How to Cite Sources in CSE 9 Citation-Sequence
CSE 9 supports Citation-Sequence, Citation-Name and Name-Year. This guide focuses on Citation-Sequence, where numbered in-text citations point to references ordered by first appearance.
Method
- Confirm that Citation-Sequence is the required CSE system.
- Use surname plus undotted initials for personal authors.
- Use an abbreviated journal title and compact year-volume-page formatting for journal articles.
- Prefer a DOI-based URL when one is available.
Worked example
Journal pattern: Author AA. Article title. Journal Abbrev. Year;volume(issue):pages. DOI
Book pattern: Author AA. Book title. Edition. Publisher; Year.
Notes
- CSE 9 is the current manual edition.
- For articles with more than five authors, CSE 9 uses the first author followed by et al.
- Journal abbreviations should be checked against an authoritative abbreviation source.
CSE includes more than one citation system
Citation-Sequence assigns numbers in the order sources first appear, but CSE also supports Citation-Name and Name-Year. A correctly formatted Citation-Sequence reference is still wrong for an assignment that requires another CSE system, so confirm the requested system before building the list.
Scientific journal references also depend on accurate abbreviated journal titles, author names, year, volume and pages or article number. Check the DOI and journal abbreviation against an authoritative record when the source metadata is uncertain.
The selected CSE system changes the citation workflow
The Council of Science Editors describes more than one citation arrangement, including name-year and numbered approaches. Confirm which one the assignment or journal actually requests before formatting the same source record. An alphabetized author-date reference list and an order-of-citation numbered list are not interchangeable.
For research articles, verify authors, journal name, year, volume, issue, pages or article number and DOI. If metadata import omits a field, use the publication to resolve it rather than substituting a value from another source; formatting accuracy cannot repair a citation to the wrong work.
Identify the CSE system before building the reference
CSE supports more than one citation system, including Citation-Sequence, Citation-Name and Name-Year. A reference formatted for Citation-Sequence is not automatically correct for a paper using Name-Year. This guide and the matching Lynara tool are scoped to CSE 9 Citation-Sequence, so confirm that this is the required system.
Once the system is known, classify the source as a journal article, book, chapter or web source and collect the fields required for that type. Scientific identifiers and journal details should be verified rather than inferred.
Keep numbering and scientific source details auditable
Citation-Sequence assigns numbers based on first appearance, so manuscript edits can change the numbering even when the reference text stays the same. Reuse the same number for later citations of the same source.
For journal articles, check author names, title, journal abbreviation, publication year, volume, issue, pages or article number and DOI. Scientific references are often imported from databases, but imported metadata should still be compared with the publication record.
Authoritative references
Primary or authoritative references for the external standard, scoring rule or identifier convention used on this page.
Editorial review and limitations
Continue with the related tools
Use the linked tools for your own inputs and scenarios.
- ACS Citation Generator — Generate references using the current ACS Guide to Scholarly Communication for journal articles, webpages, books and book chapters.
- IEEE Citation Generator — Generate numbered IEEE references for journal articles, webpages, books and book chapters using current IEEE reference-guide conventions.
- AMA Citation Generator — Generate AMA 11 references for journal articles, webpages, books and chapters, with DOI import and PubMed/NLM journal-abbreviation checks.