Figures (0)  Tables (3)
    • Citation styleDisciplineCitation systemIn-text citationEnd-of-text citationEssential informationLink preference
      APA[19]Social and Natural sciences, psychologyAuthor-year
      		The last name of the author, the date, and page number
      (John, 1995, p. 243) or
      (Grady et al., 2019)      		In alphabetical order
      		Author's name, year of publication, article title, journal title, volume and issue number, and page numberDOI>URL>Print version
      Harvard[22−24]In almost all disciplinesAuthor-year
      		The last name of the author, the date
      (John, 2007)      		In alphabetical order; by original title if no author
      		Author's name, year of publication, article title, journal title, volume and issue number, page number, DOI/URL, and accessed dateURL or DOI should be added to the electronic version
      MLA[25,26]Literature and linguisticsAuthor-yearThe author’s last name and page number
      (John 45)      		In alphabetical order

      		Author's name, year of publication, article title, journal title, volume and issue number, page number, and DOI/URLEncourage the use of DOIs or URLs
      Chicago[27,28]History,
      literature, anthropology, science of art, etc.      		Author-yearThe last name of the author, the date, and page number (John 1995, 234)In alphabetical order

      		Author's name, year of publication, article title, journal title, volume and issue number, page number, and DOISupport DOI

      Table 1. 

      Comparison of the reference specifications of APA, Harvard, MLA, and Chicago styles.

    • Journal titleCitation systemEnd-of-text citation (Example)Essential informationLink preference
      Nature[29,30]Number reference1. Kariuki, S. N. & Williams, T. N. Human genetics and malaria resistance. Human Genetics 139, 801–811, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-020-02142-6 (2020).

      2. Bethke, L. L. et al. Duplication, gene conversion, and genetic diversity in the species-specific acyl-CoA synthetase gene family of Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Biochem Parasitol 150, 10–24, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molbiopara.2006.06.004 (2006).

      3. Matesanz, F., Téllez, M. A.-D.-M. & Alcina, A. The Plasmodium falciparum fatty acyl-CoA synthetase family (PfACS) and differential stage-specific expression in infected erythrocytes. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 126, 109–112, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0166-6851(02)00242-6 (2003).      		 Author's name, article title, journal title, volume number, page number, DOI, and year of publicationThere is a DOI and the PDF can be directly clicked to the homepage of the paper cited
      Science[31,32]Number reference1. D. H. Lin, A. Hoelz, The Structure of the Nuclear Pore Complex (An Update). Annu. Rev. Biochem. 88, 725–783 (2019). doi: 10.1146/annurev-biochem-062917-011901; pmid: 30883195

      2. M. Beck, S. Mosalaganti, J. Kosinski, From the resolution revolution to evolution: Structural insights into the evolutionary relationships between vesicle coats and the nuclear pore. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 52, 32–40 (2018). doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2018.07.012; pmid: 30103204

      3. J. Mahamid et al., Visualizing the molecular sociology at the HeLa cell nuclear periphery. Science 351, 969–972 (2016). doi: 10.1126/science.aad8857; pmid: 26917770      		 Author's name, journal title, volume number, page number, year of publication, and DOIWith DOI and PMID (Note: PMID is a unique identification number used by PubMed for each article, limited to articles deposited in the PubMed Center)
      Cell[33]Author-yearSondheimer, N., and Lindquist, S. (2000). Rnq1: an epigenetic modifier of protein function in yeast. Mol. Cell 5, 163–172. 10.1016/S1097-2765(00)80412-8.

      Bondeva, T., Balla, A., Va´ rnai, P., and Balla, T. (2002). Structural determinants of Ras-Raf interaction analyzed in live cells. Mol. Biol. Cell 13, 2323–2333.      		Author's name, article title, journal title, volume number, page number, and year of publicationSome have DOI, and some don not have DOI, but almost all references can jump directly to the paper’s homepage

      Table 2. 

      Comparison of the reference formats of Nature, Science, and Cell

    • Journal titleBasic format/Citation systemAuthor’s nameVolume/Issue numberLink
      preference      		In-text citationEnd-of-text citation (Example)
      Cell Research[36]Nature style/Number systemAll authors should be listed for papers with up to five authors; for papers with over five authors, the first only should be listed, followed by et al.Volume number/—Journal article, e-pub ahead of print.
      		Where a reference is to appear next to a number in the text, for example, following an equation, chemical formula or biological acronym, citations should be written as (ref. X) and not as superscript. Example: "detectable levels of endogenous Bcl-2 (ref. 3), as confirmed by western blot."[1] Rosenzweig R, Moradi S, ZarrineAfsar A, Glover JR, Kay LE. Unraveling the mechanism of protein disaggregation through a ClpB-DnaK interaction. Science 339, 1080-1083 (2013).
      [2] Liang D, Tatomer DC, Luo Z, et al. The output of protein-coding genes shifts to circular RNAs when the pre-mRNA processing machinery is limiting. Mol Cell http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2017.10.034 (2017).
      Engineering[37]Number systemAll authors should be listed for papers with up to seven authors; for papers with over seven authors, the first six only should be listed, followed by et al.Volume number/—Use of the
      DOI is highly encouraged.      		Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The actual authors
      can be referred to, but the reference number(s) must always be given.      		[1] Van der Geer J, Hanraads JAJ, Lupton RA. The art of writing a scientific article. J Sci Commun 2010;163:51–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.Sc.2010.00372.
      Friction[38]Number systemAll authors should be listed for papers with up to ten authors; for papers with over ten authors, the first ten only should be listed, followed by et al.Volume number/Issue number—Indicate references by number(s) in square brackets in line with the text. The reference number(s) must always be given.[1] Battal T, Bain C D, Weiss M, Darton R C. Surfactant adsorption and Marangoni flow in liquid jets: Experiments. J Colloid Interface Sci 263(1): 250–260 (2003)
      Horticulture Research[39]
      Any readable style of format references can be submitted. The authors are responsible for the accuracy of reference information.      		—————
      Light: Science & Applications[40]Nature style/
      Author-year      		All authors should be listed for papers with up to five authors; for papers with over five authors, the first only should be listed, followed by et al.Volume number/—DOI is needed in the e-pub ahead of print.Where a reference is to appear next to a number in the text, for example, following an equation, chemical formula or biological acronym, citations should be written as (ref. X) and not as superscript. Example: "detectable levels of endogenous Bcl-2 (ref. 3), as confirmed by western blot."Belkaid, Y. & Rouse, B. T. Natural regulatory T cells in infectious disease. Nat. Immunol. 6, 353–360 (2005).

      Bonin, M. et al. F-ara-A pharmacokinetics during reduced-intensity conditioning therapy with fludarabine and busulfan. Bone Marrow Transplant. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705565 (2007).
      Nano Research[41]Number systemReferences with more than ten authors must list the first ten authors, followed by "et al."Volume number/——References to the literature are cited by number in square brackets at appropriate locations (before a period, comma, etc.) in the text.[1] Zhou, K. B.; Wang, X.; Sun, X. M.; Peng, Q.; Li, Y. D. Enhanced catalytic activity of ceria nanorods from well defined reactive crystal planes. J. Catal. 2005, 229, 206–212.
      National Science Review[42]Oxford SciMed/Number systemFor over 3 authors, list the first three and add et al.
      must give the exact authors’ last names.      		Volume number/—For references published online in advance of print publication, provide the journal abbreviation followed by the digital object identifier (DOI) number in parentheses.The reference marker comes before punctuation in the main text of the manuscript.Journal article: Kennedy T and Jones R. Effect of obesity on esophageal transit. Am J Surg 1985; 149: 177–81.
      Online journal article: Qiao D, Chen W and Stratagoules E et al. Bile acid- induced activation of activator protein-1 requires both extracellular signal-regulated kinase and protein kinase C signaling. J Biol Chem 2013, doi: 10.1074/jbc.M908890199.
      Research[43]Chicago style/any style.
      If accepted, Research will reformat the references in Chicago style. All references should be numbered consecutively in the order of their first citation.      		For articles with six or more authors, the first three authors are listed followed by ‘et al.’.Volume number/—DOIs, if available, should be included for each reference.Citations of references in the text should be identified using numbers in square brackets e.g., "as discussed by Liu [9]"; "as discussed elsewhere [9,10]".
      [x] Author initials and surname, "Title in sentence style," Journal title, vol. (volume number), no. (issue number), pp. (page numbers separated by an en-dash), Year.
      [1] J. D. Watson and F. H. C. Crick, "A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid," Nature, vol. 171, no. 4356, pp. 737–738, 1953.
      Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy[44]Nature style/
      Author-year      		All authors should be listed for papers with up to five authors; for papers with more than five authors, the first only should be listed, followed by et al.Volume number/——In the text they should appear as superscript numbers starting at one and at the end of the paper they should be listed (double-spaced) in numerical order corresponding to the order of citation in the text.1. Belkaid, Y. & Rouse, B. T. Natural regulatory T cells in infectious disease. Nat. Immunol. 6, 353–360 (2005).
      Journal article, e-pub ahead of print:
      2. Bonin, M. et al. F-ara-A pharmacokinetics during reduced-intensity conditioning therapy with fludarabine and busulfan. Bone Marrow Transplant. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705565 (2007).
      The Innovation[45]Based on Cell Press/Number systemList the names of all authors when there are no more than four authors; If there are five authors or more, list the first three authors followed by et al.Volume number/——Unpublished data, abstracts, and personal communications may be cited within the text only. Submitted articles that have not yet been accepted should be cited as data not shown, unpublished data, or a personal communication.1. Leach, N.T., Sun, Y., Michaud, S., et al. (2007). Disruption of diacylglycerol kinase delta (DGKD) associated with seizures in humans and mice. Am. J. Hum. Genet. 80, 792–799.
      Note: For all the listed journals, year of publication and the page range (or article number) for each reference are needed; the journal titles are all abbreviated.

      Table 3. 

      Reference formats of ten English-language scientific journals in Chin.