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4.0 Bibliographic references, notes and footnotes

Footnotes or Notes may be used to present material which, if included in the body of the text, would disrupt the flow of the argument but which is, nevertheless, of importance in qualifying or amplifying the textual material. Footnotes are referred to with the following symbols:  , , , ,  etc. Alternatively the information may be included as Notes (end-notes) to appear in the Notes/references section of the manuscript. Notes should be numbered using the same numbering system as the bibliographic references.

Bibliographic reference to the source of statements in the text is made by use of superior numerals at the appropriate place. The reference numbers should be cited in the correct sequence through the text (including those in tables and figure captions, numbered according to where the table or figure is designated to appear). The references themselves are given at the end of the final printed text along with any Notes.

Authors are encouraged to check the RSC Reviews web site to ensure that they have cited relevant recent reviews.

4.1 Journals

The style of journal abbreviations to be used in the Society's publications is that defined in Chemical Abstracts Service Source Index (CASSI). The abbreviations listed in CASSI are based upon internationally recognised systems. A list of CASSI-style abbreviations covering the most commonly cited journals is available from our web site. It is not, of course, a full list; CASSI plus its quarterly supplements run to more than 2000 pages.

If you cannot locate an authoritative abbreviation for a journal, and if it is not obvious how the title should be abbreviated, please cite the full title.

Bibliographic details should be cited in the order: year, volume, page. Where possible, page number ranges are preferred over single values, but either format is acceptable.

Where page numbers are not yet known, articles may be cited by DOI (Digital Object Identifier). e.g. A. R. Jones, Dalton Trans., 2005, DOI: 10.1039/B503459J.

Please note that journal citations in articles submitted to the journal Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences should include the article titles.

4.2 Books

For example:

J. Barker, in Catalyst Deactivation, ed. B. Delmon and C. Froment, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2nd edn., 1987, vol. 1, ch. 4, pp. 253-255.

4.3 Patents

Patents should be indicated in the following form:

Br. Pat., 357 450, 1986. US Pat., 1 171 230, 1990.

4.4 Reports and bulletins, etc.

For example:

R. A. Allen, D. B. Smith and J. E. Hiscott, Radioisotope Data, UKAEA Research Group Report AERE-R 2938, H.M.S.O., London, 1961.

4.5 Material presented at meetings

For example:

H. C. Freeman, Proceedings of the 21st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry, Toulouse, 1980.

4.6 Theses

For example:

A. D. Mount, Ph.D. Thesis, University of London, 1977.

4.7 Reference to unpublished material

For material presented at a meeting, congress or before a Society, etc., but not published, the following form is used:

A. R. Jones, presented in part at the 28th Congress of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Vancouver, August, 1981.

For material accepted for publication, but not yet published, the following form

A. R. Jones, Dalton Trans., 2003, DOI: 10.1039/paperno.

is used for RSC journals, and 

A. R. Jones, Angew. Chem., in press.

is used for non-RSC journals. If DOI numbers are known these should be cited in the form recommended by the publisher 

For material submitted for publication but not yet accepted the following form is used:

A. R. Jones, Angew. Chem., submitted.

For personal communications the following is used:

G. B. Ball, personal communication.

If material is to be published but has yet to be submitted the following form is used:

G. B. Ball, unpublished work.

Reference to unpublished work should not be made without the permission of those by whom the work was performed.

4.8 Names

The names and initials of all authors are always given in the reference; they must not be replaced by the phrase et al. This does not prevent some, or all, of the names being mentioned at their first citation in the cursive text: initials are not necessary in the text.

4.9 Composite references

Whenever possible, composite references should be used rather than a series of individual references. The style for composite references is as follows:

A. B. Jones, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1956, 78, 1234-1246; A. B. Jones and C. D. Brown, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1957, 79, 567-569; A. B. Jones and E. F. Green, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 1957, 79, 999-1048.

Idem, loc. cit., and op. cit are not used in references.