The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers

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  • MANUSCRIPT AND PROOF MARKUP
  • SAMPLE CORRESPONDENCE
  • EDITORIAL OFFICE PRACTICES (PDF)
  • PROMOTING INTEGRITY IN SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS
  • SCIENTIFIC STYLE AND FORMAT CITATION QUICK GUIDE

Scientific Style and Format Citation Quick Guide

Scientific Style and Format presents three systems for referring to references (also known as citations) within the text of a journal article, book, or other scientific publication: 1) citation–sequence; 2) name–year; and 3) citation–name. These abbreviated references are called in-text references. They refer to a list of references at the end of the document.

The system of in-text references that you use will determine the order of references at the end of your document. These end references have essentially the same format in all three systems, except for the placement of the date of publication in the name–year system.

Though Scientific Style and Format now uses citation–sequence for its own references, each system is widely used in scientific publishing. Consult your publisher to determine which system you will need to follow.

Click on the tabs below for more information and to see some common examples of materials cited in each style, including examples of electronic sources. For numerous specific examples, see Chapter 29 of the 8th edition of Scientific Style and Format .

Citation–Sequence and Citation–Name

The following examples illustrate the citation–sequence and citation–name systems. The two systems are identical except for the order of references. In both systems, numbers within the text refer to the end references.

In citation–sequence, the end references are listed in the sequence in which they first appear within the text. For example, if a reference by Smith is the first one mentioned in the text, then the complete reference to the Smith work will be number 1 in the end references. The same number is used for subsequent in-text references to the same document.

In citation–name, the end references are listed alphabetically by author. Multiple works by the same author are listed alphabetically by title. The references are numbered in that sequence, such that a work authored by Adam is number 1, Brown is number 2, and so on. Numbers assigned to the end references are used for the in-text references regardless of the sequence in which they appear in the text of the work. For example, if a work by Zielinski is number 56 in the reference list, each in-text reference to Zielinski will be number 56 also.

List authors in the order in which they appear in the original text, followed by a period. Periods also follow article and journal title and volume or issue information. Separate the date from volume and issue by a semicolon. The location (usually the page range for the article) is preceded by a colon.

Author(s). Article title. Journal title. Date;volume(issue):location.

Journal titles are generally abbreviated according to the List of Title Word Abbreviations maintained by the ISSN International Centre. See Appendix 29.1 in Scientific Style and Format for more information.

For articles with more than 1 author, names are separated by a comma.

Smart N, Fang ZY, Marwick TH. A practical guide to exercise training for heart failure patients. J Card Fail. 2003;9(1):49–58.

For articles with more than 10 authors, list the first 10 followed by “et al.”

Pizzi C, Caraglia M, Cianciulli M, Fabbrocini A, Libroia A, Matano E, Contegiacomo A, Del Prete S, Abbruzzese A, Martignetti A, et al. Low-dose recombinant IL-2 induces psychological changes: monitoring by Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Anticancer Res. 2002;22(2A):727–732.

Volume with no issue or other subdivision

Laskowski DA. Physical and chemical properties of pyrethroids. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol. 2002;174:49–170.

Volume with issue and supplement

Gardos G, Cole JO, Haskell D, Marby D, Paine SS, Moore P. The natural history of tardive dyskinesia. J Clin Pharmacol. 1988;8(4 Suppl):31S–37S

Volume with supplement but no issue

Heemskerk J, Tobin AJ, Ravina B. From chemical to drug: neurodegeneration drug screening and the ethics of clinical trials. Nat Neurosci. 2002;5 Suppl:1027–1029.

Multiple issue numbers

Ramstrom O, Bunyapaiboonsri T, Lohmann S, Lehn JM. Chemical biology of dynamic combinatorial libraries. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2002;1572(2–3):178–186.

Issue with no volume

Sabatier R. Reorienting health and social services. AIDS STD Health Promot Exch. 1995;(4):1–3.

Separate information about author(s), title, edition, and publication by periods. The basic format is as follows:

Author(s). Title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; date. Extent. Notes.

Extent can include information about pagination or number of volumes and is considered optional. Notes can include information of interest to the reader, such as language of publication other than English; such notes are optional.

Essential notes provide information about location, such as a URL for online works. See Chapter 29 for more information.

For books with more than 1 author, names are separated by a comma.

Ferrozzi F, Garlaschi G, Bova D. CT of metastases. New York (NY): Springer; 2000.

For books with more than 10 authors, list the first 10 followed by “et al.”

Wenger NK, Sivarajan Froelicher E, Smith LK, Ades PA, Berra K, Blumenthal JA, Certo CME, Dattilo AM, Davis D, DeBusk RF, et al. Cardiac rehabilitation. Rockville (MD): Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (US); 1995.

Organization as author

Advanced Life Support Group. Acute medical emergencies: the practical approach. London (England): BMJ Books; 2001.

Author(s) plus editor(s) or translator(s)

Klarsfeld A, Revah F. The biology of death: origins of mortality. Brady L, translator. Ithaca (NY): Cornell University Press; 2003.

Luzikov VN. Mitochondrial biogenesis and breakdown. Galkin AV, translator; Roodyn DB, editor. New York (NY): Consultants Bureau; 1985.

Chapter or other part of a book, same author(s)

Gawande A. The checklist manifesto: how to get things right. New York (NY): Metropolitan Books; 2010. Chapter 3, The end of the master builder; p. 48–71.

Chapter or other part of a book, different authors

Rapley R. Recombinant DNA and genetic analysis. In: Wilson K, Walker J, editors. Principles and techniques of biochemistry and molecular biology. 7th ed. New York (NY): Cambridge University Press; 2010. p. 195–262.

Multivolume work as a whole

Alkire LG, editor. Periodical title abbreviations. 16th ed. Detroit (MI): Thompson Gale; 2006. 2 vol. Vol. 1, By abbreviation; vol. 2, By title.

Dissertations and Theses

Lutz M. 1903: American nervousness and the economy of cultural change [dissertation]. [Stanford (CA)]: Stanford University; 1989.

Blanco EE, Meade JC, Richards WD, inventors; Ophthalmic Ventures, assignee. Surgical stapling system. United States patent US 4,969,591. 1990 Nov 13.

Weiss R. Study shows problems in cloning people: researchers find replicating primates will be harder than other mammals. Washington Post (Home Ed.). 2003 Apr 11;Sect. A:12 (col. 1).

Indicate a copyright date with a lowercase “c”.

Johnson D, editor. Surgical techniques in orthopaedics: anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction [DVD]. Rosemont (IL): American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons; c2002. 1 DVD.

Websites and Other Online Formats

References to websites and other online formats follow the same general principles as for printed references, with the addition of a date of update/revision (if available) along with an access date and a URL.

Title of Homepage. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; date of publication [date updated; date accessed]. Notes.

If no date of publication can be determined, use a copyright date (if available), preceded by “c”. Include the URL in the notes.

APSnet: plant pathology. St Paul (MN): American Phytopathological Association; c1994–2005 [accessed 2005 Jun 20]. http://www.apsnet.org/.

Online journal article

Author(s) of article. Title of article. Title of journal (edition). Date of publication [date updated; date accessed];volume(issue):location. Notes.

A DOI (Digital Object Identifier) may be included in the notes in addition to a URL, if available:

Savage E, Ramsay M, White J, Beard S, Lawson H, Hunjan R, Brown D. Mumps outbreaks across England and Wales in 2004: observational study. BMJ. 2005 [accessed 2005 May 31];330(7500):1119–1120. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/330/7500/1119. doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1119.

Author(s). Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; date of publication [date updated; date accessed]. Notes.

Brogden KA, Guthmille JM, editors. Polymicrobial diseases. Washington (DC): ASM Press; 2002 [accessed February 28, 2014]. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2475/.

Author’s name. Title of post [descriptive word]. Title of blog. Date of publication. [accessed date]. URL.

Fogarty M. Formatting titles on Twitter and Facebook [blog]. Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. 2012 Aug 14. [accessed 2012 Oct 19]. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/formatting-titles-on-twitter-and-facebook.aspx.

Forthcoming or Unpublished Material

Not all forthcoming or unpublished sources are suitable for inclusion in reference lists. Check with your publisher if in doubt.

Forthcoming journal article or book

Journal article:

Farley T, Galves A, Dickinson LM, Perez MJ. Stress, coping, and health: a comparison of Mexican immigrants, Mexican-Americans, and non-Hispanic whites. J Immigr Health. Forthcoming 2005 Jul.

Goldstein DS. Adrenaline and the inner world: an introduction to scientific integrative medicine. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press. Forthcoming 2006.

Paper or poster presented at meeting

Unpublished presentations are cited as follows:

Antani S, Long LR, Thoma GR, Lee DJ. Anatomical shape representation in spine x-ray images. Paper presented at: VIIP 2003. Proceedings of the 3rd IASTED International Conference on Visualization, Imaging and Image Processing; 2003 Sep 8–10; Benalmadena, Spain.

Charles L, Gordner R. Analysis of MedlinePlus en Español customer service requests. Poster session presented at: Futuro magnifico! Celebrating our diversity. MLA ’05: Medical Library Association Annual Meeting; 2005 May 14–19; San Antonio, TX.

References to published presentations are cited much like contributions to books, with the addition of information about the date and place of the conference. See Chapter 29 for more information.

Personal communication

References to personal communication are placed in running text rather than as formal end references.

Permission is usually required and should be acknowledged in an “Acknowledgment” or “Notes” section at the end of the document.

. . . and most of these meningiomas proved to be inoperable (2003 letter from RS Grant to me; unreferenced, see “Notes”) while a few were not.

Name–Year

The following examples illustrate the name–year system. In this system (sometimes called the Harvard system), in-text references consist of the surname of the author or authors and the year of publication of the document. End references are unnumbered and appear in alphabetical order by author and year of publication, with multiple works by the same author listed in chronological order.

Each example of an end reference is accompanied here by an example of a corresponding in-text reference. For more details and many more examples, see Chapter 29 of Scientific Style and Format .

For the end reference, list authors in the order in which they appear in the original text. The year of publication follows the author list. Use periods to separate each element, including author(s), date of publication, article and journal title, and volume or issue information. Location (usually the page range for the article) is preceded by a colon.

Author(s). Date. Article title. Journal title. Volume(issue):location.

For the in-text reference, use parentheses and list author(s) by surname followed by year of publication.

(Author(s) Year)

For articles with 2 authors, names are separated by a comma in the end reference but by “and” in the in-text reference.

Mazan MR, Hoffman AM. 2001. Effects of aerosolized albuterol on physiologic responses to exercise in standardbreds. Am J Vet Res. 62(11):1812–1817.

(Mazan and Hoffman 2001)

For articles with 3 to 10 authors, list all authors in the end reference; in the in-text reference, list only the first, followed by “et al.”

Smart N, Fang ZY, Marwick TH. 2003. A practical guide to exercise training for heart failure patients. J Card Fail. 9(1):49–58.

(Smart et al. 2003)

For articles with more than 10 authors, list the first 10 in the end reference, followed by “et al.”

Pizzi C, Caraglia M, Cianciulli M, Fabbrocini A, Libroia A, Matano E, Contegiacomo A, Del Prete S, Abbruzzese A, Martignetti A, et al. 2002. Low-dose recombinant IL-2 induces psychological changes: monitoring by Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Anticancer Res. 22(2A):727–732.

(Pizzi et al. 2002)

Laskowski DA. 2002. Physical and chemical properties of pyrethroids. Rev Environ Contam Toxicol. 174:49–170.

(Laskowski 2002)

Gardos G, Cole JO, Haskell D, Marby D, Paine SS, Moore P. 1988. The natural history of tardive dyskinesia. J Clin Pharmacol. 8(4 Suppl):31S–37S.

(Gardos et al. 1988)

Heemskerk J, Tobin AJ, Ravina B. 2002. From chemical to drug: neurodegeneration drug screening and the ethics of clinical trials. Nat Neurosci. 5 Suppl:1027–1029.

(Heemskerk et al. 2002)

Ramstrom O, Bunyapaiboonsri T, Lohmann S, Lehn JM. 2002. Chemical biology of dynamic combinatorial libraries. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1572(2–3):178–186.

(Ramstrom et al. 2002)

Sabatier R. 1995. Reorienting health and social services. AIDS STD Health Promot Exch. (4):1–3.

(Sabatier 1995)

In the end reference, separate information about author(s), date, title, edition, and publication by periods. The basic format is as follows:

Author(s). Date. Title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher. Extent. Notes.

Extent can include information about pagination or number of volumes and is considered optional. Notes can include information of interest to the reader, such as language of publication other than English; such notes are optional. Essential notes provide information about location, such as a URL for online works. See Chapter 29 for more information.

For books with 2 authors, names are separated by a comma in the end reference but by “and” in the in-text reference.

Leboffe MJ, Pierce BE. 2010. Microbiology: laboratory theory and application. Englewood (CO): Morton Publishing Company.

(Leboffe and Pierce 2010)

For books with 3 to 10 authors, list all authors in the end reference; in the in-text reference, list only the first, followed by “et al.”

Ferrozzi F, Garlaschi G, Bova D. 2000. CT of metastases. New York (NY): Springer.

(Ferrozzi et al. 2000)

For books with more than 10 authors, list the first 10 in the end reference, followed by “et al.”

Wenger NK, Sivarajan Froelicher E, Smith LK, Ades PA, Berra K, Blumenthal JA, Certo CME, Dattilo AM, Davis D, DeBusk RF, et al. 1995. Cardiac rehabilitation. Rockville (MD): Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (US).

(Wenger et al. 1995)

[ALSG] Advanced Life Support Group. 2001. Acute medical emergencies: the practical approach. London (England): BMJ Books.

(ALSG 2001)

Klarsfeld A, Revah F. 2003. The biology of death: origins of mortality. Brady L, translator. Ithaca (NY): Cornell University Press.

Luzikov VN. 1985. Mitochondrial biogenesis and breakdown. Galkin AV, translator; Roodyn DB, editor. New York (NY): Consultants Bureau.

(Klarsfeld and Revah 2003)

(Luzikov 1985)

Gawande A. 2010. The checklist manifesto: how to get things right. New York (NY): Metropolitan Books. Chapter 3, The end of the master builder; p. 48–71.

(Gawande 2010)

Rapley R. 2010. Recombinant DNA and genetic analysis. In: Wilson K, Walker J, editors. Principles and techniques of biochemistry and molecular biology. 7th ed. New York (NY): Cambridge University Press. p. 195–262.

(Rapley 2010)

Alkire LG, editor. 2006. Periodical title abbreviations. 16th ed. Detroit (MI): Thompson Gale. 2 vol. Vol. 1, By abbreviation; vol. 2, By title.

(Alkire 2006)

Lutz M. 1989. 1903: American nervousness and the economy of cultural change [dissertation]. [Stanford (CA)]: Stanford University.

(Lutz 1989)

Blanco EE, Meade JC, Richards WD, inventors; Ophthalmic Ventures, assignee. 1990 Nov 13. Surgical stapling system. United States patent US 4,969,591.

(Blanco et al. 1990)

Weiss R. 2003 Apr 11. Study shows problems in cloning people: researchers find replicating primates will be harder than other mammals. Washington Post (Home Ed.). Sect. A:12 (col. 1).

(Weiss 2003)

Johnson D, editor. c2002. Surgical techniques in orthopaedics: anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction [DVD]. Rosemont (IL): American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. 1 DVD.

(Johnson c2002)

Format for end reference:

Title of Homepage. Date of publication. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; [date updated; date accessed]. Notes.

APSnet: plant pathology online. c1994–2005. St Paul (MN): American Phytopathological Association; [accessed 2005 Jun 20]. http://www.apsnet.org/.

For the in-text reference, include only the first word or two of the title (enough to distinguish it from other titles in the reference list), followed by an ellipsis.

(APSnet . . . c1994–2005)

Author(s) of article. Date of publication. Title of article. Title of journal (edition). [date updated; date accessed];Volume(issue):location. Notes.

Savage E, Ramsay M, White J, Beard S, Lawson H, Hunjan R, Brown D. 2005. Mumps outbreaks across England and Wales in 2004: observational study. BMJ. [accessed 2005 May 31];330(7500):1119–1120. http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/330/7500/1119. doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7500.1119.

(Savage et al. 2005)

Author(s). Date of publication. Title of book. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; [date updated; date accessed]. Notes.

Brogden KA, Guthmille JM, editors. 2002. Polymicrobial diseases. Washington (DC): ASM Press; [accessed February 28, 2014]. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK2475/.

(Brogden and Guthmille 2002)

Author’s name. Date of publication. Title of post [descriptive word]. Title of blog. [accessed date]. URL.

Fogarty M. 2012 Aug 14. Formatting titles on Twitter and Facebook [blog]. Grammar Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. [accessed 2012 Oct 19]. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/formatting-titles-on-twitter-and-facebook.aspx.

(Fogarty 2012)

Farley T, Galves A, Dickinson LM, Perez MJ. Forthcoming 2005 Jul. Stress, coping, and health: a comparison of Mexican immigrants, Mexican-Americans, and non-Hispanic whites. J Immigr Health.

(Farley et al. 2005)

Goldstein DS. Forthcoming 2006. Adrenaline and the inner world: an introduction to scientific integrative medicine. Baltimore (MD): Johns Hopkins University Press.

(Goldstein 2006)

Antani S, Long LR, Thoma GR, Lee DJ. 2003. Anatomical shape representation in spine x-ray images. Paper presented at: VIIP 2003. Proceedings of the 3rd IASTED International Conference on Visualization, Imaging and Image Processing; Benalmadena, Spain.

Charles L, Gordner R. 2005. Analysis of MedlinePlus en Español customer service requests. Poster session presented at: Futuro magnifico! Celebrating our diversity. MLA ’05: Medical Library Association Annual Meeting; San Antonio, TX.

(Atani et al. 2003)

(Charles and Gordner 2005)

References to personal communication are placed in running text rather than as formal end references. Permission is usually required and should be acknowledged in an “Acknowledgment” or “Notes” section at the end of the document.

Scientific Style and Format, 8th Edition text © 2014 by the Council of Science Editors. Scientific Style and Format Online © 2014 by the Council of Science Editors.

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  • Citation Styles

What citation style to use for science [Updated 2023]

Top citation styles used in science

What citation style should you use for a science paper? In this post, we explore the most frequently used citation styles for science. We cover APA, IEEE, ACS, and others and provide examples of each style.

APA is the number one citation style used in science

APA (American Psychological Association) style is a citation format used in the social sciences, education, and engineering, as well as in the sciences. APA consists of two elements: in-text citations and a reference list.

It uses an author-date system, in which the author’s last name and year of publication are put in parentheses (e.g. Smith 2003). These parenthetical citations refer the reader to a list at the end of the paper, which includes information about each source.

APA style resources

🌐 Official APA style guidelines

🗂 APA style guide

📝 APA citation generator

APA style examples

Here is an example of an in-text citation in APA style:

In recent years, much debate has been stirred regarding volcanic soil (Avşar et al., 2018) .

Here is a bibliography entry in APA style:

Avşar, E., Ulusay, R., Aydan, Ö., & Mutlutürk, M . ( 2015 ). On the Difficulties of Geotechnical Sampling and practical Estimates of the Strength of a weakly bonded Volcanic Soil . Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment , 74 ( 4 ), 1375–1394 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-014-0710-9

Chicago is the number two citation style used in science

Chicago style is another form of citation used for science papers and journals. It has two formats: a notes and bibliography system and an author-date system.

The notes and bibliography system is mostly used for the humanities, whereas the author-date system is used in science and business. The latter uses in-text citations formed by the author's last name and date of publication. A bibliography at the end of the paper lists the full information for all references.

Chicago style resources

🌐 Official Chicago style guidelines

🗂 Chicago style guide

📝 Chicago citation generator

Chicago style examples

Here is an in-text citation in Chicago style:

However, a research proved this theory right (Hofman and Rick 2018, 65-115) .

Here is a bibliography entry in Chicago style:

Hofman, Courtney A., and Torben C. Rick . “ Ancient Biological Invasions and Island Ecosystems: Tracking Translocations of Wild Plants and Animals .” Journal of Archaeological Research 26 , no. 1 ( 2018 ): 65–115 . doi.org/10.1007/s10814-017-9105-3 .

CSE is the number three citation style used in science

CSE style is the standard format used in the physical and life sciences. This style features three types of citation systems: citation-sequence, name-year, and citation-name.

• Name-Year : In-text citations of this type feature the author’s last name and the year of publication in brackets. A bibliography at the end lists all references in full.

• Citation-Sequence : Every source is assigned a superscript number that is used as an in-text reference. The bibliography at the end lists all numbers with their references in the order in which they appeared in the text.

• Citation-Name : The reference list is organized alphabetically by authors’ last names; each name is assigned a number which can be placed in superscript as an in-text reference.

CSE style resources

🌐 Official CSE style guidelines

📝 CSE citation generator

CSE style examples

Here is an example of an in-text citation in CSE name-year style:

Therefore, the translocation of wild plants was tracked (Hofman and Rick 2018) .

Here is a bibliography entry in CSE name-year style:

Hofman CA, Rick TC. 2018. Ancient Biological Invasions and Island Ecosystems: Tracking Translocations of Wild Plants and Animals. J. Archaeol. [accessed 2019 Mar 11]; 26(1): 65–11. doi.org/10.1007/s10814-017-9105-3.

AIP is the number four citation style used in science

AIP style, as its title suggests, is commonly applied in physics and astronomy papers. This style has a numbered citation system , which uses superscript numbers to show in-text citations. These numbers correspond to a list of sources at the end of the paper.

AIP style resources

🌐 Official AIP style guidelines

🗂 AIP style guide

📝 AIP citation generator

AIP style examples

Here is an in-text citation in AIP style:

A similar study was carried out in 2015 ¹ .

Here is a bibliography entry in AIP style:

¹ H.D. Young and R.A. Freedman, Sears & Zemansky's University Physics (Addison-Wesley, San Francisco, CA, 2015) p. 160

ACS is the number five citation style used in science

ACS style is the standard citation style for chemistry. This style uses both numeric and author-date citations systems. The numbered in-text citations can have either a superscript number or a number in italics. Full references for each source are listed at the end of the paper.

ACS style resources

🌐 Official ACS style guidelines

🗂 ACS style guide

📝 ACS citation generator

ACS style examples

Here is an in-text citation in ACS author-date style:

The opposing side was given first (Brown et al., 2017) .

Here is a bibliography entry in ACS author-date style:

Brown, T.E.; LeMay H.E.; Bursten, B.E.; Murphy, C.; Woodward, P.; Stoltzfus M.E. Chemistry: The Central Science in SI Units . Pearson: New York, 2017.

IEEE is the number six citation style used in science

IEEE style is used for engineering and science papers. This style uses a numeric, in-text citation format, with a number in square brackets. This number corresponds to a reference list entry at the end of the paper.

IEEE style resources

🌐 Official IEEE style guidelines

🗂 IEEE style guide

📝 IEEE citation generator

IEEE style examples

Here is an example of an in-text citation in IEEE style:

As seen in a multi-camera study [1] ...

Here is a bibliography entry in IEEE style:

[1] E. Nuger and B. Benhabib, “Multi-Camera Active-Vision for Markerless Shape Recovery of Unknown Deforming Objects,” J. Intell. Rob. Syst. , vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 223–264, Oct. 2018.

Frequently Asked Questions about citation styles used in science

The most frequently used citation style in the sciences is APA (American Psychological Association) style.

There are two major types of citation systems you can use: author-date or numeric. Numeric citation styles tend to be preferred for science disciplines.

Yes, you have to add a bibliography or reference list citing all sources mentioned in your scientific paper.

Some of the most popular scientific journals are: Science Magazine , Nature , and The Lancet .

Title pages for science papers must follow the format of the citation style that you’re using. For example, in APA style you need to include a title, running head, a name, and other details. Visit our guide on title pages to learn more.

What citation style to use for computer science

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For students and teachers.

Scientific Papers and Lab Reports: Citing in APA

  • Finding Scientific Information
  • Writing a Lab Report
  • Writing a Scientific Paper
  • How to Read Scientific Papers

Citing in APA

Use this page to create the References portion of your scientific paper and/or lab report in the APA citation style. Why cite? Check out our Academic Honesty/Plagiarism online tutorial for the whys and hows of avoiding plagiarism.

APA Video Walkthrough

Use the following video  and sites to learn about proper citation in APA. In addition, learn about cross-checking your citations (this video uses mostly MLA citations but gives a good idea of the practice of cross-checking). 

Covers the basic citation rules and provides citation examples of the commonly used source types.

A guide from Purdue University on using APA guidelines in research papers and and citing all sources. A good resource for more complex APA sources. 

You can also create citations using generators.  Remember : it's your responsibility to double check the citations for accuracy!

A citation generator for MLA, APA, Turabian and Chicago styles. Popular with students.

Citation generator created by the Hekman Library of Calvin College, it assists with creating citations in MLA, APA, and Chicago. Popular with me, the librarian.

A Firefox only extension that helps with the collection, management, and citation of sources.

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Writing a scientific paper.

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  • INTRODUCTION

Literature Cited Section

Guides from other schools, citation styles & writing guides, "literature cited checklist" from: how to write a good scientific paper. chris a. mack. spie. 2018..

  • Bibliography of guides to scientific writing and presenting
  • Peer Review
  • Presentations
  • Lab Report Writing Guides on the Web

This is the last section of the paper. Here you should provide an alphabetical listing of all the published work you cited in the text of the paper. This does not mean every article you found in your research; only include the works you actually cited in the text of your paper. A standard format is used both to cite literature in the text and to list these studies in the Literature Cited section.  Hypothetical examples of the format used in the journal Ecology are below:     Djorjevic, M., D.W. Gabriel and B.G. Rolfe. 1987. Rhizobium: Refined parasite of legumes. Annual Review of Phytopathology 25: 145-168.     Jones, I. J. and B. J. Green. 1963. Inhibitory agents in walnut trees. Plant Physiology 70:101-152.     MacArthur, R.H. and E.O. Wilson. 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J.     Smith, E. A. 1949. Allelopathy in walnuts. American Journal of Botany 35:1066-1071. Here is a dissection of the first entry, in the format for Ecology :       Firstauthor, M., D.W. Secondauthor and B.G. Thirdauthor. Year. Article title with only the first letter capitalized. Journal Article Title with Important Words in Caps  volume#(issue# if there is one): firstpage-lastpage. Notice some of the following details:       - the list is alphabetized;     - no first or middle names are listed (the author's first and middle initials are used instead);     - only the first word in the title of the journal article (except for proper nouns) is capitalized;     - different journals use different styles for Literature Cited sections.   You should pay careful attention to details of formatting when you write your own Literature Cited section. For papers published in journals you must provide the date, title, journal name, volume number, and page numbers. For books you need the publication date, title, publisher, and place of publication.

  • Bates College Guide to Citing Sources
  • American Psychological Association (APA) style A guide to formatting papers using APA from Purdue University.
  • APA 2007 Revision of Citation Styles An online revision of the information presented in the fifth edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association . more... less... This guide serves a resource for citation styles and uniform means of referencing authoritative works.
  • APA Documentation (University of Wisconsin-Madison) A quick resource for citing references in papers using the 5th edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (2001). Provided by The Writing Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
  • American Anthropological Association Style Manual Prepared for and preferred by the American Anthropological Association (AAA) using the Chicago Manual of Style. Citation examples listed from pages 10-14. Also recommend consulting the Chicago Manual of Style Online.

Access available to all on-campus. Off-campus access requires VPN (active UCInetID).

  • Elements of Style This classic work by William Strunk is intended for use in which the practice of composition is combined with the study of literature. It gives the main requirements of plain English style and concentrates on the rules of usage most often abused.
  • IEEE Editorial Style Manual This link will take you to a downloadable version of the IEEE Editorial Style Manual.
  • Modern Language Association (MLA) style
  • Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) Easy-to-use site that provides information and examples for using the American Psychological Association (APA) citation and format style and the Modern Language Association (MLA) citation and format style. Also included information about the Chicago Manual of Style (16th ed.)
  • Include citations that provide sufficient context to allow for critical analysis of this
  • work by others.
  • Include citations that give the reader sources of background and related material so
  • that the current work can be understood by the target audience.
  • Include citations that provide examples of alternate ideas, data, or conclusions to
  • compare and contrast with this work, if they exist. Do not exclude contrary evidence.
  • Include citations that acknowledge and give credit to sources relied upon for this
  • Are the citations up to date, referencing that latest work on this topic?
  • It is the job of the authors to verify the accuracy of the references.
  • Avoid: spurious citations (citations that are not needed but are included anyway);

biased citations (references added or omitted for reasons other than meeting the above goals of citations); excessive self-cites (citations to one’s own work). 

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Which citation style should I use?

  • Chicago Notes Style
  • Chicago Author-Date Style
  • AMA Style (medicine)
  • Bluebook (law)
  • Additional Citation Styles
  • Built-in Citation Tools
  • Quick Citation Generators
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  • Citing Sources

Citing Sources: Which citation style should I use?

The citation style you choose will largely be dictated by the discipline in which you're writing. For many assignments your instructor will suggest or require a certain style. If you're not sure which one to use, it's always best to check with your instructor or, if you are submitting a manuscript, the publisher to see if they require a certain style. In many cases, you may not be required to use any particular style as long as you pick one and use it consistently. If you have some flexibility, use the guide below to help you decide.

Disciplinary Citation Styles

  • Social Sciences
  • Sciences & Medicine
  • Engineering

When in doubt, try: Chicago Notes

  • Architecture & Landscape Architecture → try Chicago Notes or Chicago Author-Date
  • Art → try Chicago Notes
  • Art History → use  Chicago Notes
  • Dance → try Chicago Notes or MLA
  • Drama → try Chicago Notes or MLA
  • Ethnomusicology → try Chicago Notes
  • Music → try Chicago Notes
  • Music History → use  Chicago Notes
  • Urban Design & Planning → try Chicago Notes or Chicago Author-Date

When in doubt, try: MLA

  • Cinema Studies → try MLA
  • Classics → try Chicago Notes
  • English → use  MLA
  • History → use   Chicago Notes
  • Linguistics → try MLA
  • Languages → try MLA
  • Literatures → use  MLA
  • Philosophy → try MLA
  • Religion → try Chicago Notes

When in doubt, try: APA or Chicago Notes

  • Anthropology → try Chicago Author-Date
  • Business → try APA (see also Citing Business Information from Foster Library)
  • Communication → try APA
  • Criminology & Criminal Justice → try Chicago Author-Date
  • Economics → try APA
  • Education → try APA
  • Geography → try APA
  • Government & Law (for non-law students) → try Chicago Notes
  • History → try Chicago Notes
  • Informatics → try APA
  • Law (for law students) → use Bluebook
  • Library & Information Science → try APA
  • Museology → try Chicago Notes
  • Political Science → try Chicago Notes
  • Psychology → use  APA
  • Social Work → try APA
  • Sociology → use  ASA or Chicago Author-Date

When in doubt, try: CSE Name-Year or CSE Citation-Sequence

  • Aquatic & Fisheries Sciences → try CSE Name-Year or APA
  • Astronomy → try AIP or CSE Citation-Sequence
  • Biology & Life Sciences → try CSE Name-Year or APA
  • Chemistry → try ACS
  • Earth & Space Sciences → try CSE Name-Year or APA
  • Environmental Sciences → try CSE Name-Year or APA
  • Forest Sciences → try CSE Name-Year or APA
  • Health Sciences: Public Health, Medicine, & Nursing → use AMA or NLM
  • Marine Sciences → try CSE Name-Year or APA
  • Mathematics → try AMS or CSE Citation-Sequence
  • Oceanography → try CSE Name-Year or APA
  • Physics → try AIP or CSE Citation-Sequence
  • Psychology  → use  APA

When in doubt, try: CSE Name-Year or IEEE

  • Aeronautics and Astronautics → try CSE Citation-Sequence
  • Bioengineering → try AMA or NLM
  • Chemical Engineering → try ACS
  • Civil and Environmental Engineering → try CSE Name-Year
  • Computational Linguistics → try CSE Citation-Sequence
  • Computer Science & Engineering → try IEEE
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering → try IEEE
  • Engineering (general) → try IEEE or CSE Name-Year
  • Human Centered Design & Engineering → try IEEE
  • Human-Computer Interaction + Design → try IEEE
  • Industrial and Systems Engineering → try CSE Name-Yea r
  • Mechanical Engineering → try Chicago Notes or Chicago Author-Date

See also: Additional Citation Styles , for styles used by specific engineering associations.

Pro Tip: Citation Tools Save Time & Stress!

If you’re enrolled in classes that each require a different citation style, it can get confusing really fast! The tools on the Quick Citation Generators section can help you format citations quickly in many different styles.

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Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

In-Text Citations: The Basics

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Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Note:  This page reflects the latest version of the APA Publication Manual (i.e., APA 7), which released in October 2019. The equivalent resource for the older APA 6 style  can be found here .

Reference citations in text are covered on pages 261-268 of the Publication Manual. What follows are some general guidelines for referring to the works of others in your essay.

Note:  On pages 117-118, the Publication Manual suggests that authors of research papers should use the past tense or present perfect tense for signal phrases that occur in the literature review and procedure descriptions (for example, Jones (1998)  found  or Jones (1998)  has found ...). Contexts other than traditionally-structured research writing may permit the simple present tense (for example, Jones (1998)  finds ).

APA Citation Basics

When using APA format, follow the author-date method of in-text citation. This means that the author's last name and the year of publication for the source should appear in the text, like, for example, (Jones, 1998). One complete reference for each source should appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

If you are referring to an idea from another work but  NOT  directly quoting the material, or making reference to an entire book, article or other work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication and not the page number in your in-text reference.

On the other hand, if you are directly quoting or borrowing from another work, you should include the page number at the end of the parenthetical citation. Use the abbreviation “p.” (for one page) or “pp.” (for multiple pages) before listing the page number(s). Use an en dash for page ranges. For example, you might write (Jones, 1998, p. 199) or (Jones, 1998, pp. 199–201). This information is reiterated below.

Regardless of how they are referenced, all sources that are cited in the text must appear in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text citation capitalization, quotes, and italics/underlining

  • Always capitalize proper nouns, including author names and initials: D. Jones.
  • If you refer to the title of a source within your paper, capitalize all words that are four letters long or greater within the title of a source:  Permanence and Change . Exceptions apply to short words that are verbs, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and adverbs:  Writing New Media ,  There Is Nothing Left to Lose .

( Note:  in your References list, only the first word of a title will be capitalized:  Writing new media .)

  • When capitalizing titles, capitalize both words in a hyphenated compound word:  Natural-Born Cyborgs .
  • Capitalize the first word after a dash or colon: "Defining Film Rhetoric: The Case of Hitchcock's  Vertigo ."
  • If the title of the work is italicized in your reference list, italicize it and use title case capitalization in the text:  The Closing of the American Mind ;  The Wizard of Oz ;  Friends .
  • If the title of the work is not italicized in your reference list, use double quotation marks and title case capitalization (even though the reference list uses sentence case): "Multimedia Narration: Constructing Possible Worlds;" "The One Where Chandler Can't Cry."

Short quotations

If you are directly quoting from a work, you will need to include the author, year of publication, and page number for the reference (preceded by "p." for a single page and “pp.” for a span of multiple pages, with the page numbers separated by an en dash).

You can introduce the quotation with a signal phrase that includes the author's last name followed by the date of publication in parentheses.

If you do not include the author’s name in the text of the sentence, place the author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number in parentheses after the quotation.

Long quotations

Place direct quotations that are 40 words or longer in a free-standing block of typewritten lines and omit quotation marks. Start the quotation on a new line, indented 1/2 inch from the left margin, i.e., in the same place you would begin a new paragraph. Type the entire quotation on the new margin, and indent the first line of any subsequent paragraph within the quotation 1/2 inch from the new margin. Maintain double-spacing throughout, but do not add an extra blank line before or after it. The parenthetical citation should come after the closing punctuation mark.

Because block quotation formatting is difficult for us to replicate in the OWL's content management system, we have simply provided a screenshot of a generic example below.

This image shows how to format a long quotation in an APA seventh edition paper.

Formatting example for block quotations in APA 7 style.

Quotations from sources without pages

Direct quotations from sources that do not contain pages should not reference a page number. Instead, you may reference another logical identifying element: a paragraph, a chapter number, a section number, a table number, or something else. Older works (like religious texts) can also incorporate special location identifiers like verse numbers. In short: pick a substitute for page numbers that makes sense for your source.

Summary or paraphrase

If you are paraphrasing an idea from another work, you only have to make reference to the author and year of publication in your in-text reference and may omit the page numbers. APA guidelines, however, do encourage including a page range for a summary or paraphrase when it will help the reader find the information in a longer work. 

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Mla Vs. Apa Format: Which Citation Style Should You Use For Science Writing?

When writing a science paper or lab report, using the correct formatting style is critical for properly citing sources and presenting your scientific ideas. The two most common formatting styles are MLA and APA, but which one should you use for science writing?

If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer to your question: APA format is generally preferred over MLA for science writing . APA provides guidelines optimized for scholarly scientific communications and publications.

In this comprehensive guide, we compare MLA versus APA format for science writing. You’ll learn when to use each style, key formatting differences, and tips for consistently applying the right citations in your science papers.

When to Use MLA vs. APA for Science Writing

Types of science writing.

Science writing encompasses a wide range of disciplines, including biology, chemistry, physics, and environmental science. It can take various forms, such as research papers, lab reports, literature reviews, and scientific articles.

Each type of science writing has its own requirements when it comes to formatting and citation styles.

MLA (Modern Language Association) style is commonly used in the humanities, including literature, art, and language studies. While it is not the most common citation style for science writing, there are situations where MLA may be appropriate.

For example, if you are writing a science paper that focuses on the historical or cultural aspects of a scientific topic, MLA style may be more suitable.

MLA format typically uses in-text citations with the author’s last name and page number, and a Works Cited page at the end of the document. It is important to provide accurate and complete citations to give credit to the original authors and allow readers to locate the sources you used for your research.

APA (American Psychological Association) style is widely used in the social sciences, including psychology, sociology, and education. It is also commonly used in scientific research papers and articles.

APA style provides a clear and concise way to present scientific information and ensure consistency in citations.

In APA format, in-text citations include the author’s last name and the year of publication. A reference list is also included at the end of the document, providing detailed information about each source cited. This allows readers to easily find and verify the sources you used in your research.

When writing scientific papers, it is crucial to follow APA guidelines for citing sources, as it helps maintain the integrity of the research and allows other researchers to build upon your work.

Key Differences Between MLA and APA Format

In-text citations.

One of the key differences between MLA and APA format lies in how in-text citations are handled. In MLA format, the author’s last name and the page number are typically used to cite sources within the text. For example, (Smith 42).

On the other hand, APA format uses the author’s last name and the publication year. For instance, (Smith, 2019). This difference in formatting is important to keep in mind when writing scientific papers, as it ensures proper attribution of sources and allows readers to easily locate the full reference in the bibliography.

Reference Lists

Another significant difference between MLA and APA format is how the reference lists are structured. In MLA format, the reference list is called the Works Cited page, and it is placed at the end of the document.

Each entry is listed alphabetically by the author’s last name and includes the author’s name, the title of the work, the publication information, and the medium of publication. In contrast, APA format uses a reference list, which is also placed at the end of the document.

Each entry is organized alphabetically by the author’s last name and includes the author’s name, the publication year, the title of the work, and other publication information.

The use of headings in MLA and APA format also differs. In MLA format, headings are not typically used, as the focus is more on the content and structure of the paper. However, APA format requires the use of headings to organize the content and provide clarity to the reader.

APA format has specific guidelines for the formatting of headings, including the use of different levels (e.g., Heading 1, Heading 2) to indicate the hierarchy of information.

Figures and Tables

MLA and APA format also have different guidelines for the inclusion of figures and tables in scientific writing. In MLA format, figures and tables are often placed within the text, close to where they are mentioned. They are typically labeled as “Fig.” and “Table” followed by a number.

APA format, on the other hand, requires figures and tables to be placed in separate sections at the end of the document. Each figure and table should have a caption that describes the content and a number that corresponds to its order of appearance in the text.

It’s important to familiarize yourself with the specific formatting requirements of MLA and APA format when writing scientific papers. Adhering to the correct citation style ensures that your work is professional, consistent, and easily understandable to your readers.

APA Guidelines for Science Writing

Formatting research papers.

When it comes to formatting research papers in APA style for science writing, there are a few key guidelines to keep in mind. First and foremost, it is important to use 1-inch margins on all sides of the paper. Additionally, the font should be Times New Roman and set to a 12-point size.

The paper should be double-spaced throughout, including the title page, abstract, main body, and references. It is also crucial to include a running head and page numbers on each page.

Writing With Precision

APA style emphasizes clear and concise writing in science papers. When writing in APA style, it is important to be precise and avoid using vague or ambiguous language. This means using specific terminology, providing detailed explanations, and avoiding unnecessary jargon.

Additionally, APA style encourages writers to use active voice, which helps to make the writing more direct and engaging. By using active voice, the writer clearly identifies the subject of the sentence and makes the writing more engaging for the reader.

Using Active Voice

One of the key aspects of APA style for science writing is the use of active voice. Active voice is when the subject of the sentence performs the action, rather than having the action done to it. For example, instead of saying “The experiment was conducted,” APA style encourages writers to say “We conducted the experiment.”

Using active voice not only makes the writing more engaging, but it also helps to clearly identify the responsible party for the action.

Reporting Statistics

When reporting statistics in APA style for science writing, it is important to provide clear and accurate information. This can be done by using appropriate statistical symbols and formatting, such as italicizing variables and using subscripts.

Additionally, APA style requires writers to include relevant information such as means, standard deviations, and sample sizes. It is also important to clearly label figures and tables and provide a thorough explanation of the statistical analysis performed.

This helps to ensure that the reader can easily understand and interpret the data being presented.

Tips for Applying APA Style in Science Writing

Use citation generators.

When it comes to applying APA style in scientific writing, using citation generators can be a great help. These online tools automatically generate citations in APA format for various sources such as books, journals, websites, and more.

They save you time and ensure that your citations are formatted correctly, following the guidelines set by the American Psychological Association. Some popular citation generators include Citation Machine , EasyBib , and BibMe .

By using these tools, you can focus more on your research and writing, knowing that your citations are accurate and properly formatted.

Adhere to APA Paper Structure

When writing scientific papers in APA style, it’s important to follow the prescribed paper structure. The APA format typically includes a title page, an abstract, an introduction, a methods section, a results section, a discussion section, and a references page.

Each section has specific formatting requirements, such as the use of headings, subheadings, and proper citation formats. It’s crucial to familiarize yourself with these requirements and apply them consistently throughout your paper.

This ensures that your work is organized and easy to navigate for readers.

Be Consistent Throughout

Consistency is key when it comes to applying APA style in science writing. This means using the same format and style for all citations and references throughout your paper. Make sure to use the correct punctuation, capitalization, and italics when citing different sources, such as books, articles, or websites.

Additionally, pay attention to the order and formatting of the elements within each citation, including authors’ names, publication dates, titles, and page numbers. Being consistent in your formatting not only enhances the readability of your paper but also shows your attention to detail and adherence to professional standards.

Proofread and Revise

Before submitting your scientific paper, it’s crucial to proofread and revise it for any errors or inconsistencies, including those related to APA style. Carefully review your citations and references to ensure they are complete, accurate, and formatted correctly.

Check for any inconsistencies in capitalization, italics, or punctuation. Additionally, make sure your paper adheres to the overall guidelines of APA style, such as the use of proper headings and subheadings.

Taking the time to proofread and revise your work will help you present a polished and professional scientific paper.

For most science writing, APA format is the preferred citation style over MLA. APA provides specific guidelines that optimize scientific communication and publications.

By understanding when to use APA, adhering to key formatting differences from MLA, following APA science writing tips, and proofreading your citations, you can expertly apply APA style for your research papers, lab reports, and other scientific documents.

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Best Science Citation Formats for Research Papers

citations in a scientific paper

When choosing the best citation format or style for a research paper, it is easy to get confused.

One of the most important  sections in a research proposal  or scientific paper is the bibliography or  references section . Even though it is often listed as one of the last parts of a  research proposal checklist , leaving it to the end would cause you a lot more time and effort.

In this article, we will explore the best citation style or format for a scientific research paper, academic manuscript, or Ph.D./Master’s thesis or dissertation. 

Our new Wordvice APA Citation Generator , MLA Citation Generator , Chicago Citation Generator , and Vancouver Citation Generator automatically generate citations for your specific academic formatting style for FREE. Be sure to check out the citation style you need after reading this article. And get professional proofreading services from Wordvice before submitting your paper to journals or professors to make sure your work is polished and free of errors.

What is the best science citation style? 1

Science Citation Style Guide Overview

If you have ever written any type of research document, then chances are you have come across an academic style guide. 

What is an academic style guide?  

A style guide or manual explains how to cite your sources properly. But that’s not all it does. It also tells you how to format your citations, bibliography (if you’re using one), headings, footnotes, and endnotes—all the things you need to know to avoid academic dishonesty or plagiarism and make sure your work is clear and accurate.

Besides attribution, citation style guides are also used to clarify your writing process, identify elements as points of emphasis, and give credibility to your research arguments. This is especially important when it comes to passing the  peer review process , where your research will be closely scrutinized by other researchers in your field.

In general, citation style guides are used to ensure that all references within a document are formatted consistently. This helps make the document easier to read and less prone to errors that can be confusing to the reader.

What is the best science citation style? 2

Factors to Consider When Choosing A Citation Style

There are numerous citation formats and styles for science papers, academic research, and PhD/Master’s dissertations and theses, but which one should you use?

There are a number of factors to consider when choosing a citation style. At the most basic level, the style you choose should reflect your discipline or field of study, the type of academic or research institution or organization you work for, the guidelines of your target journal, the type of source you are citing, and the nature of your readership.

Related Article:  Complete Introduction to Citation Style Guides

What is the best science citation style? 3

Best Citation Format to Use for Science Papers

So, you have finally completed your research project or dissertation and are ready to submit it to a scientific journal. 

Your next step should be to check your target journal’s submission guidelines–If you haven’t decided on your target journal yet, be sure to check out the following resources:

  • How to Choose the Right Journal for My Manuscript
  • How Do I Know If My Manuscript Matches a Journal’s Aim and Scope?
  • How to Increase my Manuscript’s Chance of Acceptance
  • Journal Manuscript Editing Services
  • Thesis Editing Services
  • Dissertation Editing Services

Ensure that the field, scope, and purpose of your research match your target journal. Another factor you must consider is your budget. Publishing in high-impact science journals is not cheap, so be sure to align your strategy with your professor or lab director.

Second, you want to consider the source of your citation. Is it a book, journal article, or even a website? For science research papers, your sources will almost always be limited to journal articles and other primary research texts.

Regardless, the  Wordvice APA Citation Generator  has books, journal articles, and websites covered. In addition, APA, MLA, Chicago, and Vancouver citation formats can be automatically generated.

science citation style, APA 7 style

APA (American Psychological Association) style  is a citation format used primarily in the social sciences, education, behavioral sciences, business, and nursing. However, APA is also seen in a variety of fields, including basic sciences.

In-text Citation Example – APA 7th style

“The current work assesses the demographic, social, and economic states of the southern half of the Korean peninsula…” (Schwekendiek, 2014, pp. v)

Reference List Citation Example – APA 7th style

Schwekendiek, D. J. (2014).  The Data Atlas of South Korea: Demography, Society, Economic Activity  (First Edition; A. Brennfoerder, Ed.). Seoul, Republic of Korea: Jimoondang.

APA in-text citations follow the Author-Date style in parenthetical format, which consists of the last name of the author and the year of publication within parentheses. To cite a source directly, include the page number using the abbreviation “p/pp”.

APA Style Resources

  • Official APA Style Guidebook
  • Wordvice APA Citation Guide
  • Wordvice APA Citation Generator

Chicago Style

science citation style, Chicago style

The  Chicago Manual of Style (CMOS)  is used primarily for works in the arts, humanities, and social sciences. Chicago style adds a layer of complexity in the form of two variations: Notes-Bibliography (NB) and author-date. The NB style is widely used in the arts and humanities, while author-date is more favored‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌social‌ ‌sciences.

Author-Date Citation Example – Chicago 17th Style

“The current work assesses the demographic, social, and economic states of the southern half of the Korean peninsula…” (Schwekendiek, 2014, v)

Footnote Citation Example – Chicago 17th Style

1. Schwekendiek, “ The Data Atlas of South Korea: Demography, Society, Economic Activity ,” v..

Similar to the APA system, the Author-Date system for Chicago style is composed of in-text citations that match the reference list at the end of the document.

Chicago Style Resources

  • Official Chicago Style Guidebook
  • Wordvice Chicago Style Guide
  • Wordvice Chicago 17th Citation Generator

Vancouver Style

science citation style, Vancouver style

Vancouver style  uses a strict author-number system and has been adopted by many journals and institutions in the medical field, including the  IEEE  (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) and  MEDLINE . Vancouver style is different from the above styles in that it features a number encompassed within square brackets  [ ]  when using in-text citations. This bracketed number corresponds to the relevant source cited in the reference list at the end of the paper.

In-text Citation Example – Vancouver style

“According to Schwekendiek (1), the current work assesses the demographic, social, and economic states of the southern half of the Korean peninsula…” 

Reference List Citation Example – Vancouver style

(1) Schwekendiek DJ. The Data Atlas of South Korea: Demography, Society, Economic Activity. First Edition. Brennfoerder A, editor. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Jimoondang; 2014.

Similar to the APA system, the author-date system for Chicago style is composed of in-text citations that match the reference list at the end of the document.

Vancouver Style Resources

  • Official Vancouver Style Guidebook  
  • Wordvice Vancouver Style Guide
  • Wordvice Vancouver Style Citation Generator

science citation style, MLA 8 style

MLA ( Modern Language Association ) style  is commonly used by students and writers preparing manuscripts in humanities disciplines ‌such‌ ‌ as‌ ‌cultural‌ ‌studies,‌ ‌English,‌ ‌literature,‌ ‌and‌ ‌critical‌ ‌theory. 

MLA style is rarely (if ever) used as a style guide for scientific papers. However, there are cases, especially for the social sciences and humanities, in which you may find yourself reading articles or books cited in MLA format. For that reason, it’s good to be familiar with MLA style. 

In-text Citation Example – MLA 8th style

“The current work assesses the demographic, social, and economic states of the southern half of the Korean peninsula…” (Schwekendiek v)

Reference List Citation Example – MLA 8th style

Schwekendiek, Daniel J.  The Data Atlas of South Korea: Demography, Society, Economic Activity . Ed. Andrew Brennfoerder. First Edition. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Jimoondang, 2014. Print.

MLA citations are based on the  author-page  format consisting of the author’s name and page number(s). Although your sentence may include the author’s name, any page number(s) should be included in‌ parentheses.

MLA Style Resources

  • Official MLA Style Guidebook
  • Wordvice MLA Style Guide
  • Wordvice MLA 8th Citation Generator

Frequently Asked Questions about Citation Styles

Which citation style should you use.

The citation style you use for your science paper or academic research document is dependent on various factors, including your research scope, target journal for publication, readership/audience, and type of cited source.

Which citation style is most commonly ‌used‌ ‌in‌ ‌science?

The most frequently used citation style used in science is  APA Style  (American Psychological Association) style or  Vancouver Style , created by the  IEEE  (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). 

What citation system is the best to use for science?

There are two types of citation systems:  author-date  and  numeric . The author-date System is most used by those working in the social and basic sciences. Whereas those working in literature, history, and the arts should apply the NB System.

What is the author-date system?

With the author-date system, the author’s last name and publication year are included in an in-text citation. For example: (Schwekendiek, 2014, p. v).

What is an in-text or parenthetical citation?

There are two formats for in-text citations:‌ ‌‌parenthetical‌ ‌‌and‌ ‌narrative. Parenthetical citations include information about the publication date and the author’s name. When a narrative citation is used, the author’s name is incorporated into the sentence and the year follows in parentheses.

General rules for citing sources in scientific writing

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General Guidelines

When to cite: All ideas and facts that are obtained from other sources must be properly cited, unless they qualify as common knowledge. (If in doubt about whether something is common knowledge, provide a citation).

How to cite: If the author’s name is used as part of the sentence, the citation should be in the form "Holsinger (1995) argues that X" If the author’s name is not used in the sentence, then the citation should be in the form "(Holsinger 1995; Jockusch and Simon 1997; Caira et al. 1998)". If there are one or two authors, list their names in the citation. If there are more than two authors, list the first author followed by et al. rather than listing all of the authors in citations. In the literature cited section, all authors must be listed. Refer to the example by Prof. Schwenk below for general guidelines.

Where to cite: The citation should be placed at the end of the sentence (before the punctuation) if it applies to the entire sentence or immediately following the information to which it applies. If several consecutive sentences contain information from the same source, the source may be cited at the end of the last sentence.

Synthesize citations: In your writing aim for synthesis. A single sentence can and should express an idea promoted by several authors; cite all relevant authors at the end of such sentences. Avoid whole paragraphs devoted to the ideas of a single author.

Formatting Guidelines

We will be following the citation format used by the journal Evolution for this course. Here is some information on how to format citations modified from their website.

  • A one-to-one correspondence must exist between works cited in the text and those in the Literature Cited section.
  • Literature is cited in the text by the last name of the author or authors and the date of publication. For works with three or more authors, the last name of the senior author is followed by "et al." in the text. The complete list of authors is included in the Literature Cited section.
  • Use semicolons to separate multiple citations by different authors; use commas to separate multiple citations by the same author (e.g., Jones 1991, 1992; Brown 1993). Note that in-text references are placed in chronological order.
  • Do not use commas to separate the author names and dates in in-text citations.
  • References in the Literature Cited section should be arranged alphabetically.

Example of Proper Citation Formats

This example shows proper citation format in both the text and literature cited sections. Faculty appearance and faculty quality: Is there a connection?

Kurt Schwenk Dept. of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology U. CT, Storrs, CT 06269 It has been suggested that balding, blond, bearded professors are superior in overall quality (Schwenk 1987), although a few investigators disagree (e.g. Hirsute 1990; Brunette 1991). Indeed, the computer simulation models of Schwenk and Budlite (1990) predict that the addition of a slight beer-belly to the Schwenk (1987) physical parameters would so enhance the popularity of a UConn professor that it is unlikely any space on campus could accommodate his or her class enrollments (with the possible exception of Gample Pavilion). However, in a pointed rebuttal to Schwenk and Budlite (1990), Slender et al. (1991) noted that Professor Schwenk, himself, fits the Schwenk (1987) and Schwenk and Budlite (1990) profile, and his enrollments hardly fulfill the prediction. Furthermore, in her now classic study, La Mujer (1978) showed that female instructors are consistently preferred three to one over males by students at ten top-ranking U.S. institutions. Given that female instructors generally have all their hair, often are not blond, are rarely bearded (Darwin 1871) and only infrequently have beer bellies, these results would seem to falsify the Schwenk (1987) and Schwenk and Budlite (1990) hypotheses. Slender et al. (1991) noted that Schwenk's papers fail to cite the La Mujer study, and they further implied that the quality of Schwenk's scholarship is in question (indeed, they seemed to suggest that Schwenk had faked his data). In a vicious rejoinder to Slender et al. (1991), Schwenk (1992) claimed that Slender, Gracile and Lithe were involved in a massive conspiracy to ruin his professional reputation and that the conspiracy extended to La Mujer, Brunette, Hirsute, and a host of other investigators. He further claimed to have unpublished evidence linking these scientists to a heretofore unrevealed CIA plot to bring Elvis and Marilyn back to life in order to discredit Schwenk and his ideas. As proof, Schwenk (1992) offered the testimony of voices he hears constantly in his head (K. Schwenk, pers. comm.).

Literature Cited

Darwin, C. 1871. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Modern Library, New York, NY. [ This is the proper format for a book. ]

Hirsute, G. E. 1990. Hair to stay: beards in the classroom and student preference. J. Taxpayer Waste 254:1086-1089. doi: 10.1002/jez.725

La Mujer, W. 1978. Gender issues in faculty quality. Pp. 150-172 in F. M. Nist and C. Pig, eds. Gonads: Inside or Out? Fullcourt Press, New York, NY. [ This is the proper format for a paper within an edited book. ]

Schwenk, K. 1987. Faculty quality in relation to certain physical parameters. Zeitschrift f*r Schleimhauten und Zungenspitzen 52:231-242. doi: 10.1073/pnas.131203598

Schwenk, K. 1992. Voices in my head: the CIA, Elvis, Marilyn and the plot against me. Xenophobe 11:1-346. doi: 10.1093/icb/icp034

Schwenk, K., and I. P. Budlite. 1990. Excessive beer consumption improves faculty instruction. Bull. Amer. Beer Inst. 21:24-32. doi: 10.1126/science.263.5153.1573

Slender, P., M. W. Gracile, and D. Lithe. 1991. Failure of physical parameter models to predict student preference. Pseudoscientifica 342:233-236. doi: 10.1016/S0169-5347(00)88953-3 [ Return to main EEB 2245W page

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The Top 100 Most Cited Scientific Papers in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health Category of Web of Science: A Bibliometric and Visualized Analysis

Vicenç hernández-gonzález.

1 Human Movement Research Group (RGHM), University of Lleida, Plaça de Víctor Siurana, 25003 Lleida, Spain

2 Physical Education and Sport Section, University of Lleida, Av. De l’Estudi General, 25001 Lleida, Spain

Josep Maria Carné-Torrent

Carme jové-deltell, Álvaro pano-rodríguez, joaquin reverter-masia, associated data.

The Web of Science (WoS) data can be accessed through theWoS’s official website: https://www.webofscience.com/wos/alldb/basic-search (accessed on 14 March 2022).

(1) Background: The main basis for the public recognition of the merits of scientists has always been the system of scientific publications and citations. Our goal is to identify and analyze the most cited articles in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category. (2) Methods: We searched the Web of Science for all articles published in the “Public, Environmental & Occupational Health” category up to March 2022 and selected the 100 most cited articles. We recorded the number of citations, the journal, the year of publication, quartile, impact factor, institution, country, authors, topic, type of publication and collaborations. (3) Results: 926,665 documents were analyzed. The top 100 had 401,620 citations. The journal with the most articles was the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology and the one with the highest number of citations was Medical Care. The year with the highest number of articles in the top 100 was 1998. The country with the highest percentage of publications was the USA and the most productive institution was Harvard. The most frequent keywords were bias, quality, and extension. The largest collaboration node was between the USA, Canada, Germany, Spain, Australia, France, and Sweden. (4) Conclusions: This bibliometric study on Public, Environmental & Occupational Health provides valuable information not only to identify topics of interest in the analyzed category, but also to identify the differences in the topics they study.

1. Introduction

Bibliometrics is a science that uses statistical and mathematical procedures to track the general trend of research in a specific field [ 1 ]. Various authors have targeted the participation of researchers in scientific activities, as well as differences and conditioning factors from the different fields of scientific knowledge [ 2 ]. These authors attribute different frequency and different publication practices between scientific disciplines [ 2 ]. The Web of Science (WoS) online database includes all important research papers and provides integrated analysis tools to produce representative figures, that is, it is the reference database of institutions, researchers and actors linked to science [ 3 , 4 , 5 ].

Within bibliometrics, citation analysis is one of the most used tools to assess the academic impact of an article in a specific area of knowledge [ 6 ]. The number of citations a publication receives does not necessarily reflect the quality of the research or the relevance of its authors [ 7 ], but it has been suggested that articles with the highest number of citations may have the ability to generate changes in practice, controversy, discussion and more research [ 6 , 8 , 9 ], or, as suggested by Zhu et al. [ 1 ], the number of citations can measure the article’s influence and merit. In addition, WoS search results could be exported to software for later analysis such as VOS-viewer [ 10 ], which could provide important information associated with collaboration networks between countries, institutions or authors.

Although there have been bibliometric analyses of articles in the field of food safety [ 11 , 12 ]; environmental health [ 13 , 14 ]; health promotion [ 15 , 16 ]; health education [ 17 ]; mental health [ 18 , 19 ]; sport health [ 20 ]; and occupational health [ 21 , 22 ], the entire category of Public, Environmental & Occupational Health has never been studied worldwide.

Few studies have a standardized measure of the wide range of dissemination activities in a scientific category that allows a detailed observation of production, collaboration and interrelation in a scientific field. No explorations have been performed based on quantitative methodologies aimed at building indicators on which to be able to empirically test the scientific productivity of the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category.

To our knowledge, there is no study that bibliometrically analyzes high citation articles that evaluate the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and analyze the 100 most cited articles in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category to understand the historical perspective and promote discussion and scientific progress in this specialty.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. search strategy and eligible criteria.

Bibliometric analysis was performed on 14 March 2022. Two independent researchers, who searched the Web of Science Core Collection (Clarivate Analytics), a research platform that provides a substantial bibliographic database through of Science Citation Index Expanded (SCIE) using the search category, identified articles. The search strategy was performed through the “Public, Environmental & Occupational Health” category. We refined the research by selecting original research articles and reviews. The 100 articles with the most citations were eligible for bibliometric analysis, arranged in descending order of citation count. Any disagreement between the reviewers was discussed between them to reach a final decision. Author in descending order according to the number of citations ordered these articles.

2.2. Data Extraction

Two authors independently retrieved information from all articles. Through the Web of Science, the 100 articles with the highest number of citations were selected and exported. Later, they were exported into an Excel document where the following were recorded: the number of citations, name of the journal, year of publication, first and last author and co-authors, total number of authors, geographical location, origin and associated institute, the title of the article, type of document (article or review), abstract and corresponding author. For the analysis of authors, all the authors who participated in the study were counted. In the bibliometric analysis by country, each country that participated in the study was taken into account and the citations received were counted. Citations received by a country more than once were not counted if several authors from different institutions but from the same country had participated in the same study. The number of articles per country was counted as long as there was an author from the country in the study. If the first author was affiliated with two institutions, then the first institute was selected for inclusion.

2.3. Statical Analysis

We used IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 27.0 (Armonk, NY, USA: IBM Corp.) for correlation analysis. Correlation was determined using Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r), and when p < 0.05, the difference was considered statistically significant. We used a popular bibliometric analysis tool, VOSviewer 1.6.18 software (CWTS, Leiden, The Netherlands) [ 23 ], for cooperative network identification and keyword co-occurrence analysis. In addition, it could generate visual maps of knowledge. We also used the MapChart program [ 24 ], a platform from which a personalized map of different regions of the world was created, using colors and descriptions.

The study flowchart is shown in Figure 1 , and included studies that were published from 1900 to 2022 for the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category of Web of Science. The search topic, after applying the strategy, produced 926,665 documents. For the analysis of the study, only articles or review articles were taken into consideration, which led to the exclusion of 294,361 documents. Of the remaining 632,304, the 100 documents with the highest number of citations were considered for the study. A total of 632,204 documents were excluded.

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Flowchart of study.

3.1. Publication Year, Citation and Bibliometric Analysis of the Keywords

The 100 most cited publications in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category were published between 1938 and 2020, of which 70% were published after 2018. We performed an analysis of publication trends by 6-year intervals based on a ranking of publication dates. Between 1998 and 2003, 29 documents were published, with the year 1998 ( n = 11) being the year of greatest production. There has been a visible improvement in the quantity of the data, since, of the 100 articles, before 1998 a total of 29 documents were published, making a big difference with the period 1998 to 2003, when 29 articles were published ( Figure 2 ).

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Pattern of distribution of top-cited articles (number of articles per year).

The top 100 articles were cited 401,620 times in total, and the average total number of citations was 4016 citations (ranging from 1846 to 30,229). No significant correlation was found between the total number of citations and the age of the articles (r = −0.121, p = 0.229). The most cited article (30,229 citations) was “A new method of classifying prognostic co-morbidity in longitudinal-studies-development and validation” by Charlson et al. [ 25 ] published in the Journal of Chronic Diseases . Based on the number of publications in the 100 articles, and analyzing the citations per publication, 1998 was the most productive year with 11 articles (42,320 citations and an average of 3847 citations/article) in the top 100 list ( Table 1 ).

The top 100 articles with most total citations in Public, Environmental & Ocupational Health category.

The oldest study included in the list was published by Miles et al. [ 26 ] in 1938 entitled “The estimation of the bactericidal power of the blood”, with 3246 citations. The last study included was published in 2020 by Wang et al. [ 27 ], the paper entitled “Immediate Psychological Responses and Associated Factors during the Initial Stage of the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Epidemic among the General Population in China”, with 2485 citations, published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ( Table 1 ).

Eighty-six of the 100 publications were original research, and the remaining 14 were reviews. The average number of citations per article in the review works was 3285 citations/article compared to 4135 citations/article in the original works ( Table 1 ). The most common important keywords included quality of life, comorbidity, disease, cancer, clinical-trials, bias and epidemiology, and the keywords that appeared the most were “bias” (total link strength of 14), “quality” (total link strength of 11) and “extension” (total link strength of 10), which had a strong link with “epidemiology”, “metaanalysis” and “cancer” ( Figure 3 ).

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The co-occurrence network of keywords. Note : The size of the nodes indicates the frequency of occurrence. The curves between the nodes represent their co-occurrence in the same publication. The smaller the distance between two nodes, the higher the number of co-occurrence of the two keywords.

3.2. Authors and Bibliometric Analysis of the Co-Authorship

A total of 487 authors contributed the 100 most cited. The number of authors in an article ranged from 1 to 26 (mean 5.53). Analysis of the 10 most productive authors based on their number of articles in the top 100, regardless of their authorship positions, showed that Ware, J.E., Altman, D.G. and Horan, T.C. were the authors with the highest number of articles.

Ware, J.E., from the USA, had a maximum of 46,062 citations with five articles listed and an h-index of 100. The average number of citations/article was 9212 citations. However, Altman, D.G. from England, published four papers, the total index of citations was 36,420 and the average per article was 9105; their h-index was 182. The third position is for the researcher Horan, T.C. from the USA, with four published documents, an h-index of 25, and with more than 13,500 total citations ( Table 2 ).

The top authors with the most articles in the top 100.

The total number of citations was not related to the number of authors (r = −0.118, p = 0.058). However, the average number of citations per article was associated with the number of authors (r = 0.210, p < 0.001).

There was low collaboration between most of the main authors, creating only one cooperation research network. Authors with a minimum of three papers per author were considered for analysis. Of the 487 authors, seven reached the threshold ( Figure 4 ). Altman, D.G. formed a collaborative network with five other researchers with a link strength of 15.

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The author collaboration network. Note: The collaboration map of authors reflects the scientific research cooperation between them. The circle/node signifies the authors; size of the circle/node signifies the number of articles. The lines denote the authors’ collaboration strength, and each color signifies a cluster.

3.3. Countries, Institutions and Bibliometric Analysis of the Collaboration

A total of 26 countries published the 100 most cited articles in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category. Table 3 shows the twelve most productive countries, with the USA being the one that contributes the most, with 65 documents, followed by England with 21 and Canada with 17 articles. These three same countries obtain also the greatest number of citations. However, the country with the highest rate of citations per article is Italy, with an average of 5151 citations/article, followed by England with an average of 4724 citations/article.

The top countries with the most highly cited articles.

Two collaboration nodes were established. A larger one, involving seven countries and where the USA had the most active partnership (a liaison force of 45 and collaborated on 57 documents); its major research cooperators included Canada, Germany, Spain, Australia, France, Sweden. The other node was where England (with a link strength of 37 and 20 documents) had a strong collaboration with mainly European countries such as Denmark, The Netherlands and Switzerland. We found that Italy and Norway rarely cooperated with other countries in investigations. ( Figure 5 ).

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The country collaboration network.

The world map revealed that the articles were mainly concentrated in North American and western Europe, and less so in Oceania. Specifically, the USA was the country with the highest production of documents, followed by England and Canada ( Figure 6 ).

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The distribution map of the number of published articles worldwide for countries (MapChart).

In total, 228 institutions participated in the 100 articles. The number of institutions per article ranged between 1 and 21. The average institutional collaboration was 3.8 institutions/article. The article with 21 participating institutions was a review on toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) published in 1998 with 2592 citations. The World Health Organization, with eight articles included in this bibliometric analysis, was the institution with the greatest scientific representation ( Table 4 ). In four of the eight papers, it was included as the main institution of the study. The total number of citations was 20,339 and the average number of citations per article was 2542 citations. The second institution was the University of Harvard in the USA with six documents and one as the main institution. The total number of citations was more than 25,000 with an average of 4209 citations per article.

The top institutions with the most highly cited articles.

There was a strong and significant correlation between the number of institutions and authors (r = 0.848, p < 0.001). There was a negative correlation between the total citations and the number of participating institutions (r = −0.115, p = 0.286).

In the collaboration network analysis ( Figure 7 ), a minimum of three collaborations between institutions were established, 19 reached the threshold and three cooperation network nodes were formed. In the first of them, McMaster University cooperated with institutions such as Harvard University, University of Washington and the University of Toronto and collaborated on five articles. The University of Washington had a strong partnership and cooperation with the University of Minnesota, NCI, and Wake Forest University. Collaboration network analysis also highlighted the institutional collaboration network that the World Health Organization has with University of Toronto, Wisconsin University and US EPA, with more than seven documents shared.

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The institution collaboration network.

3.4. Journal Analysis

The Web of Science “Public, Environmental & Occupational Health” category had 204 indexed journals, of which 35 made it to the top 100 most cited articles list. A total of 16 journals were in the first quartile (approximately 45%), 9 journals in the second quartile, 3 in the third quartile, and 5 were from Q4. Two journals were out of print or had changed their name. A total of 79% of the studies were published in high-impact journals (Q1 or Q2).

The IFs of the 35 journals ranged from 0.875, Malawi Medical Journal , to 59.769, MMWR Surveillance Summaries . There were up to 22 journals with an IF < 5.000, seven between 5.000 and 10.000, and four journals with an IF > 10.000.

Table 5 shows the top nine journals that published three or more articles.

The top journals that published the top 100 highly cited literature in Public, Environmental & Occupacional Health category.

Journal of Clinical Epidemiology was the most productive journal ( n = 15), followed by Medical Care and Statistics in Medicine ( n = 12). The top five journals published 54% of the articles and account for more than 59% of the total citations. The self-citation rate for the top nine journals ranged from 1.7% for the Bulletin of the World Health Organization to 10.3% for the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology . The journal with the highest number of citations was Medical Care ( n = 74,189) and its mean number of citations per article was 6182 citations/article.

4. Discussion

This is the first paper that analyzes the 100 most cited papers in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category of Web of Science. This article identifies the authors, journals, countries, institutions, etc., with the greatest impact in this category from the beginning of the 20th century to the present. The sample size was set at 100 manuscripts to provide a manageable and significant number of articles to be analyzed, in accordance with several published works [ 1 , 6 , 8 , 9 , 28 , 29 ].

The period of the greatest publication of articles starts in 1998; a clear upward trend in the production of works started during the period 1989–2010, but then it disappears in the last decade. A stochastic process is observed. The Mann–Kendall trend test ( Figure 3 ) revealed a significant positive trend towards a greater number of articles over the years starting in 1985 ( p = 0.055, Kendell’s Tauβ). Our results would be in line with those found by the authors of [ 6 , 29 , 30 ]. They contrasts with recent reviews, on other topics and specialties, in which most of the most cited papers were published earlier in the 1980s [ 31 ] or later, from the year 2000 [ 32 , 33 ]. The socioeconomic growth of recent years may be one of the causes of the advancement in scientific research, an evolution that the dissemination and communication of science has already been experiencing as an exponential change for some time. To understand these changes, it is necessary to know how science spreads. In the professional field, one of the main ways that the research community has to disseminate its work is the publication of scientific articles; however, on the other hand, they also use social networks and all Internet options (scientific forums, blogs, etc.). These tools are also protagonists in recent years, which encourage more dissemination of science and, therefore, more knowledge of what is published [ 34 ]. Some experts believe that studies that are more recent are cited today due to the advancement in scientific dissemination [ 10 ]. It may seem surprising that the studies with the highest number of citations are recent studies; among other factors, this could be due to the appearance of scientific journals in an electronic format, facilitating access and thus favoring circulation in the scientific community [ 6 ].

Some specialists consider that research goes further, suggesting the publication of an article ends when it is read and understood by a large part of society, that is, it is not enough just to publish, it is necessary for the audience to clearly understand its content and, thus, be able to cite it [ 35 ].

The keyword co-occurrence analysis found that the words “cancer”, “quality of life”, “comorbidity”, “epidemilogy” and “disease” had the highest frequency of co-occurrence in the research in the analyzed category. Our work reflects, in part, a growing trend in public health research. Studies on quality of life, comorbidity or cancer have been the focus of research in the scientific community and specifically within the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category [ 36 , 37 ]. Performing a quick bibliographic search in WoS, these terms occupy the fourth, eighth and fourteenth position, respectively, with more records among the different categories.

Metadata from all documents were used to reveal the most productive authors and the most impactful sources. The high number of authors (487) contributing to the 100 articles, with more than an average of five authors per article, made it difficult to determine the individual contribution and, consequently, the role of each author [ 38 ]. As suggested by Bruni et al. [ 33 ], traditionally, in multi-author articles, the first position is occupied by the main contributor, while the last position is reserved for the supervisor. The authors with most impact in the studied category generally held relevant positions, either as main author or as supervisor. This is becoming more common due to the influence of experimental sciences, considering the same importance to the first and last author, based on the author/director relationship. This interpretation is known as the FLAE approach, an expression of first last author emphasis [ 39 ].

The h-index quantifies the research performance of individual scientists, incorporating both the number and visibility of publications [ 40 ]. In the work, we can see an unequal distribution of the h index among the authors of the 100 articles, where the number of citations that a scientific subcommunity grants to a manuscript is undoubtedly and directly related to the number of researchers that make up such a sub-community [ 41 ]. The analyzed category is a very broad field of knowledge; therefore, the number of citations of the articles will be very different depending on the topic analyzed.

As indicated by Jung et al. [ 42 ], in a context in which there is great interest in intensifying international collaboration within scientific practice, this paper proposes an approach on how to measure and visualize international collaborative work at the institutional level. The low collaboration observed between the different authors in our work contrasts with that found in studies such as by Zhu et al. [ 1 ] or Yu et al. [ 10 ]. The joint analysis of the collaboration indexes of the relationships between the different authors of the documents allows us to make a better interpretation of the structure of international scientific collaboration networks in the category of study [ 43 ]. One of the variables handled in our work was the possibility of identifying whether there was a high level of international and potentially multinational collaboration with other institutions that could affect the visibility of the research and the frequency of citations of a category [ 44 ]. This was not the case, but we have been able to map and identify the existing collaborations within the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health field, as well as the main citation sources.

The most relevant works were mainly in North America, specifically the USA and Canada, and Western Europe. Similarly, citation analysis showed this same trend in previous studies [ 45 , 46 ]. This trend can be explained by several reasons, first of all, by the cumulative geographical advantage, since citations originate more frequently from institutions located in the same country as the place of residence of the author [ 47 , 48 ]. Second, as suggested by Wang et al. [ 49 ], the USA can count on a broad scientific community and generous science funding policies. In fact, the most productive institutions in our study are geographically located in the USA and Europe. A third reason may be that larger universities provide greater opportunities for scientists to collaborate and work on similar topics, and co-authorship may lead to higher citation rates.

Most items originated from two major advanced economies: North America and Western Europe. These are undoubtedly economically developed continents with more access to early research and they can support medical research [ 29 ]. This can be seen in the data published by WHO in a report published in 2020, in which high-income countries spend a higher percentage of GDP on R&D in the health sector [ 50 ].

The cooperative network of research institutions can reveal the distribution of research forces in the field of Public, Environmental & Occupational Health. The USA has the most extensive cooperative relationships and prefers to cooperate with Canada and some European countries. England, with the second highest number of co-authored articles, prefers to work with other European countries. Our results would be in line with those found by Song et al. [ 51 ] in the Entrepreneurship research area. In the field of science, collaborative work, institutional and disciplinary structures face the challenge of a global context. This challenge has led to the creation of initiatives such as e-Science in the United Kingdom, which was announced as a global collaboration program in key areas of science, and the development of the next generation of infrastructure. These types of initiatives show that contemporary scientific practice is characterized by being very collaborative, multidisciplinary, global work with intensive data management [ 52 ].

According to the results, more than half of the classified articles were published in only five journals, collecting more than half of the total citations. These results demonstrate that a significant number of studies concentrated on a limited core of journals, in accordance with Bradford’s law [ 53 ]. As indicated by Highhouse et al. [ 54 ], authors tend to send their work to the most prestigious journals, attracted, according to Bruni et al. [ 33 ], due to the greater visibility in the search results, as well as the greater probability of being cited.

If we look at the quartiles of the journals, works mostly appears on first and second quartile journals. As stated by Torres-Salinas and Cabezas-Calvijo [ 55 ], publication in high-impact journals generates benefits, starting with the fact that a scientist who regularly publishes in these journals will be able to advance smoothly in his scientific career and will be recognized as an expert in his field. Other authors affirm that publication in high-impact journals helps to develop one’s own criteria, increases self-esteem, strengthens the confidence of the researcher, and feeds the desire to continue researching and publishing, in addition to guaranteeing quality through arbitration, such as peer review demonstrates [ 35 , 56 ].

There is no doubt that the use of the JIF as an evaluation measure generates debate, but today it is a useful way to measure the prestige and importance of scientific journals in the international system, as well as for their researchers [ 57 ]. Many authors have pointed out that the JIF has some limitations such as: (a) a built-in bias that favors American journals (in the case of our study, six of the nine journals in the ranking are published in the USA), (b) scoring highly variable IF between fields and specialties within fields, (c) vulnerability to inflation due to self-citation of journals, (d) vulnerability to inflation due to the publication of review articles and meta-analyses, and, finally, (e) an arbitrary citation window that penalizes some fields or specialties within them [ 54 , 57 ].

Finally, we wanted to also compare the JIF without the self-citations. In this sense, the level of self-citation of the analyzed journals was relatively low, with some exceptions. The abuse of self-citations is another element that can substantially affect the JIF. The self-citation rate in the presented list was low (8.1%) compared with other studies [ 33 , 58 , 59 ]. This is a bias that many platforms have been working on for years to solve [ 60 , 61 ].

5. Conclusions

The work allows the identification of relevant aspects in order to encourage scientific mapping in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category. The analysis can help the governance of specific areas or it can outline an institution’s research. The category analyzed has very varied topics; however, it allowed us to identify the most cited authors, institutions with greater visibility, and the most notable articles.

It has also made it possible to analyze the researchers who are forming national and international collaboration networks, as well as to identify the most collaborative authors and institutions.

Currently, the publication rate of American researchers is the highest in the category studied and its institutions are among the most productive. In addition, the collaborative network of countries, institutions and authors shows the influence of European and American countries in the Public, Environmental & Occupational Health category.

Keyword analysis was an effective method to identify interesting topics among researchers and mark research trend lines.

The results of this research open up new possibilities to identify new strategies and institutional policies that allow them to consolidate their research networks.

Although there has been an exponential growth in work, greater efforts are still required from both researchers and institutions.

In this article, valuable information is provided not only to identify topics of interest in the analyzed category, but also to identify the differences on topics studied between the areas that form the category.

Funding Statement

This research was funded by Human Movement Research Group: SGR-Cat 2021 grant number SGR 1463. Generalitat de Catalunya.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, V.H.-G. and J.M.C.-T.; methodology, V.H.-G., C.J.-D. and J.M.C.-T.; formal analysis, V.H.-G. and J.R.-M.; investigation, J.M.C.-T., C.J.-D. and Á.P.-R.; data curation, V.H.-G. and J.M.C.-T.; writing—original draft preparation, V.H.-G. and J.R.-M.; writing—review and editing, V.H.-G., Á.P.-R. and J.R.-M.; visualization, J.M.C.-T. and Á.P.-R.; supervision, J.R.-M.; project administration, J.R.-M.; funding acquisition, V.H.-G., C.J.-D., Á.P.-R. and J.R.-M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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Computer Science > Computation and Language

Title: olmo: accelerating the science of language models.

Abstract: Language models (LMs) have become ubiquitous in both NLP research and in commercial product offerings. As their commercial importance has surged, the most powerful models have become closed off, gated behind proprietary interfaces, with important details of their training data, architectures, and development undisclosed. Given the importance of these details in scientifically studying these models, including their biases and potential risks, we believe it is essential for the research community to have access to powerful, truly open LMs. To this end, this technical report details the first release of OLMo, a state-of-the-art, truly Open Language Model and its framework to build and study the science of language modeling. Unlike most prior efforts that have only released model weights and inference code, we release OLMo and the whole framework, including training data and training and evaluation code. We hope this release will empower and strengthen the open research community and inspire a new wave of innovation.

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    Use this page to create the References portion of your scientific paper and/or lab report in the APA citation style. Why cite? Check out our Academic Honesty/Plagiarism online tutorial for the whys and hows of avoiding plagiarism. APA Video Walkthrough Citing in APA Use the following video and sites to learn about proper citation in APA.

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  26. [2402.00838] OLMo: Accelerating the Science of Language Models

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