What Is a CSE Citation Generator?
A CSE citation generator is a free online citation maker that turns the details of a source into a reference formatted to CSE style. The tool sets the order of the details, the punctuation, the author initials, and the date format, and writes the matching in-text reference for the citation system you pick.
College students in the life sciences, the earth sciences, and the other natural sciences, from biology and ecology to environmental science, use it for a lab report, a research paper, or a thesis. Researchers and editors use it for manuscripts sent to journals that follow CSE style.
What Is CSE Style?
CSE style is the citation style of the Council of Science Editors (CSE), set out in The CSE Manual: Scientific Style and Format for Authors, Editors, and Publishers. The University of Chicago Press publishes the manual with the council. Each CSE reference tells the reader who wrote a source, what it is called, where it appeared, and when, in a compact format with no italics and few capital letters.
CSE style offers 3 citation systems: Citation-Sequence (C-S), Citation-Name (C-N), and Name-Year (N-Y).
Parts of a CSE Reference
A CSE end reference has 5 core parts: the authors, the title, the source, the date, and the location, which is the volume, issue, and pages or a Digital Object Identifier (DOI). The color-coded journal reference below is copied from the CSE Quick Guide and comes out of the generator unchanged.
Citation-Sequence reference
1. Pathways to coastal retreat. Science. 2021;372(6548):1287–1290. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi6594
In CSE format, the journal title appears in plain type and is abbreviated when it has more than one word. A semicolon joins the year to the volume, the issue sits in parentheses, and a colon leads into the page range. No punctuation follows the DOI.
CSE Style vs. APA, MLA, and Chicago
The CSE citation style differs from APA, MLA, and Chicago in 3 ways: it drops the periods and commas from author names, abbreviates journal titles, and leaves the page out of name-year in-text references. The table compares how each style cites page 51 of a 2018 article by Maria Lopez and Jun Chen.
| Style | In-text reference | List at the end of the paper |
|---|---|---|
| CSE Citation-Sequence | Superscript number 1 | References, numbered |
| CSE Name-Year | (Lopez and Chen 2018) | References, alphabetical |
| APA 7 | (Lopez & Chen, 2018, p. 51) | References |
| MLA 9 | (Lopez and Chen 51) | Works Cited |
| Chicago author-date | (Lopez and Chen 2018, 51) | References |
Among the other styles for scientific citation, Vancouver and AMA number sources in the order of first citation, as CSE Citation-Sequence does. ACS, the chemistry style, numbers sources too and sets the journal year in bold.
How to Use Our CSE Citation Generator
To use the CSE citation generator, follow these 6 steps at the top of the page:
- Choose the citation system
Pick Citation-Sequence, Citation-Name, or Name-Year, whichever your instructor or journal asks for. Citation-Sequence is selected by default.
- Pick the source type
Website, Book, Journal, and Video have their own tabs. Open More for the other 40 source types, and type in its search box to find one fast.
- Search for the source
Type a book or article title and pick your source from the results, or paste an identifier or a web address and press Cite. The form fills in by itself.
- Type the abbreviated journal title
Replace a full journal name with its abbreviation, such as N Engl J Med. Leave the sentence-case box ticked, then put capitals back on names and places in the title.
- Review the details
Check the author names, the date, and the volume, issue, and pages. Add the date you accessed a web page, when the page shows no date. The result panel updates as you type.
- Copy the reference or build your list
Press Copy to paste the reference into your paper. Press Add to references to build the list, then Copy all.
Autocite and Copy to Word or Google Docs
The CSE citation generator fills the form from 6 kinds of search: a book or article title, a DOI, an International Standard Book Number (ISBN), an arXiv ID, a PubMed ID (PMID), or a YouTube or Vimeo link. Titles and identifiers fill from Crossref, DataCite, PubMed, and Open Library. Paste any other web address, and the tool reads the title, author, site name, and date that the page states; a few sites block this, and then only the link is added.
Copied references keep their formatting in Microsoft Word and Google Docs. The tool formats references for one paper at a time and does not export BibTeX or RIS files. Reference managers such as Zotero, Mendeley, and EndNote keep long-term libraries and export those formats.
Source Types the Generator Covers
The generator covers 44 source types in 8 groups:
| Group | Source types |
|---|---|
| Books | Book, e-book, edited book, translated book, book chapter |
| Articles | Journal article, database article, newspaper article, magazine article, review, book review, preprint |
| Web and social media | Website, blog post, social media post, AI-generated content |
| Audio and video | Video or YouTube, film or movie, TV or radio broadcast, podcast episode, song or music recording |
| Art and visual | Artwork, image or photograph, map |
| Research and reports | Thesis or dissertation, report, government report, dataset, standard, conference paper |
| Talks and conversations | Lecture, speech, interview, email, personal communication |
| Legal, archival, and reference | Legal case, legal bill, legislation or statute, regulation, patent, archival document or letter, dictionary entry, encyclopedia entry, Bible or sacred text |
How to Cite Sources in CSE Style
To cite a source in CSE style, mark the statement that uses the source with an in-text reference, then give the full details in the end references. Every CSE style citation has these 2 parts. The CSE in-text citation, which the manual calls an in-text reference, is a superscript number in Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name, or the author and year in parentheses in Name-Year. The CSE reference list closes the paper and gives each source one entry.
CSE Reference Templates by Source Type
CSE reference templates show the CSE citation format for the 9 most cited source types. The 3 systems use the same template; Name-Year moves the date to the spot after the authors.
| Source | Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name template | Name-Year template |
|---|---|---|
| Journal article | Author AA, Author BB. Article title. Journal Abbrev. Year;Volume(Issue):pages. DOI | Author AA, Author BB. Year. Article title. Journal Abbrev. Volume(Issue):pages. DOI |
| Book | Author AA. Book title. Edition. Publisher; Year. | Author AA. Year. Book title. Edition. Publisher. |
| Book chapter | Author AA. Chapter title. In: Editor AA, editor. Book title. Publisher; Year. p pages. | Author AA. Year. Chapter title. In: Editor AA, editor. Book title. Publisher. p pages. |
| Website | Author AA. Page title. Publisher; Year Mon Day. URL | Author AA. Year Mon Day. Page title. Publisher. URL |
| Newspaper | Author AA. Headline. Newspaper. Year Mon Day. URL | Author AA. Year Mon Day. Headline. Newspaper. URL |
| Dissertation | Author AA. Title [dissertation]. University; Year. URL | Author AA. Year. Title [dissertation]. University. URL |
| Preprint | Author AA. Title [preprint]. Server Year. DOI | Author AA. Year. Title [preprint]. Server. DOI |
| Report | Agency (US). Report title. Publisher; Year. Report number. URL | Agency (US). Year. Report title. Publisher. Report number. URL |
| YouTube video | Video title [YouTube video]. Channel. YouTube; Year Mon Day. Length. URL | Video title [YouTube video]. Year Mon Day. Channel. YouTube. Length. URL |
Titles of articles, books, and pages take sentence case: capitalize the first word and proper nouns only. Months take 3-letter abbreviations with no period, such as 2021 Apr 9, and page ranges take an en dash. A preprint from a server such as bioRxiv or medRxiv carries the [preprint] label after its title.
How CSE Lists Author Names
CSE lists each author as the surname followed by initials, with no periods and no space between the initials: Duco WJP. Commas separate the names, and no “and” or ampersand comes before the last one.
- List all names for a work with 1 to 5 authors.
- Write the first name and “et al” for a work with 6 or more authors, as in Ashraf M et al.
- Add “editor” or “editors” after the names, when editors stand in place of authors.
- Write a group author in full, such as Advanced Life Support Group.
Citing Sources With No Author or No Date
Start the reference with the title, when a source names no author. A Name-Year in-text reference then uses the first word or two of the title and an ellipsis, as in (Health equity … 2020). Write “[date unknown]” in the date slot, when a source shows no publication date, and add the date you viewed it in brackets, such as [accessed 2022 Jan 3].
Sources CSE Cites in the Running Text Only
CSE cites 4 kinds of sources in the running text and leaves them out of the end references, since a reader cannot retrieve them. The generator shows a short reminder under the in-text reference for each one.
| Source | How CSE cites it |
|---|---|
| Personal communication (email, letter, conversation) | Year, kind, and person in parentheses, marked “unreferenced, see Notes” |
| Interview you conducted | Cited as a personal communication |
| AI-generated text | Running text only; describe the tool, prompt, and date in Methods or Acknowledgments |
| The Bible and other sacred texts | Book, chapter, and verse in the text, with the version named once |
Ask permission to cite a personal communication, and thank the person in an Acknowledgments or Notes section at the end of the paper.
CSE Citation Examples
CSE citation examples show complete references for 12 common source types, from a journal article to a conference poster. The examples below come from the generator on this page in the Citation-Sequence system, and 6 of them are copied from the official CSE Quick Guide for the 9th edition. Each one gives the numbered reference and the superscript in-text reference, except where CSE cites a source in the running text only.
Journal Article Citation Example
1. Haasnoot M, Lawrence J, Magnan AK. Pathways to coastal retreat. Science. 2021;372(6548):1287–1290. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abi6594
1
Book Citation Example
1. De Doncker RW, Duco WJP, Veltman A. Advanced electrical drives: analysis, modeling, control. Springer; 2020.
1
Book Chapter Citation Example
1. Ruiz A. Seed banks in alpine meadows. In: Hale T, editor. Plant ecology of mountain systems. Example University Press; 2022. p 45–67.
1
Website Citation Example
1. Health equity considerations and racial and ethnic minority groups. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, Division of Viral Diseases; 2020 Apr 30 [updated 2022 Jan 25]. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/health-equity/race-ethnicity.html
1
Newspaper Article Citation Example
1. Zimmer C. To speed vaccination, some call for delaying second shots. The New York Times. 2021 Apr 9. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/health/covid-vaccine-second-dose-delay.html
1
YouTube Video Citation Example
1. How lichens survive extreme cold [YouTube video]. Example Science Channel. YouTube; 2023 Apr 28. 12:51 min. https://example.org/videos/lichens
1
Dissertation Citation Example
1. Liang S. Transport properties of topological semimetals and non-symmorphic topological insulator [dissertation]. Princeton University; 2020. https://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01vm40xv52n
1
Government Report Citation Example
1. Example Agency for Water Research. Nutrient levels in rural streams, 2015–2020. Example Agency for Water Research; 2021. https://example.org/reports/rural-streams
1
Preprint Citation Example
1. Lopez Bernal J et al. Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against the B.1.617.2 variant [preprint]. medRxiv 2021. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.22.21257658
1
Dataset Citation Example
1. Ruiz A, Chen J. Soil moisture readings from 12 alpine plots, 2019–2023 [dataset]. Version 2. Example Data Repository; 2024. https://example.org/data/alpine-soil
1
Conference Poster Citation Example
1. Okafor N, Lindqvist E. Root depth and drought survival in prairie grasses. Poster session presented at: Annual Meeting of the Example Ecological Society; 2023 Aug 6–11; Portland, OR.
1
Personal Communication Citation Example
(2022 letter from TD Perez to author; unreferenced, see “Notes”)
CSE cites personal communications in the running text only, never in the reference list. Ask the person for permission and acknowledge it in an Acknowledgments or Notes section.
CSE’s Three Citation Systems Explained
CSE’s 3 citation systems share one end-reference format and differ in the in-text reference, the place of the date, and the order of the list. Choose one system and keep it for the whole paper.
Citation-Sequence, Citation-Name, and Name-Year Compared
The Citation-Sequence system and the Citation-Name system print the same in-text marker and the same reference; only the numbering differs. The Name-Year system moves the year to the spot after the authors and drops the semicolon before the volume.
| Feature | Citation-Sequence | Citation-Name | Name-Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-text reference | Superscript number | Superscript number | (Surname Year) |
| List order | Order of first citation | Alphabetical by surname | Alphabetical by surname, then year |
| Numbered list | Yes | Yes | No |
| Date in the reference | After the publisher or journal | After the publisher or journal | After the authors |
| Two authors in the text | Number only | Number only | (Kim and Kim 2020) |
| 3 or more authors in the text | Number only | Number only | (Haasnoot et al 2021) |
Place a superscript citation number after any punctuation, as close as possible to the statement it supports. Separate numbers that do not follow each other with commas, and join a run of 3 or more with an en dash, as in a superscript 2,4,7–10. Reuse a source’s number every time you cite it again. In Name-Year, add a, b, and so on to the year for 2 works by the same authors from the same year: (Lee et al 2020a, 2020b).
How Citation-Name Numbers Are Assigned
Citation-Name numbers come from the reference list in alphabetical order, not from the order of citation in the text. A paper that cites Zimmer first, Haasnoot second, and De Doncker third numbers the same 3 sources like this:
| Order cited in the text | First author | Citation-Sequence number | Citation-Name number |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | Zimmer | 1 | 3 |
| Second | Haasnoot | 2 | 2 |
| Third | De Doncker | 3 | 1 |
The generator does this numbering for you. Add each source to the list, and switching the system pill between Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name renumbers the list and the in-text references.
The 2 sources below are rendered in all 3 systems side by side.
Two-Author Journal Article Citation Example
Citation-Sequence
1. Fauci AS, Lane HC. Four decades of HIV/AIDS—much accomplished, much to do. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(1):1–4. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1916753
1
Citation-Name
1. Fauci AS, Lane HC. Four decades of HIV/AIDS—much accomplished, much to do. N Engl J Med. 2020;383(1):1–4. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1916753
1
Name-Year
Fauci AS, Lane HC. 2020. Four decades of HIV/AIDS—much accomplished, much to do. N Engl J Med. 383(1):1–4. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1916753
(Fauci and Lane 2020)
No-Author Web Page Citation Example
Citation-Sequence
1. Tracking invasive mussels in freshwater lakes. Example Lakes Institute; 2024 Jun 3. https://example.org/mussels
1
Citation-Name
1. Tracking invasive mussels in freshwater lakes. Example Lakes Institute; 2024 Jun 3. https://example.org/mussels
1
Name-Year
Tracking invasive mussels in freshwater lakes. 2024 Jun 3. Example Lakes Institute. https://example.org/mussels
(Tracking invasive . . . 2024)
CSE Journal Title Abbreviations
CSE abbreviates journal titles by the ISO 4 rules, using the List of Title Word Abbreviations (LTWA) kept by the ISSN International Centre. A journal title abbreviation drops the periods and small words such as “of” and “the”, and a one-word title stays in full. The 7 pairs below come from the journals in the CSE Quick Guide’s own examples.
| Full journal title | CSE abbreviation |
|---|---|
| The New England Journal of Medicine | N Engl J Med |
| Climate Dynamics | Clim Dyn |
| Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine | Cleve Clin J Med |
| Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics | J Atmos Sol Terr Phys |
| Advances in Meteorology | Adv Meteorol |
| JAMA Ophthalmology | JAMA Ophthalmol |
| Science | Science |
Newspaper titles are not abbreviated: The New York Times stays in full.
How to Find a Journal Abbreviation
To find a journal abbreviation, follow these 3 steps:
- Search the NLM Catalog of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) by the full journal title, and copy the “NLM Title Abbreviation”.
- Check the LTWA word by word for journals outside medicine and biology, or the Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI) for chemistry journals.
- Type the abbreviation in the Journal name field of the generator.
The generator never shortens a title by itself. A full journal name stays as typed, and a reminder appears under the reference.
CSE Edition Guidelines
CSE citation guidelines differ between the 8th edition (2014) and the 9th edition (2024) in 5 rules that change how a reference looks. The CSE 9th edition put The CSE Manual first in the book’s title, in place of Scientific Style and Format, 8th edition (2014), and the generator follows the 9th edition.
What Changed in the 9th Edition
The 5 rules that changed are these:
| Rule | 8th edition (2014) | 9th edition (2024) |
|---|---|---|
| Authors listed | Up to 10; 11 or more list the first 10 + et al | Up to 5; 6 or more list the first author + et al |
| Place of publication | Required: City (ST): Publisher | Not required: Publisher only |
| DOI | doi:10.xxxx | A DOI URL, https://doi.org/10.xxxx, preferred over other URLs |
| Access date | Given for online sources | Given only when a work shows no date of publication or update |
| Latin abbreviations | e.g., i.e. | eg, ie, with no periods |
The 9th edition adds reference examples for preprints, motion pictures, YouTube videos, and social media posts, and new guidance on artificial intelligence.
Which CSE Edition Should You Use?
Use the 9th edition, unless your instructor or journal names the 8th edition. Some biology departments still hand out 8th-edition guides. Update an 8th-edition reference by cutting the place of publication, shortening author lists longer than 5 names, and rewriting the DOI as a link.
Common CSE Citation Mistakes to Avoid
There are 6 common CSE citation mistakes, from mixing two citation systems to printing more than 5 author names. Each mistake below shows a wrong version and the corrected version.
-
1Mixing two citation systems in one paper
WrongSuperscript numbers in the text and an unnumbered alphabetical list
RightSuperscript numbers with a numbered list, or (Surname Year) with an unnumbered list
-
2Listing every author of a 7-author article
WrongPark J, Osei K, Brandt L, Moreau S, Ito H, Silva R, Novak T. Coral bleaching thresholds in shallow reefs.
RightPark J et al. Coral bleaching thresholds in shallow reefs. Mar Ecol. 2022;43(1):e12701.
-
3Adding a place of publication
WrongReiss MJ, Ruse M. The new biology: a battle between mechanism and organicism. Cambridge (MA): Harvard University Press; 2023.
RightReiss MJ, Ruse M. The new biology: a battle between mechanism and organicism. Harvard University Press; 2023.
-
4Writing the DOI with a prefix and a period
Wrongdoi:10.1056/NEJMp1916753.
Righthttps://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMp1916753
-
5Punctuating names and the year like APA
WrongLopez, M., & Chen, J. (2018) and (Lopez & Chen, 2018)
RightLopez M, Chen J. 2018. In the text: (Lopez and Chen 2018)
-
6Capitalizing every word of an article title
WrongSoil Microbes in Arid Grasslands
RightSoil microbes in arid grasslands (sentence case)
Why Use Our CSE Citation Generator?
Our CSE citation generator offers 3 practical benefits for scientific writing: output tested against the 9th edition, one form for all 3 systems, and no invented details.
Tested Against the 9th-Edition Quick Guide
The output passes 127 checks against the CSE Quick Guide and 9th-edition library guides, from the 5-author rule to patents, preprints, and posters.
One Form, Three Systems
Switch between the 3 CSE systems at any time, and the reference, the in-text marker, and the list order change with it.
No Invented Details
A missing author, date, or journal abbreviation stays as you typed it, and the tool tells you what to add. Typed details stay in your browser; only a search or a pasted identifier goes to the lookup service.
A CSE citation generator saves time on every biology citation in a lab report or research paper, and returns end references and in-text references in all 3 CSE systems. Check each reference against the source before you submit, since a database record can carry a misspelled name or a full journal title.