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Albert S. Cook Library

CSE Style

Learn to cite sources using the Council of Science Editors (CSE) style.

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In this guide

These examples are based on the 8th edition of the Scientific Style and Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, and Publishers (2014). Remember, your professor is the the final authority for the bibliographic form, including spacing used in your paper.

Council of Science Editors (CSE) style is formerly Council of Biology Editors or CBE style.

General Notes:

No commas offset the author’s last name from their initials, no space separates the first and middle initial, and periods do not usually follow initials. In CSE style, titles of periodicals (newspapers, magazines, journals) are capitalized as they appear in publication, but book and article titles only capitalize the first word of a title (or subtitle) and proper nouns (with the exception of abbreviations e.g. HIV, DDAVP).

CSE Style Manual

In-text Citations

There are three ways to cite references in-text using CSE style. Choose one style to use consistently throughout your paper. Consult your professor if you are unsure of which style to use.

 

Citation-Sequence: In-text citations are superscript numbers, which are numbered chronologically. If two references are cited in the same sentence or phrase, separate the superscript numbers with a comma (eg: 1,2). If three or more are used in sequence, include the first and the last numbers and separate them with a dash (eg: 1-3). References are listed at the end of the paper in the order in which they are cited. If a reference is used more than once, it keeps the same number throughout the paper.

In-text citation: Traumatic life vents and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are endemic among American civilians.1

End reference: 1. Kessler RC, Sonnega A, Bromet E, Hughes M, Nelson CB. Posttraumatic stress disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1995 Dec;52(12):1048-1060.

 

Citation-Name: In-text citations are superscript numbers, which are numbered alphabetically by author's last name. If two references are cited in the same sentence or phrase, separate the superscript numbers with a comma (eg: 1,2). If three or more are used in sequence, include the first and the last numbers and separate them with a dash (eg: 1-3). References are listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order. Note that the only difference between the citation-name style and the citation-sequence style is how the references are numbered and ordered at the end of the paper.

In-text citation: Traumatic life vents and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are endemic among American civilians.22

End reference: 22. Kessler RC, Sonnega A, Bromet E, Hughes M, Nelson CB. Posttraumatic stress disorder in the National Comorbidity Survey. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1995 Dec;52(12):1048-1060.

 

Name-Year: In-text citations include the author’s last name followed by the date of publication and are put in parentheses at the end of the cited phrase or sentence. If a reference has two authors, listed both of their names in the in-text citation and separate them with the word "and." If a reference has three or more authors, list only the first author in your in-text citation, followed by "et al." but include all authors' names in your end reference. References are listed at the end of the paper in alphabetical order by the author’s last name. This citation style uses a slightly difference end reference style from the examples given above, as the year is listed immediately following the author's name. 

In-text citation: The NIH has called for a change in smallpox vaccination policy (Fauci 2002) that ...

End reference: Fauci AS. 2002. Smallpox vaccination policy -- the need for dialogue. N Engl J Med. 346(17):1319-1320.