Science reference format

What Science expects

• Reference style: References and Notes are numbered in the order cited: main text first, then text boxes, captions, notes and acknowledgments, then supplementary materials. One combined list.
• In-text form: Citation numbers in parentheses, italicized: (18, 19), (18–20), (18, 20–22).
• Authors: Initials first, family names in full, separated by commas with no “and”. The full list of authors is required; do not use et al., op. cit. or ibid.
• Journal articles: Title, then journal in italics, volume in bold, full page range with an en dash, and year in parentheses.
• Manuscript format: Word (.docx) is preferred. LaTeX authors are asked to convert to .docx, or to use the Science LaTeX template and upload a PDF.
• Front matter: Title of no more than 96 characters including spaces; abstract of 125 words or less.

Setting up the bibliography

Science's LaTeX page recommends BibTeX over hand-coded \bibitem entries. The template zip contains science_template.tex and science_template.bib: rename both, put your references in the .bib file, and cite with plain \cite{}.

Keep the .aux and .bbl files from compilation. For a revised version, Science needs the .bbl contents, either pasted into the .tex file or uploaded with it. Do not add packages beyond those the template already loads.

Three references in Science citation style

1. M. Jinek, K. Chylinski, I. Fonfara, M. Hauer, J. A. Doudna, E. Charpentier, A programmable dual-RNA–guided DNA endonuclease in adaptive bacterial immunity. Science 337, 816–821 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1225829
2. G. E. Hinton, R. R. Salakhutdinov, Reducing the dimensionality of data with neural networks. Science 313, 504–507 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1127647
3. G. Hardin, The tragedy of the commons. Science 162, 1243–1248 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.162.3859.1243

Three Science papers, formatted by hand from the Science Citation Style section of the instructions. The first lists all six authors, as the style requires. The DOI links are added here for checking. Titles, authors, volumes and pages were checked against Crossref on 2026-10-01.

LaTeX template

Science provides a Word template and a LaTeX template. The LaTeX one is science_template_v1.1.zip (version 1.1, updated April 2026) on the Science LaTeX page. We do not have a Science template page yet.

Common mistakes

• Using et al. in the reference list. Science asks for the complete list of authors.
• Writing “and” before the last author. Names are separated by commas only.
• A separate reference list for the supplement. Science wants a single list, with supplement-only references numbered last.
• Adding LaTeX packages to the template. The LaTeX page says extra packages break the conversion software and cause delays.
• Citations or abbreviations in the abstract.

Check your .bib file

• BibTeX Validator (free) checks a .bib file for syntax errors and missing required fields.
• Citation Generator (free) builds IEEE, APA, MLA and Chicago citations from entry fields, in your browser.
• Reference Converter (free) converts between BibTeX, RIS and EndNote. The same converter is below.
• Paper Review with the Journal Pack checks a manuscript against the submission rules of 25 venues, Science among them.