How to format your references using the Organic Letters citation style

This is a short guide how to format citations and the bibliography in a manuscript for Organic Letters. 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)

Zhuang, X. Molecular Biology. Unraveling DNA Condensation with Optical Tweezers. Science 2004, 305 (5681), 188–190.

A journal article with 2 authors

(1)

Hong, S. Y.; Kalnay, E. Role of Sea Surface Temperature and Soil-Moisture Feedback in the 1998 Oklahoma-Texas Drought. Nature 2000, 408 (6814), 842–844.

A journal article with 3 authors

(1)

De Moraes, C. M.; Mescher, M. C.; Tumlinson, J. H. Caterpillar-Induced Nocturnal Plant Volatiles Repel Conspecific Females. Nature 2001, 410 (6828), 577–580.

A journal article with 11 or more authors

(1)

Li, M.; Tou, W. I.; Zhou, H.; Li, F.; Ren, H.; Chen, C. Y.-C.; Yang, B. Developing Hypothetical Inhibition Mechanism of Novel Urea Transporter B Inhibitor. Sci. Rep. 2014, 4, 5775.

Books and book chapters

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

An authored book

(1)

Ndjountche, T. Digital Electronics 3; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: Hoboken, NJ, 2016.

An edited book

(1)

Advances in Applied Mathematics; Ansari, A. R., Ed.; Springer Proceedings in Mathematics & Statistics; Springer International Publishing: Cham, 2014; Vol. 87.

A chapter in an edited book

(1)

Argenyi, Z.; Jokinen, C. H. Benign Cutaneous Neoplasms with Peripheral Nerve Differentiation. In Cutaneous Neural Neoplasms: A Practical Guide; Jokinen, C. H., Ed.; Humana Press: Totowa, NJ, 2011; pp 37–82.

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 Organic Letters.

Blog post

(1)

Hamilton, K. East African Hunter-Gatherer Research Suggests The Human Microbiome Is An Ecological Disaster Zone. IFLScience.

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. Costs and Benefits of a Common Strategic Rotary Launcher Should Be Reassessed Before Further Funds Are Available; MASAD-83-3; U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1982.

Theses and dissertations

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

Doctoral dissertation

(1)

Stevens, S. Aboard and Beyond. Doctoral dissertation, George Washington University, Washington, DC, 2017.

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)

(nyt), L. G. National Briefing | Washington: Chunk Of Marble Falls From Supreme Court. New York Times. November 29, 2005, p A20.

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	Organic Letters
Abbreviation	Org. Lett.
ISSN (print)	1523-7060
ISSN (online)	1523-7052
Scope	Biochemistry Organic Chemistry Physical and Theoretical Chemistry