BibGuru CSE Citation Generator

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BibGuru CSE Citation Generator citation generator

The ultimate guide to citing in CSE

CSE style was developed by the Council of Science Editors (CSE), a US-based nonprofit organization that supports editorial practice among scientific writers. The CSE publishes a style guide for scientific papers: The CSE Manual. CSE style originated in the 1960s and is currently used in many fields of study in both the life sciences and physical sciences.

If you are not sure which citation style to use in your paper, ask your instructor. There are many different citation styles and using the style your instructor or institution has established correctly can have a positive impact on your grade.

The CSE Manual, 8th edition, is the basis of this guide. This guide focuses on crediting sources and aims at answering all of your questions about citing in CSE. But you don’t have to worry about getting your citations right with the BibGuru citation generator. We have created BibGuru to help you focus on the content of your work instead of worrying about how to get your reference list done correctly.

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In-text citations in CSE

The CSE style has three systems to cite sources in-text:

  • Name-Year (N-Y) system: The author’s surname and year of the publication are placed in parentheses in the text e.g. (Rode 2012). The reference list is ordered alphabetically by author name.
  • Citation-Name (C-N) system: Superscript numbers are used to identify in-text citations. In the alphabetized reference list, each numeral corresponds with a unique reference.
  • Citation-Sequence (C-S) system: Superscript numbers are used to identify in-text citations. In the reference list, sources are numbered sequentially by the order in which they appear in the text (this differs from the C-N system because they might not be in alphabetical order by author).

These abbreviated references are called in-text references. They refer to a list of full references at the end of the document.

Which of the three citation systems above you use will determine the order of references at the end of your document. These end references essentially have the same format in all three systems. One exception is the placement of the date of publication in the name-year system. Ask your instructor which of the three systems to use in case you are unsure.

CSE reference list - Name-Year system

See below the format and examples for the most popular reference types in the name-year system:

CSE Name-Year explainer image

Citation examples - Name-Year system

  • Journals
  • Books
  • Dissertations
    and Theses
  • Website

For the end reference, list authors in the order in which they appear in the original text, followed by the year of publication. Journal titles are generally abbreviated. Each element is separated by a period, and the location (usually the page range for the article) is preceded by a colon.

FORMATReference list entry format

Author(s). Date. Article title. Journal title. Volume(issue):location.

FORMATReference list entry format for an online journal article

Author(s) of article. Date of publication. Title of article. Title of journal (edition). [date updated; date accessed];Volume(issue):location. Notes.

EXAMPLEJournal article with a DOI

In-text:

(Christopher 2022)

Reference list:

Christopher MM. 2022. Comprehensive analysis of retracted journal articles in the field of veterinary medicine and animal health. BMC Vet Res. 18(1):73. doi:10.1186/s12917-022-03167-x.

For articles with 2 authors, names are separated by a comma in the end reference but by “and” in the in-text reference.

EXAMPLEJournal article with two authors

In-text:

(McCauley and Christiansen 2019)

Reference list:

McCauley SM, Christiansen MH. 2019. Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychol Rev. 126(1):1–51. doi:10.1037/rev0000126.

For articles with 3 to 10 authors, list all authors in the end reference; in the in-text reference, list only the first, followed by “et al.” When there are more than 10 authors, list the first 10 in the end reference, followed by “et al.”

EXAMPLEJournal article with four authors

In-text:

(Warren et al. 2018)

Reference list:

Warren R, Price J, Graham E, Forstenhaeusler N, VanDerWal J. 2018. The projected effect on insects, vertebrates, and plants of limiting global warming to 1.5°C rather than 2°C. Science. 360(6390):791–795. doi:10.1126/science.aar3646.

The basic format for books is as follows:

FORMATBook

Author(s). Date. Title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher. Extent. Notes.

Extent can include information about pagination or number of volumes and is considered optional. Notes can include information of interest to the reader, such as the language of publications other than English, and is also considered optional.

For books with 2 authors, names are separated by a comma in the end reference and by “and” in the in-text reference.

EXAMPLEBook with two authors

In-text:

(Auerbach and Kotlikoff 1998)

Reference list:

Auerbach AJ, Kotlikoff LJ. 1998. Macroeconomics: An integrated approach. 2nd ed. London, England: MIT Press.

For books with 3 to 10 authors, list all authors in the end reference. In the in-text reference, list only the first, followed by “et al.” For books with more than 10 authors, list the first 10 in the end reference, followed by “et al.”

EXAMPLEBook with 6 authors

In-text:

(Clayton et al. 2021)

Reference list:

Clayton D, Jackson TD, Stone N, Thomas A, Woodfolk A, Yoon N. 2021. Blackout. UK: HarperCollins.

EXAMPLEBook with an editor and multiple authors

In-text:

(Raab et al. 2015)

Reference list:

Raab M, Lobinger B, Hoffmann SO, Pizzera A, Laborde S, editors. 2015. Performance psychology: Perception, action, cognition, and emotion. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

EXAMPLEDoctoral thesis

In-text:

(Pradhan 2021)

Reference list:

Pradhan S. 2021. Impacts of road construction on landsliding in Nepal [doctoral thesis]. Durham University. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/14069/.

Website references follow the same general principles as printed references. In addition, a date of update/revision (if available), access date, and URL need to be provided. The format for a website reference looks like this:

FORMATWebsite

Title of Homepage. Date of publication. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; [date updated; date accessed]. Notes.

For the in-text reference, include only the first word or two of the title (enough to distinguish it from other titles in the reference list), followed by an ellipsis.

EXAMPLEWebsite

In-text:

(WWF 2022)

Reference list:

WWF - endangered species conservation. 2022. World Wildlife Fund. [accessed 2022 May 27]. https://www.worldwildlife.org/.

The format for a blog article is as follows:

FORMATBlog post

Author’s name. Date of publication. Title of post [descriptive word]. Title of blog. [accessed date]. URL.

EXAMPLEBlog post

In-text:

(Liegl 2021)

Reference list:

Liegl J. 2021. Communicating with humanity. Several people are typing. [accessed 2022 Feb 22]. https://slack.com/blog/collaboration/communicating-with-humanity.

An example of an CSE Name-Year reference page made with BibGuru's CSE citation generator:

cse page example image

How to use Bibguru for CSE citations

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CSE reference list - Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name system

The citation-sequence and citation-name systems are identical except for the order of references. In both systems, numbers in the text refer to references in the reference list.

In the citation-sequence system, the end references are listed in the order in which they appear in the text. Once a reference is numbered, the same number is used for all following in-text citations in the same document, e.g. if Meyer is the first mentioned in-text, their work will be number 1 in the end references and also in all following in-text references.

In the citation-name system, references in the reference list are listed alphabetically by author. Multiple works by one author are listed alphabetically by title. The end references are numbered in alphabetical order and the number assigned to an author in the reference list is then used for the in-text citations, regardless of the order in which they appear in the text. So, if a work by Meyer is number 43 in the reference list, each in-text reference to Meyer will also be number 43.

See below for the format and examples of the most popular reference types in the citation-sequence and citation-name systems:

CSE Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name explainer image

Citation examples - Citation-Sequence and Citation-Name system

  • Journals
  • Books
  • Dissertations
    and Theses
  • Website

Authors are listed in the order in which they appear in the original text, followed by a period. Journal titles are generally abbreviated.

FORMATReference list entry format

Author(s). Article title. Journal title. Date;volume(issue):location.

FORMATReference list entry format for an online journal article

Author(s) of article. Title of article. Title of journal (edition). Date of publication [date updated; date accessed];volume(issue):location. Notes.

EXAMPLEJournal article with a DOI

2. Christopher MM. Comprehensive analysis of retracted journal articles in the field of veterinary medicine and animal health. BMC veterinary research. 2022;18(1):73. doi:10.1186/s12917-022-03167-x

For articles with more than 1 author, names are separated by a comma.

EXAMPLEJournal article with two authors

3. McCauley SM, Christiansen MH. Language learning as language use: A cross-linguistic model of child language development. Psychological review. 2019;126(1):1–51. doi:10.1037/rev0000126

For articles with more than 10 authors, the first 10 are listed, followed by “et al.”

EXAMPLEJournal article with four authors

4. Warren R, Price J, Graham E, Forstenhaeusler N, VanDerWal J. The projected effect on insects, vertebrates, and plants of limiting global warming to 1.5°C rather than 2°C. Science (New York, N.Y.). 2018;360(6390):791–795. doi:10.1126/science.aar3646

This is the standard format for a book citation:

FORMATBook

Author(s). Title. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; date. Extent. Notes.

Extent can include information about pagination or number of volumes and is considered optional. Notes can include information of interest to the reader, such as the language of publications other than English, and is also considered optional.

For books with more than 1 author, names are separated by a comma.

EXAMPLEBook with two authors

5. Auerbach AJ, Kotlikoff LJ. Macroeconomics: An integrated approach. 2nd ed. London, England: MIT Press; 1998.

When there are more than 10 authors, list the first 10 followed by “et al.”

EXAMPLEBook with an editor and multiple authors

6. Raab M, Lobinger B, Hoffmann SO, Pizzera A, Laborde S, editors. Performance psychology: Perception, action, cognition, and emotion. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 2015.

EXAMPLEDoctoral thesis

7. Pradhan S. Impacts of road construction on landsliding in Nepal [doctoral thesis]. Durham University; 2021. http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/14069/.

Website references follow the same general principles as for printed references. In addition, a date of update/revision (if available), access date, and URL need to be provided. The format for a website reference looks like this:

FORMATWebsite

Title of Homepage. Edition. Place of publication: publisher; date of publication [date updated; date accessed]. Notes.

EXAMPLEWebsite

8. WWF - endangered species conservation. World Wildlife Fund. 2022 [accessed 2022 May 27]. https://www.worldwildlife.org/

The format for a blog article is as follows:

FORMATBlog post

Author’s name. Title of post [descriptive word]. Title of blog. Date of publication. [accessed date]. URL.

EXAMPLEBlog post

8. Liegl J. Communicating with humanity. Several people are typing. 2021 Jul 2. [accessed 2022 Feb 22]. https://slack.com/blog/collaboration/communicating-with-humanity.

An example of an CSE Citation-Name reference page made with BibGuru's CSE citation generator:

cse page example image

While all the specific rules and variations of CSE citation style might sound very complicated, you don't need to worry about getting them wrong with BibGuru. Use our CSE citation maker to create the fastest and most accurate CSE citations possible.

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FAQs

🐙 What does CSE stand for?

CSE stands for Council of Science Editors, formerly known as Council of Biology Editors, CBE. It is a US-based non-profit organization supporting editorial practice among scientific writers. The CSE was established in 1957 by the National Science Foundation and the American Institute of Biological Sciences. The CSE publishes a style guide for scientific papers, the CSE Manual.

🏈 What is the CSE style used for?

The Council of Science Editors (CSE), a US-based non-profit organization supporting editorial practice among scientific writers publishes a style guide for scientific papers: The CSE Manual. The style is used in many fields of study including the life sciences and physical sciences.

📻 Does the CSE style use footnotes?

The CSE style has three systems to cite sources. The Name-Year system uses in-text citations. In the Citation-Name system and the Citation-Sequence system, superscript numbers are used in-text to identify citations, corresponding with references in the reference list. Those are similar to footnotes but different in that they are not listed separately but integrated into the text.

🎤 How do I cite an interview in CSE?

Interviews and other forms of unpublished personal communications (for example emails) are not included in the reference list in the CSE style. Instead, they should be cited in parentheses within the text of your paper.

📀 What are the citations called that are listed at the end of a CSE paper?

The reference list (or bibliography) at the end of your CSE paper can be titled "References" or "Cited References". The arrangement of those references depends on which of the three style systems you picked for the citations of your paper.

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