How to format your bibliographic references, notes and footnotes using our house style

The Royal Society of Chemistry have a specific referencing style that we use across all our journals, as it ensures that all references are given accurately, clearly and with sufficient detail. Reading this guide will help you format references, notes and footnotes using the Royal Society of Chemistry’s house style. It is based on the advice that we offer to authors wishing to publish their research in our journals. It’s always worth checking with your university department what referencing style they recommend though, and if they have specific guidelines they want you to follow.

Why is referencing important?

Referencing your work clearly and accurately is incredibly important. Referencing acknowledges the work of others, and highlights the range and types of your cited material. Good referencing is an important part of a work’s presentation, and can affect how others view it. Failing to reference clearly could have a negative impact on your work if people can’t find the original material, or even be seen as plagiarism.

What is included?

This guide shows how to add references in text and use notes and footnotes. It details how to list your references at the end of the main body of the text. Examples are given to show you how to reference the following sources:

  • journal articles
  • books
  • book chapters
  • online resources (including databases, websites and wikis)
  • theses
  • unpublished material
  • lectures, meetings and conferences
  • preprint servers (eg arXiv)
  • patents
  • software

More resources

This guide is part of a collection of resources that we have produced for students using journal articles. You can find more resources in our Reading and understanding journals resource collection.

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