ACS Guide · 2026
ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication, Quick Guide updated April 14, 2026. This page uses the numbered reference / superscript citation system, with all supplied authors and semicolons between them. Journal entries include the title, year, volume and pages; web entries include an ISO access date. Individual journals may require different abbreviations or details.
How to use
Paste information for one source, a batch, or an existing citation. BibTeX and RIS are detected automatically. For plain text, separate sources with a blank line. Choose Generate citation, check the output, and use Edit sources to correct extracted information. You can also start with Enter details and select Book, Journal article or Webpage.
Enter personal authors as Family, Given; separate people with semicolons. Write an organization in braces, such as {Example Institute}. The formatter shortens given names where the selected style requires initials. It preserves the supplied spelling and title capitalization: enter sentence case for AMA/IEEE article titles and title case for Chicago/Turabian. No title translation or automatic journal abbreviation is performed.
The main form shows authors, title, year and publisher, journal or website. More details opens a compact editor for edition, volume, issue, pages, date and links. IEEE and Turabian books also need publication place; include the country and US state when appropriate for IEEE. Access date uses YYYY-MM-DD. Cited page / section is the passage you used, separate from the full article page range.
One source or a long list
The example input is one source and produces one citation in each selected form. Editing an example clears only that field. An empty field may show a muted hint again; the hint is not submitted as source data. Clear removes the entries and result while retaining your input method and source type.
Up to 30 sources share one editor. Use the arrows to review each source. Long results scroll within each output block; its copy button includes every entry, including entries outside the visible area.
What can be converted?
Supported input includes literal BibTeX records, ordinary RIS records, labeled source details, explicit author–date patterns and a limited single-author MLA pattern. Google Scholar’s Cite menu can export BibTeX; citation managers can export BibTeX or RIS. Copy that export here. This page does not connect to those services or search for a source from a DOI.
Plain text is not a universal interchange format. Missing punctuation, multiple editions, abbreviated names and unusual source types can make extraction ambiguous. Original text remains available in More details. Check authors, source type, title, publisher or journal, date, volume and pages before copying. Unknown source types need your selection. Chapters, edited volumes, dissertations, legal materials, translations and advance-online articles require another workflow.
Copying into a document
The reference list appears first, followed by in-text citations or footnotes. All supported forms are shown together, each with its own copy buttons. Numbered references and notes can be copied with or without their leading numbers. Each result has its own copy buttons below it. Plain text does not retain italics or superscript; apply these in your document.
Numbered styles follow input order starting at 1. Reuse an existing number when citing the same source again; the tool does not read your manuscript or deduplicate sources. Bibliographies in Chicago and Turabian are alphabetized, while notes stay in input order. Keep your document’s citations and bibliography synchronized after additions or deletions.
Does the tool verify a source?
No. It formats the information you provide. It validates required fields and basic dates, numbers, DOI and URL syntax, but does not confirm that a book, author, article or link exists. All processing takes place in your browser.
Which version should I use?
Follow your instructor or publisher’s requested edition and citation system. The supported edition is shown above the input. Journal-specific exceptions and ambiguous author–date collisions may need manual editing. This page does not claim to implement every exception in the full style manual.
Examples: the same information, different forms
The following synthetic examples show a book and a journal article. The publication and people are illustrative, not sources to cite in your research.
Book
Authors: Doe, Jane · Year: 2024 · Title: A Guide to Small Gardens · Publisher / journal / website: Example Press · Cited page / section: 12
(1) Doe, J. A Guide to Small Gardens; Example Press, 2024.
In-text citation: 1
Journal article
Authors: Doe, Jane; Lee, Alex · Year: 2025 · Title: Growing plants in small spaces · Publisher / journal / website: Example Journal · Cited page / section: 105 · Volume: 8 · Issue: 2 · Pages / article number: 101–118
(1) Doe, J.; Lee, A. Growing plants in small spaces. Example Journal 2025, 8 (2), 101–118.
In-text citation: 1