Public Library of Science

Science

Every example is a real source, checked where it was published. Check the finer points against the guide your course or journal uses. Review formatting support and known limitations.

Example Citations

Website
1.
World Health Organization. Climate change. 2023 Oct 12 [cited 2026 Oct 15]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/climate-change-and-health
In-text [1]

Numbered by order of appearance in your document.

Book
1.
Lee H. To Kill a Mockingbird. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott; 1960.
In-text [1]

Numbered by order of appearance in your document.

Journal Article
1.
Watson JD, Crick FHC. Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid. Nature. 1953;171: 737-738. doi: 10.1038/171737a0
In-text [1]

Numbered by order of appearance in your document.

Newspaper Article
1.
Wilford JN. Men Walk on Moon. The New York Times. 1969 Jul 21: 1.
In-text [1]

Numbered by order of appearance in your document.

Quick Facts

Full Name:
Public Library of Science
Citation Format:
Numeric
Style Class:
In-Text Citations
Fields:
Science
Documentation:
View style guidelines

Journal-Specific Variations

These styles are based on Public Library of Science with modifications for specific journals or publications.

PLOS Biology PLOS Computational Biology PLOS Genetics PLOS Medicine PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases PLOS ONE PLOS Pathogens

Explore Other Styles

American Psychological Association 7th edition

Psychology

 Modern Language Association 9th edition (in-text citations)

Humanities, Literature

 Chicago Manual of Style 18th edition (notes and bibliography)

Anthropology, Communications, Geography, History, Humanities, Law, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, Science, Social Science, Sociology, Theology

 Cite Them Right 12th edition - Harvard IEEE

Engineering

 Vancouver

Medicine
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