerce Collide on City’s Crowded Waterways. New York Times. September 1, 2016, p A21.

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 Synthetic Biology
Abbreviation	ACS Synth. Biol.
ISSN (online)	2161-5063
Scope